Vietnam Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘The 4 Rascals,’ starring Trấn Thành, Lê Giang, Lê Dương Bảo Lâm, Uyển Ân, Tiểu Vy, Quốc Anh and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên

March 15, 2025

by Carla Hay

Trấn Thành, Tiểu Vy, Quốc Anh, Uyển Ân, Lê Giang and Lê Dương Bảo Lâm in “The 4 Rascals” (Photo courtesy of 3388 Films)

Directed by Trấn Thành

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Vietnam, the comedy film “The Four Rascals” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Four people interfere in the volatile romance of a married couple, whose marriage falters when a female business colleague of the husband plots to seduce him and have him for herself.

Culture Audience: “The 4 Rascals” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and romantic comedies that adeptly blend slapstick scenarios with sentimental messaging.

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên and Quốc Anh in “The 4 Rascals” (Photo courtesy of 3388 Films)

“The 4 Rascals” comedy film mixes zany antics with a few dark plot developments in this story about friends and family members who want to steer the direction of a couple’s troubled romance. There’s some predictability but also some refreshing surprises. The movie is elevated by the cast members’ great comedic time and believable chemistry with each other.

Written and directed by Trấn Thành, “The 4 Rascals” (which takes place in an unnamed city in Vietnam) begins by showing a montage and voice narration from a woman in her 20s named Kiều (played by Uyển Ân), who confesses that she has always been envious of her best friend Quỳnh (played by Tiểu Vy) because things come easily for Quỳnh. Kiều, who describes herself as nerdy and stubborn, is jealous that physically attractive but shallow Quỳnh is able to easily get attention and advantages in life without having to do much.

The beginning of the movie also shows that while Kiều is stuck with an average-looking boyfriend who doesn’t treat Quỳnh very well, Quỳnh has a rich and handsome boyfriend who treats her like a queen. Quỳnh’s boyfriend is Quốc Anh (played by Quốc Anh, also known as Tran Quốc Anh), a banking executive who quickly rose through the ranks at his job. Quỳnh met Quốc when she was a customer of his. They had an immediate attraction to each other and soon began dating.

Quỳnh and Quốc get married. About six years into their marriage, they run into problems when Quốc becomes more consumed with his job. Quỳnh starts to feel neglected, so she becomes needy and argumentative with Quốc, resulting in Quốc keeping more of an emotional distance from Quỳnh. Their arguments are usually about Quỳnh and Quốc feeling disrespected by the other.

Quỳnh goes to a flamboyant fortune teller named Chết Xi Cà (played by Lê Dương Bảo Lâm) and asks if Quốc is cheating on her. The fortune teller says yes. Quỳnh is devastated and vows to find out who is the woman who could possibly wreck Quỳnh’s marriage to Quốc . Kiều feels a friendship connection to Chết Xi Cà (who is openly gay), and they start hanging out together. Kiều and Chết Xi Cà say that they will help Quỳnh any way that they can.

It’s around this time that Quốc has indeed met someone who could become his mistress. Karen (played by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên) is a seductive and wealthy business executive who meets Quốc at his bank because she might become an important client of the bank. Karen is attracted to Quốc, and she doesn’t care that he’s married. She flirts with him and makes sexual advances on him, but Quốc resists because he wants to stay faithful to Quỳnh, even though their shaky marriage is currently going through a rough patch.

During this time of marital strife, Quốc and Quỳnh go on a road trip vacation to visit some relatives of Quỳnh. Kiều and Chết Xi Cà are along for the ride. When they arrive in a marketplace area, a helmet-wearing man on a bike accidentally collides with the car and ends up on the car’s front windshield. Luckily, this bike rider isn’t injured.

And to Quỳnh’s surprise, she sees that this bike rider is none other than one of her uncles. In the movie, he is only referred to as Uncle 11 (played by “The 4 Rascals” director by Trấn Thành), and he is one of the goofiest characters of the movie. Uncle 11 is married to Dì Bón (played by Lê Giang), who is nosy and likes to be in other people’s personal business.

