Filmmakers have been sticking to culturally and financially safe ground recently, as the peak film season approaches.
However, most of the movies introduced this time are “commercial films” in which producers do not pay much attention to the content but just try to attract audience by inviting famous celebrities to the cast and planning a good PR program.
Is a popular comedian enough for the success of a comedy?
This October, dozens of cinemas across the country are introducing a comedy named “Am muu giay got nhon”, literally translated as “Conspiracy of a model” with advertisements saying about the staring of many famous models including Kathy Uyen, Truc Diem, Phuong Mai and popular comedian Don Nguyen. Another comedy named “Tien chua” is also being introduced as stared by young artists and hot models including Khuong Ngoc, Van Trang and Leu Phuong Anh. However, the film is directed by an overseas graphic designer and these artists have never clowned.
While local film critics and the media have continued to complain about the laziness and carelessness of filmmakers, it is easy to see that they (Vietnamese filmmakers) will gladly produce comedies with budgets of just VND 3-5 billion and a popular comedian.
In their introduction for the screening of two comedies “Tia oi…!” or (Father!) and "Dai nao hoc duong" (School chaos) in November, several cinemas are providing not much information about the content except for they being stared by famous comedian Hoai Linh.
A scene in "Tia oi...!"
Looking at several films to be launched during the 2014 Tet festival such as “Co dau dai chien 2”, Nam sau con lai ve, and Hai lua, a cinema critic predicts that there is not much for audience to expect because they are similar to comedies made in previous years.
Phuoc Sang Film Production Company has been very successful in terms of revenues over the past Tet film seasons just by having some famous people and a popular comedian in their comedies. In 2012, the film “Hello co Ba” or “Hello Ms. Ba” was critised by film experts and the media for their poor script but still brought in surprisingly high revenue of over VND 25 billion after just two weeks thanks to the starring of comedian Hoai Linh.
According to the company’s director, Mr. Phuoc Sang, people always want to watch something fun during Tet holiday. “I think the success of “Hello co Ba” was attributed to the appearance of the most popular names in the local showbiz and their funny scripts,” Sang said in an interview with the TTVH Newspaper.
And in the 2013 Tet season, three producers including Song Vang, Century Star, and Midi followed Phuoc Sang to invite many hot names from some popular reality shows to join their VND8-billion film “Nha co nam nang tien. They quickly signed an exclusive contract with Hoai Linh the popular comedian. And the film was among the top in revenues, with VND 60 billion.
A safe choice
One of the reasons leading to the rising number of these comedies is that local film makers are facing possible risks when making other genres, after seeing many historical films losing ground at cinemas or action films being banned by local cultural managers.
Jimmy Nghiem Pham, a representative of Chanh Phuong Film Production Company whose recent action film Bui doi cho lon or Chinatown was banned for containing too much violence, shared that they may only produce comedies in the coming time.
“We always want to make something new and better, but we cannot predict whether our films will be approved for screening or not,” Pham said. “Comedies are much easier and safer. We have invested VND 12 billion in one titled “Teo Em” for this Tet holiday.
