Bright lights: The effort to recreate the old troupe is remarkable, but why is the revenue so low?

Having postponed its screening after only 2 days in theaters during the past Tet holiday, the Vietnamese film project called Bright Lights officially returned and is attracting the audience's attention thanks to its artistic content, expressing the genre. operatic theater art.

On social networks, many viewers praised Bright Lights as a special film, not following market trends but still extremely emotional. The content of the film is about the opera troupe Vien Phuong traveling around the West to perform and find audiences.

The troupe gradually faced many incidents, such as fewer and fewer viewers or internal conflicts, struggles over roles or events in the personal lives of the artists in the troupe. The film makes the audience nostalgic when portraying a reformed picture of the 90s filled with joy, anger, and sorrow, but marked by the beauty of passion and love.

There are two things about Bright Lights that most audiences recognize and praise. First is the meticulousness in recreating the context of the Cai Luong troupe, the plays that have gone along over the years. Many people, especially middle-aged audiences or Cai Luong lovers in general, felt goosebumps because they felt like they were returning to a unique and brilliant time of this Vietnamese national art.

Second is the acting of Meritorious Artists Huu Chau and Bach Cong Khanh, who were praised for their harmonious interactions, bringing many touching moments.

Through Bright Lights, director Hoang Tuan Cuong showed his efforts in recreating the old troupe. From the scene of children tearing off tarpaulins, trying to sneak a peek at the plays, to the costumes and village stage sets that are bold in the countryside.

People living during the decline of Cai Luong are also portrayed honestly. He is a manager with a stern appearance, but his eyes always shine brightly every time he hears a good song.

Weaknesses in the script

Bright Lights is written by To Thien Kieu, one of the most talented writers today. But perhaps, she is still not too familiar with the role of movie screenwriter. Although Bright Lights possesses an idea rich in potential and ambition with many layers of emotions, the way it is expressed is somewhat fragmentary, making it difficult to convince the audience.

The film's story does not develop in clear chapters but is told based on events. For every passing accident, there are other unfortunate things waiting to happen. And those contradictions and conflicts are also resolved quickly and unrealistically.

Right from the beginning of the film, the audience was introduced to the difficult emotions and pain of losing her mother of Kieu Truc Linh (Truc May). But right after that, through just a few lines from the manager (merited artist Huu Chau), the young actress immediately changed her mentality and became serious. That unconvincing storytelling style is maintained throughout the film.

In addition, because there are no chapters, the basic elements of a film such as character personalities, conflicts and especially the main message are not clearly shown. From then on, the film fell into a state of drift, difficult to linger.

In addition, the work chose to develop without focusing on any main characters. The film's time is divided equally among the entire troupe, with each person telling a different story. This method is relatively risky and requires the screenwriter's steady hand in building moments and writing dialogue.

However, because it indulged in comedy, the work failed to do this, thereby leading to the personalities of most of the characters appearing pale and unimpressive.

Besides, the close-up and middle scenes when the characters talk are also assigned haphazardly, with unclear intentions. The filming also lacks energy, fails to capture many details and enhance the sacred atmosphere of the stage.

Overall, Sang Den makes an effort to recreate the memorable period of Cai Luong, but it is still not complete.

Bright Lights is one of four Vietnamese films released on Lunar New Year 2024. However, after less than 3 days of premiere, the producer suddenly decided to withdraw the film from the cinema system nationwide. The reason given is because the crew wants to choose a suitable launch time and better conditions to reach the audience.

After more than a month, Bright Lights returns to theaters on March 22. However, the film's re-release was not as successful as expected. According to statistics from Box Office Vietnam, as of 5:00 p.m. on March 24, the film earned less than 2 billion VND (including revenue from the previous screening).

On the box office chart, Bright Lights ranked behind a series of international works. The film's weekend revenue only reached about 900 million VND, with about 10,000 tickets sold for nearly 1,000 screenings. This proves that the occupancy rate for screenings is very low. Meanwhile, Exhuma: Exhuma is still leading the box office, earning 32 billion over the weekend. The names ranked next are Kung Fu Panda 4 (12.3 billion), Dune: Part Two (1.67 billion)...

It's easy to see that the theme of Bright Lights is not the "taste" of the mass audience, so the commercial potential is not great.

According to the survey, Bright Lights is mainly shown in theaters in two major cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Besides, screenings at good times are also very limited.

Bach Cong Khanh's reaction when being questioned about "real fake love movie" with his co-star? Vân Anh18:20:24 23/03/2024Bach Cong Khanh said that if the audience after watching the movie thinks that between him and Truc May, the movie is a real fake love affair, then it is a success for both of them because it brings honesty to the viewers.