Chaos seems to follow Uncle 11 and Dì Bón wherever they go. When Quốc, Quỳnh, Kiều, Chết Xi Cà, Uncle 11 and Dì Bón go to a restaurant together, a fight breaks out between Uncle 11 and some other men. This dinner party of six people have to leave the restaurant in disgrace. Another scene at another restaurant shows Uncle 11 and Dì Bón trying to skip out on paying the bill by pretending that they thought the food was bad.

Karen uses certain tricks to try to seduce Quốc. She arranges for them to have what Quốc thinks will be a business dinner at a restaurant. When he gets there, he finds out that Karen rented out the entire restaurant so that she and Quốc could have a romantic dinner there by themselves. Later, Karen gives Quốc a expensive bottle of cologne as a gift, which he politely declines.

The rest of “The 4 Rascals” shows the roller coaster ride of Quốc and Quỳnh marriage, and how Kiều, Chết Xi Cà, Uncle 11 and Dì Bón (the “four rascals” referenced in the movie’s title) get involved in the couple’s marital problems. Although Kiều is the narrator of the film, “The 4 Rascals” really begins to center on Quỳnh and how her story evolves for the rest of the movie. Kiều’s envy of Quỳnh also changes because Kiều sees that Quỳnh’s life isn’t so perfect after all.

“The 4 Rascals” sometimes gets over-the-top ridiculous. However, it’s in the spirit of comedy, so none of the outlandish scenarios should be taken that seriously. There’s some brutal violence in the movie that is a tonal shift from the mostly lightweight comedic scenes. The violence isn’t gratutitous but seems meant as an emphasis that the stakes are high in what will happen to this marriage.

Longtime co-stars Trấn Thành and Lê Giang continue to have a great rapport with each other, while their younger co-stars also do well in their roles. Tiểu Vy’s performance is the standout in this film, since Quỳnh goes through unexpected things that change Quỳnh’s life. “The 4 Rascals” won’t be considered a groundbreaking, classic film, because it relies on many familiar romantic comedy formulas. However, the movie leaves enough room for some delightful twists that bring “The 4 Rascals” to a satisfying conclusion.

3388 Films released “The 4 Rascals” in select U.S. cinemas on March 14, 2025. The movie was released in Vietnam on January 29, 2025.

Review: ‘The Real Sister,’ starring Việt Hương, Hồng Đào, Đinh Y Nhung, Lê Khánh, Ngọc Trinh and Khazsak

February 24, 2025

by Carla Hay

“The Real Sister”

Directed by Khương Ngọc

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Vietnam, the dramatic film “Betting With Ghost” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A wealthy widow invites the four sisters of her deceased husband to the family’s ancestral house, and the five women have conflicts with each other.

Culture Audience: “The Real Sister” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dramatic films about family relationships.

Hồng Đào, Việt Hương, Lê Khánh and Ngọc Trinh in “The Real Sister” (Photo courtesy of Edge Code Films)

“The Real Sister” tells a bittersweet story of the tensions between a widow and her four sisters-in-law. Some of this drama is styled like a soap opera. However, the filmmaking and acting performances are generally very good.

Directed by Khương Ngọc, “The Real Sister” (which has the Vietnamese title “Chị Dâu”) takes place in an unnamed city in Vietnam. There is no credited screenwriter for the movie. Although “The Real Sister” uses many familiar formulas of relatives arguing and making confessions during a family reunion, there’s enough uniqueness in the movie to keep viewers interested.

“The Real Sister” is told from the perspective of narrator Bà Hai Nhi (played by Việt Hương), a wealthy widow who lives alone. Hai has an adult son named Jimmy (played by Anthony Huýnh), who lives in the United States and is happy with his American life. Jimmy is seen briefly near the beginning of the movie, when he cheerfully calls to check in on his mother.

Hai is very lonely and depressed, but she hides her sadness from Jimmy and other people in her life. She also has a big secret that is eventually revealed. Hai has inherited the ancenstral house owned by her husband’s side of the family.

