Betting With Ghost, Binh Hung, comedy, Diep Bao Ngoc, drama, Hoai Linh, Hoang Phi, horror, La Thanh, Le Giang, Nguyen Nhat Trung, Nsu't Cuu Chau, Vietnam
December 18, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Nguyễn Nhật Trung
Vietnamese with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Vietnam, the horror/comedy/drama film “Betting With Ghost” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A gambling addict, who bets in cockfighting and is heavily in debt, is visited by a ghost who wants him to help her find her long-lost child, and she entices him by promising to help him win gambling money.
Culture Audience: “Betting With Ghost” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and unique supernatural thrillers.
“Betting With Ghost” starts out as a wacky horror comedy, but the tone drastically shifts to emotional drama in the last third of the movie. Twists and turns in the plot—as well as engaging performances—make this unique film a worthwhile watch. Having such a big shift in the story’s tone is usually to the detriment of a move, but the change in tone works well for “Betting With Ghost.”
Directed by Nguyễn Nhật Trung and written by Vo Nguyen Dan, “Betting With Ghost” takes place in an unnamed city in Vietnam. The movie begins by showing Tran Van Lanh (played by Tuán Trán), an unemployed gambling addict in mis mid-20s, talking on the phone with someone named Tam. This person is later revealed to be a wealthy gambler named Ong Tam (played by Nsu’t Cữu Châu), who is involved in the same cockfighting gambling activities where Lanh does his gambling.
Lanh’s next scene in the movie shows him being chased by three men, led by a thug named Alex (played by La Thành), who are yelling at Lanh to pay the money that he owes. It turns out that Lanh owes ₫30 million, which is about $1,179 in U.S. dollars. This debt becomes the reason why he makes certain decisions.
Lanh is able to escape from the three men by running into a graveyard and jumping into a shallow grave filled with recent rain water. Before he jumps in, he sees a headstone marked Le Thi Na (1974 – 1999) and the ghost of the woman whose name is on the headstone. At first, Lanh think he’s hallucinating when he sees the ghost of Na (played by Diệp Bảo Ngọc) at the graveyard.
Lanh goes home, where Lanh lives with his widowed father Tran Van Dao (played by Hoài Linh), who has been disappointed in how Lanh has been living his life. Alex and his sidekicks Robert (played by Hoàng Phi) and Thomas (played by Bình Hưng) show up at Lanh’s house and begin physically assaulting him outside. However, Dao and a neighbor named Miss Sau (played by Lê Giang) are able to fight off Alex, Thomas and Robert, who vow to come back to get the money that Lanh owes.
But later that night, Lanh sees Na again when she appears to him in his home. Her long hair covers her face, so he doesn’t get a good look at her. This ghostly sighting really scares Lanh, who asks Na: “Why are you haunting me? I haven’t done anything.” Na replies, “If you don’t help me, I’ll haunt you for life.”
Lanh is so afraid, he urinates on himself and says, “I won’t help you.” Na then causes a door to hit Lanh on the head, and he loses consciousness. When he wakes up, Na is gone but his father Dao is there. Lanh tells Dao about the ghost. Dao has not seen this ghost and begins to wonder if Lanh is intoxicated or mentally ill.
Lanh sees the ghost of Na a few more times when he is riding on a scooter. It leads to a comedic incident when the sight of the ghost causes Lanh to crash into a cop’s motorcycle twice. Lanh soon figures out that he’s the only person who can see this ghost. The ghost of Na finally reveals what she looks like underneath her long hair and tells Lanh why she wants his help: “Help me find my girl I haven’t seen in 25 years.”
A flashback shows that Na was a single mother who died in a hospital, shortly after giving birth to a child. Later in the movie, an earlier flashback shows that the father of Na’s child only wanted to her to keep the baby if the baby was going to be a boy. The father of the child cruelly dumped her when Na told him that the baby was going to be a girl, and she decided to keep the baby.
To entice Lanh to help her, Na tells him that she can help rig the cockfighting games that he uses to gamble so that he can get enough money to pay off his ₫30 million debt. At first Lanh wants to get ₫100 billion, but Na tells him that he can’t be greedy and will only help him get no more than the ₫30 million. She warns that if he expects her to provide more money, “I can’t secure your loved ones’ fate.”
Much of “Betting With Ghost” alternates between scenes of Na having an influence on Lanh’s gambling activities and scenes of Lanh helping Na investigate the mystery of what happened to her child. The movie takes an unexpected dark turn when Dao finds out a big secret that Lanh has been keeping from him that is not about Lanh’s gambling activities. This secret is the one of the reasons why the “Betting With Ghost” makes a tonal shift that has some unpredictability.
The principal cast members do an admirable job of juggling the comedy and drama in the movie. Nsut, Tuán and Diệp portray characters who are sometimes at odds with each other but Lanh develops a special bond with Na, while Lanh and his father have a deep love for each other that has been in recent turmoil because of Lanh’s personal problems. Lê’s supporting role in the movie as Miss Sau becomes apparent as soon as it’s revealed that Miss Sau is attracted to Dao.
Although the biggest plot twist in “Betting With Ghost” seems like it was dropped in the story for the sake of having another plot twist, the results are still effectively impactful. There are some tearjerking moments that viewers won’t really see coming. “Betting With Ghost” is by no means an award-worthy film, but it’s has a memorable story with much deeper meaning than what this movie appears to be about in its first impressions.
Bluebells Studios released “Betting With Ghost” in select U.S. cinemas on December 13, 2024. The movie was released in Vietnam on September 2, 2024.