Ancestral House: 'Psychologically Traumatic' Content, Earns 60 Billion VND, Causes Controversy

Huynh Lap's Ancestral House has just replaced the blockbusters from Tet holiday to become the top 1 box office in Vietnam. From the first early screening day (only shown from 6pm on February 19) to noon on February 22, the film's revenue on Box Office Vietnam has reached over 60 billion VND.

This figure includes pre-orders for later dates, but it is a good start for the film to spread soon. One audience member who saw The Ancestors gave a "sincere" review. Lucas Luan Nguyen, a film critic, shared that when he was invited to see the first cu.t of the film a while ago, he "went in with no high expectations, and walked out of the editing room in tears."

With the scene showing the meaning of the deat.h anniversary in the film and the touching reunion of the main character with deceased relatives, the creators of The Ancestors' House must have had sincere thoughts about ancestor worship - a tradition and also a moral value of East Asians.

The viewers' tears fell in the picture of My Tien and Gia Minh sitting by the pond, My Tien singing to her brother the thoughts hidden in her heart - an estranged chil.d of the family; or the scene where My Tien was stunned when she saw her father's soul return at the deat.h anniversary; the scene where the daughter opened her heart to her mother after many years of keeping it closed.

Compared to Vietnamese films from the beginning of 2025 until now, Huynh Lap's House of Ancestors is probably the film that leaves the most emotions. Following other Vietnamese films with spiritual elements, House of Ancestors follows the story of a typical traditional Vietnamese family.

They lived for three generations under one roof in a majestic family home, with a large Buddhist altar and ancestral altar, and a glass painting of the Nine Generations of Ancestors placed solemnly in the middle of the main house.

In that house, the most powerful person was the grandfather - who was also a patriarchal person, preferring boys over girls. Sadly, the extended family suffered two great tragedies when they lost two heirs.

Both the father (played by Thanh Thuc) and the eldest grandson Gia Minh (Huynh Lap) had accidents and died on the same day each was declared heir. The father passed away on the day his daughter was born. His son, Gia Minh, passed away many years later.

Due to major disasters, the house was rumored to be haunted and no matter how hard it was put up for sale, it could not find a buyer. Meanwhile, because of rumors that she had caused her father and brother to meet with misfortune, My Tien became distant from her entire family, did not return to her hometown for many years, and did not attend the deat.h anniversary.

In My Tien's eyes, the deat.h anniversary was a troublesome occasion, having to meet too many noisy, vicious-tongued relatives and having to recall painfu.l memories.

"Do you know that the day you died, I died with you. The only difference is that you were buried, but I wasn't" - My Tien's confession to her brother started a series of actions in which she gradually revealed her thoughts, no longer closing her heart to her family.

Meanwhile, the elder brother Gia Minh is young but has a very traditional mindset, wants to preserve the family's traditional profession of making banh xeo, and respects the deat.h anniversary because it shows his ability to manage everything and be the head of the family. Even though he has passed away, Gia Minh's ghost still stays in the house, trying every way to protect the family's house.

That is the main generational conflict between the two siblings Gia Minh and My Tien. One is closely attached to his family, doing everything to preserve the family home. The other is like a "stepchild", just wanting to shake off memories of his family to continue living.

The scene where Gia Minh and My Tien argue fiercely about the fate of the house also represents two opposing streams of thought. However, the dialogue in this scene is still long and awkward, not yet valuable.

That is also one of the film's major shortcomings. Many flashbacks use a lot of dialogue and scenes to illustrate My Tien's past trauma, as well as the detail that she was considered "a cruel father, a cruel brother" is mentioned many times in many different scenes. The film should have used more selective images and valuable dialogue.

Nhà gia tiên của Huỳnh Lập "đá đổ" toàn bộ phòng vé Việt, giữ ngôi vương top 1 Phúc Sen11:38:43 22/02/2025Theo thống kê của Box Office Vietnam (đơn vị quan sát phòng vé độc lập), tính đến sáng 22/2, Nhà gia tiên của đạo diễn Huỳnh Lập vượt doanh thu 50,6 tỷ đồng sau 1 ngày ra rạp.