Hai has big and costly plans to renovate the house. But first, she wants to tell the four sisters of her deceased husband about these plans. She decides the best time to tell her sisters-in-law about this decision is at an upcoming event at the house for the death anniversary of the sisters’ father.

These are Hai’s four sisters-in- law, from the eldest to youngest:

Bà Ba Ky (played by Hồng Đào) is a divorced mother who works as a plastic surgeon. She is still very bitter about her divorce, she abuses alcohol, and she is promiscuous. Ba is outspoken with her opinions and is sometimes very quick to rudely insult people who disagree with her.
Tư Ánh (played by Đinh Y Nhung) is quiet, introverted, and very secretive about her love life. She works in the food service industry.
Năm Thu (played by Lê Khánh) is in a troubled marriage and is educated as an accountant. She is the sister who is most likely to gossip about others. Thu is very insecure about the fact that she and her husband do not have children because of infertility issues.
Út Như (played by Ngọc Trinh) is a “trophy wife” homemaker. Her wealthy husband Kiêm (played by “The Real Sister” director Khương Ngọc is heavily in debt. Như is spoiled and materialistic and wants to keep up appearances that her life is fabulous.

Bé Nhi (played by Khazsak) is the teenage daughter of Ba. Nhi, who is about 16 years old, has a lot of resentment toward her mother Ba’s lifestyle. Nhi admires Hai and feels she can connect more with Hai than she can with Ba. This predictably causes Ba to feel jealous of Hai.

The bickering starts almost immediately at the death anniversary gathering. Hai has invited numerous people from the community, many of whom do not know the family very well. Ba disagrees with this decision and accuses Hai of inviting all these people, including the neighborhood “drunks,” so that Hai can show the lavish meals and other preparations. Hai denies the accusation and says that if she didn’t invite certain people in the community, then Hai would be accused of being a snob.

Hai finds out that renovating the house will be extensive. She is advised by a local contractor named Tám Hói (played by Nhóm Lộc) who does an inspection, it will probably be a money pit. The house, which has been uninhabited for years, has many problems, including a rermite infestation and rotting wood for the roof.

Tám warns Hait that in the roof’s current condition, it would collapse if there’s a rainstorm. (And as soon as he says that, you know it’s going to happen, as already revealed in the movie’s trailer.) Tám also says that he doesn’t recommend that anyone live in the house.

Tám gives a price quote of ₫ 1.2 billion (which is a little more than $47,000 in U.S. dollars in the 2020s) to do the repairs. Out of all of the sisters, Ba is the one who is very much against this renovation. And you know what that means: Hai is going to insist on doing the renovations.

Most of “The Real Sister” consists of the women giving scrutiny and criticism to each other, in order to avoid dealing with the problems in their own individual lies. Hai has good intentions to bring the famly closer together, but she can be as stubborn and opinionated as her sisters-in-law. All of the cast members give admirable performances, with Việt and Hồng as obvious standouts in portraying clashing sisters-in-law Hai and Ba.

“The Real Sister” can get repetitive with showing the family squabbles, but the performances have a lot of vibrant authenticity, so this repetition doesn’t get tiresome. Each woman is written to have personalities that are unique from each other. There are some comedic elements to the movie, but most of the film is serious in its tone. The last half of “The Real Sister” is better than the first half.

“The Real Sister” succeeds in its intentions to make viewers feel a wide range of emotions. The complicated feelings that these family members have for each other result in a lot of angry messiness, but there are also some tender and heartfelt moments. “The Real Sister” ultimately has a message about accepting loved ones for who they are—flaws and all—and knowing that however aggravating it might sometimes be to deal these loved ones, it’s better to appreciate these loved ones before it’s too late rather than have regrets about taking them for granted.

Edge Code Films released “The Real Sister” in select U.S. cinemas on February 21, 2025. The movie was released in Vietnam on December 20, 2024.

Review: ‘Betting With Ghost,’ starring Nsut Hoài Linh, Tuán Trán, Diệp Bảo Ngọc and Lê Giang

December 18, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Betting With Ghost”

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.

Nsut Hoài Linh in “Betting With Ghost” (Photo courtesy of Bluebells Studios)

“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.

Review: ‘Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit,’ starring Việt Hương, Diệu Đưc, Trung Dân, Dạ Chúc, Duy Anh and Mỹ Duyên

October 8, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit”

Directed by Nguyen Huu Hoang

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Vietnam, near the Mekong River, the horror film “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” features an all-Vietnamese cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A vengeful ghost called Ma Da possesses, kidnaps and kills people, and a single mother fights to get her daughter away from this evil spirit.

Culture Audience: “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” will appeal mainly to people who don’t mind watching idiotic and boring horror movies.

Việt Hương in “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” (Photo courtesy of Lotte Entertainment)

Hokey, unfocused and very derivative, “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” is a limp horror movie that struggles to keep its ideas afloat. This story (about a mother battling a vengeful ghost) has terrible acting, sloppy editing, and tacky visual effects. It’s a complete time waster of a film that has a twist ending that makes this already bad movie even worse.

Directed by Nguyen Huu Hoang, “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” does not have a credited screenwriter, which is usually an indication that whoever wrote the movie is too embarrased to be publicly associated with it. “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” takes place in an unnamed village near the Mekong River, which is supposed to be haunted by an evil ghost named Ma Da. Children are warned not to go near the river.

The story is that Ma Da (played by Mỹ Duyên) was a teenage girl who committed suicide by jumping into the river and drowning. She re-emerges from the river to target souls whom she thinks are spiritually compatible with hers. Ma Da then possesses the person she targets (the targeted person’s eyes turn black during this possession), she kidnaps them, and usually kills them in the river.

One of the residents of this village is Bâ Lê (played by Việt Hương), who makes a living by fishing for corpses in the river and selling their bodies for organ donations. She should not be surprised that her creepy and disgusting job will attract an evil spirit. But Lê shows throughout this movie that she’s less-than-smart and makes all the predictable nonsensical decisions that people do in horror movies.

Lê is a single mother to a daughter named Bé Nhung (played by Dạ Chúc), who’s about 5 or 6 years old. Lê and Nhung live with Lê’s mother Bâ Vu (played by Diệu Đưc), who is retired. Lê tends to be a high-strung workaholic. Her mother Lâi is much more laid-back and nurturing.

One day, Nhung finds a girl doll that’s about 6 inches tall on the ground of a swampy marsh area. The doll has stringy, long black hair, a watermelon-colored blouse and a white skirt. As soon as Nhung finds and keeps the doll, you know that bad things are going to happen. A flashback show that Ma Da was holding the doll when she committed suicide by drowning.

Nhung starts having nightmares. She also has visions of a shadowy female ghost figure who keeps following her when she’s awake. (We all know who this ghost is.) Lê has a hard time believing Nhung because every time Nhung cries and says she’s seen the ghost, Lê doesn’t see anything.

Other villagers who end up getting involved are a shaman/medical examiner named Ông Dân (played by Trung Dân) and Lê’s confidant Ông Lương (played by Thành Lộc), who works with his father in the village’s medical examiner place. A friend of Lhung’s is a boy named Hiếu (played by Duy Anh), who’s about 8 or 9 years old and who acts like he’s her bratty older brother. He likes to tease Lhung a lot with mild pranks.

Hiếu disappears one night. The word quickly spreads in the village that Ma Da must’ve taken Hiếu. “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” is so poorly written, Hiếu and his disappearance are not mentioned again for a very long stretch of the movie, which has a flashback scene at the end to finally show what happened to him.

Before the movie gets to its atrocious ending, there are many cliché-ridden jump scares that are not terrifying at all. Nhung disappears and reappears with no explanation. And there are several muddled action scenes of Lê in the water. Ma Da is barely seen in this mostly darkly lit movie. (Ma Da is supposed to look like a drenched teenage girl in a red dress.)

A movie about an evil spirit that haunts a community should at least tell more about the origins of this evil spirit. But “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” doesn’t even bother to make that effort. All that’s left is a movie that throws together a lot of dull, predictable elements seen in other horror films, but without making them part of a cohesive story—just like puzzle pieces that do not fit. Viewers of “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” should not expect a coherent story or a reason to care after the film’s awful ending is revealed.

Lotte Entertainment released “Ma Da: The Drowning Spirit” in select U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024. The movie was released in Vietnam on August 16, 2024.

Review: ‘The House of No Man,’ starring Lê Giang, Huỳnh Uyển Ân, Tran Thanh, Khả Như, Song Luân, Ngoc Rich and Việt Anh

March 10, 2023

by Carla Hay

“The House of No Man”

Directed by Tran Thanh

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Thu Duc area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the dramatic film “The House of No Man” (also titled “Ms. Nu’s House”) features an all-Vietnamese cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A domineering matriarch/restaurateur (who lives with her mother, her two adult daughters, and her son-in-law) has various clashes with people in her family, especially her younger daughter who has very different plans on how she wants to live her life.

Culture Audience: “The House of No Man” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in seeing a melodramatic but well-acted movie about how family issues and society’s gender roles can affect relationships.

Lê Giang in “The House of No Man” (Photo courtesy of 815 Pictures)

There have been plenty of movies made about overbearing matriarchs, but “The House of No Man” is one of the more memorable of these types of films in the early 2020s. Some of the characters’ shrillness can get irritating and repetitive. However, this drama about a female-dominated family gets better in the last half of the movie. Huỳnh Uyển Ân gives a standout performance as someone who learns lessons about life.

Directed by Tran Thanh and written by Tran Hoang Ngoc Huyen, “The House of No Man” (also titled “Ms. Nu’s House”) is a much better film than Tran Thanh’s 2021 movie “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry),” which he co-directed and co-wrote. “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” is another drama about a bickering family with an aspiring YouTube star. Whereas “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” was mainly about father-son issues, “The House of No Man” is mainly about mother-daughter issues. Realistic scenarios and convincing performances make “The House of No Man” an interesting character study about control and growing pains within a dysfunctional family.

In “The House of No Man” (which takes place and was filmed in the Thu Duc area of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), the household of the movie’s title is ruled over by Ngoc Nu (played by Lê Giang), a middle-aged divorcée, who is still bitter that her ex-husband left her and their two daughters several years earlier, when the children were underage. Her ex-husband has not been in the family’s life since he left them. Because of this bitterness, Nu has deep mistrust and hatred of most men. It’s mentioned later in the movie that she hasn’t been in a serious romance since her divorce.

Nu owns and operates a small, casual restaurant called Bā Nū’s (which means “Ms. Nu’s” in Vietnamese) that’s part of the apartment complex where she lives with several other family members. The restaurant’s specialty is crab soup cakes, which Nu prides in making herself. The movie opens with a close-up scene of Nu shucking crabs.

Working at the restaurant is one of the few things that seems to bring Nu a little happiness. She’s a tough taskmaster at work and at home. Her biggest personality flaw is that she has a nasty temper and will fly into a rage and get violent. There are several scenes of her slapping, punching, kicking, and inflicting other physical abuse on people inside and outside her household. She also frequently yells at people and is verbally abusive if she doesn’t get her way.

In other words, Nu is a nightmare to be around, more often than not. The family members who live with her in the same apartment unit are fearful of Nu. They can’t just leave, because she is the main source of income in the household, and they depend on her financially. Nu uses this power to her advantage to control people in the household and tell them how they should live their lives.

Nu’s elderly mother Ngoc Ivory (played by Ngoc Rich) is kind and compassionate—in other words, the opposite of Nu. Ivory is the only person in the household who isn’t a target of Nu’s raging tantrums and physical abuse. Ivory is usually the peacemaker in the household when Nu gets in a conflict with another member of the family.

Nu’s older daughter, Ngoc Nhu (played by Kha Nhu), who’s in her late 20s, is an aspiring YouTube star who does “influencer” videos about domestic activities, such as cooking, applying makeup and interior decorating. Nhu, who has a tendency to be vain and superficial, helps at the restaurant by being a server. Nu doesn’t approve of Nhu’s social media activities and thinks it’s all a waste of time.

Nhu is married to Phu Nhuan (played by “The House of No Man” director Tran Thanh), who is the only male in the household. To say that Nhuan is a “henpecked husband” is an understatement. Not only does Nhu constantly yell at Nhuan because she doesn’t like it when he wants to hang out in bars with his buddies, but Nu also berates Nhuan frequently because she thinks Nhu made a bad choice in marrying Nhuan.

Nu thinks Nhuan is a loser because he doesn’t seem interested in having a career or a job that pays enough to support him and Nhu. Nhuan works as a delivery person for Nu’s restaurant, but he’s not very good at the job. He’s prone to make mistakes or make late deliveries. Nhuan is unhappy in his marriage because he can’t seem to do anything right to please his wife and mother-in-law.

Nu’s younger daughter, Ngoc Nhi (played by Huỳnh Uyển Ân), is in her late teens. Nhi is very sensitive, creative and intelligent. Nhi dreams of being a maker of pottery and other handmade crafts. Nu thinks it’s a foolish goal, so she pressured Nhi to take banking classes instead. (The banking classes part of Nhi’s life is not shown in the movie but is talked about in the film.) Nu thinks Nhu is a lost cause, but Nu has high hopes that Nhi will be a success. And that’s why Nu is extra-controlling and critical of Nhi, who inevitably starts to rebel.

How controlling is Nu? When Nhi goes to a nightclub where her best friend Lan (played by Phuong Lan) is having a birthday party, Nu won’t give Nhi permission to go. Nhi goes to the party anyway. And when Nhi gets home, she is scolded by Nu: “No more friends named Lan! No more friends whose name that starts with ‘L’!”

Lan is very bossy with her on-again, off-again boyfriend of six years, whose name is Bộ Của Lan (played by Phan Đạt), but she is a loyal and understanding friend to Nhi. Lan encourages Nhi to follow her dreams and not let Nu bully her. Lan’s group of close friends also includes a platonic male pal named Quynh Ly (played by Li Hao Meng Quynh), who is mild-mannered and a little shy. Ly has a crush on Nhi, and he is usually at social gatherings with Lan, her boyfriend and Nhi.

It’s at this birthday party that Nhi meets one of Lan’s friends who will change the course of Nhi’s life. His name is John (played by Song Luân), whose full Vietnamese name is Banh Kem. John, who is about the same age as Nhi, is a rich guy who has recently moved back to Vietnam after living in the United States to attend an unnamed school. It’s infatuation at first sight for John and Nhi, who have immediate romantic sparks with each other from their first conversation.

Nhi and John begin dating each other, to the disapproval of their families. Nhi knows that her controlling mother doesn’t want her dating anyone, so Nhi keeps her relationship with John a secret from her mother for as long as possible. But man-hating Nu eventually finds out and gets angry about this young romance, because she says that John will just use Nhi for sex.

John’s father Dai Phat (played by Cong Ninh) owns several factories (what is made in those factories is never mentioned in the movie), and he wants John to eventually take over the business. John’s mother (played by Ngan Quynh), who doesn’t have a name in the movie, agrees with whatever her husband says. John’s parents are snobs, so it should come as no surprise that they don’t approve of John dating Nhi, because they think Nhi comes from a gold-digging, trashy family.

John and Nhi continue to date each other, despite the objections and disapproval from their parents. John doesn’t want to go into his family’s business. He wants to open a cafe with Nhi, and they plan to sell Nhi’s pottery and other craftwork in the cafe. Certain things happen that dramatically alter John and Nhi’s relationship in the last half of the movie, which is the best part of the “The House of No Man.”

Two characters in the movie don’t get a lot of screen time, but they play significant roles in how the story develops. Nu’s middle-aged landlord Liem Van (played by Việt Anh) is an easygoing and calm person who witnesses a lot of the turmoil in Nu’s family. Someone else who knows what’s going on with the family is a YouTuber/social media influencer in his 20s named Le Minh Tiger (played by Le Duong Bao Lam), who likes to do a lot of livestreams at the restaurant. Tiger, who is a nosy gossip, tells a curious John about Nu’s divorce, in order to explain why Nu is the way that she is.

“The House of No Man” is at its best when it’s about the relationship between Nhi and John. For all of Nu’s domineering ways, Nu is often a one-note character, who only shows another side of herself much later in the movie. Nhi is by far the most interesting character in the movie, made all the better because of Huỳnh’s terrific performance. Viewers get to see Nhi mature during the story, which takes place during the course of about two years.

“The House of No Man” is a story about mothers and daughters, but it’s also a story about the highs and lows of a first serious romance. There are also issues of social class and family legacies that are told effectively in this movie. Some of the plot developments in “The House of No Man” are very melodramatic, but there’s nothing unrealistic about this movie.

The movie’s depiction of violent abuse coming from a woman puts a spotlight on the harsh reality that there is often a double standard when it comes to this type of abuse. Nu does a lot of violent harm to people (male and female) that she probably would have been arrested for if she were a man. The movie doesn’t try to pass judgment on Nu’s violent abuse, but the movie seems to be saying that how you react to this violence says a lot about what you think about gender roles in society.

“The House of No Man” shows issues concerning generational trauma and how children who think they won’t be affected by it are actually affected by it so much, it becomes part of their personality. Nhu has a love/hate relationship with her mother, but Nhu doesn’t really see how much she is turning into her mother, in the way that Nhu disrespects and abuses her long-suffering husband Nhuan. “The House of No Man” is not an indictment or condemnation of households led by women. Rather, this drama demonstrates in poignant ways how any angry and abusive household can take a damaging toll on the people who live there, and what it might take to heal some of those emotional wounds.

815 Pictures released “The House of No Man” in select U.S. cinemas on March 3, 2023. The movie was released in Vietnam on January 22, 2023.

Review: ‘Children of the Mist,’ starring Má Thi Di

December 31, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Children of the Mist”

Directed by Hà Lệ Diễm

Hmong and Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place from 2018 to 2021, in an unnamed mountain village in northwestern Vietnam, the documentary film “Children of the Mist” features an all-Vietnamese group of people representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: From the age of 12 to the age of 15, a Vietnamese girl name Má Thi Di is filmed, as she becomes increasingly likely to become a victim of child bride kidnapping, a frequently committed crime in her culture.

Culture Audience: “Children of the Mist” will appeal primarily to people interested in documentaries about rural Vietnamese cultures and the injustices of child exploitation.

Thào A Vàng and Má Thi Di in “Children of the Mist” (Photo courtesy of Film Movement)

The documentary “Children of the Mist” is a riveting and emotionally painful look at how an underage teen girl can become a victim of the rampant child bride kidnappings in Vietnam. It’s an unforgettable story of dreams and potential destroyed by sexism. Although the documentary tells the story of one girl, there are countless other girls who have experienced and will continue to experience the same devastating fate.

From 2018 to 2021, “Children on the Mist” director Hà Lệ Diễm documented the life of a Vietnamese girl named Má Thi Di, beginning when Di was 12 years old. In the documentary, which is shown in chronological order, Di lives with her parents and younger brother in an unnamed rural village surrounded by misty mountains in northwestern Vietnam. She starts off as playful and carefree, but over the years, Di grows increasingly apprehensive about the possibility that she will be kidnapped and forced to marry someone before she turns 18. In Vietnam, the minimum legal age to get married is 18 years old.

Di and her family live among Hmong people, an ethnic minority in Vietnam that has longtime cultural traditions that conflict with Vietnam’s laws. One of these conflicts is that it’s acceptable in Hmong culture for underage girls to be kidnapped by men or teenage boys who want to “marry” these girls. These kidnappings are such a “tradition” in the culture that it has become prevalent and expected, especially close to the Lunar New Year holidays.

In the production notes for “Children of the Mist,” director Hà (who is originally from the Tay community, an ethnic group in northeast Vietnam) comments in a statement: “I knew for a long time about ‘bride-knapping,’ but I used to consider it like a folkloric tradition. I didn’t realize that most of the parents were favorable to early marriage for their daughter, as they don’t trust in social promotion through school.

The statement continues, “Almost every family in these communities has once suffered abduction. As a consequence, sexual abuse and violence are very common in this region. Since I started to shoot, two schoolmates of Di were raped on their way to school. One of them was murdered. While becoming teenagers Di and her friends had fear growing in them.”

There is no sexual assault shown or even discussed in “Children of the Mist.” However, Di’s increasing fear has that it will happen to Di is visible in the documentary. That’s because, as it’s eventually revealed, Di’s feisty mother Châu Thi Kay and Di’s older sister Má Thi La were both victims of these kidnappings. At one point in the documentary, when Di is almost 15 years old, it’s mentioned that La is 17 years old when La is the mother of an infant and pregnant with La’s second child.

Di describes the anguish that her mother and other family members had when La “dropped out” (disappeared) when La was 15 and was kidnapped by the man who forced La to be his wife. (La’s husband is not shown in the documentary when La goes to visit her family.) Di comments about La being forced to marry at an illegal young age: “She wanted to have fun, but that was the end of her childhood. I won’t be that naïve.”

Still, “bride-knapping” is so ingrained in the culture, an early scene in the movie shows Di and some female friends playing a chase game called “Catch the Bride,” in a field where one of the girls has been chosen for playing the role of the person who’s supposed to be kidnapped. In another scene, Kay half-jokingly tells Di what she thinks about Di’s chances of being kidnapped: “You’re not Hmong, so they can’t force you.” At 12 and 13 years old, Di has a lot of bravado that she will never be kidnapped. As she gets older, that confidence diminishes.

Di is a bright and outgoing child who likes school, which she also uses as a refuge to her oppressive life at home. The movie has some scenes of Di and other students in their classroom. Her parents have a very small farm, where Di is expected to help out as much as possible. There are several scenes of Di, her mother and some other relatives doing harvesting activities in the nearby rice paddy fields. It’s also Di’s responsibility to help feed the animals on the farm.

In the early part of the documentary, Di is shown doing karaoke with two girls who are about the same age. As she gets older, her activities and conversations with her friends and relatives revolve more around dating boys and her family’s expectations on when she should get married. Di and the other teens in her social circle rely heavily on their phones to communicate and find out what’s going on with each other.

A scene in the movie shows Di, at about age 13 or 14, shyly flirting on her phone with a man who calls himself Pao. He wants to meet her in person, but Di is reluctant and at first won’t tell him her real named. Di never goes to meet him, and his identity is never revealed, but the phone conversation looks like a case of an older man preying on an underage teenage girl.

“Children of the Mist” shows that the family goes to community festivals and parties, where the adults often get drunk. Alcohol abuse is mentioned numerous times throughout the movie as having a negative impact on family life. Kay bitterly complains about her unhappy marriage and says that her husband Má A Pho is a drunk who often verbally abuses and beats her and Di. (This alleged abuse is not shown in the documentary. Pho is shown stumbling around a lot and acts like happy drunk.)

Meanwhile, Kay (who admits to getting drunk on occasion) has this to say about her husband: “The man has no dignity. Even our son-in-law hates him, but he still thinks he’s the king.” Pho overhears her complaints about him, and he replies, “I know you’re cheating on me.”

At 14 years old, Di tries to tune out her parents troubled marriage, and she’s preoccupied with problems in her own love life. She gripes to a friend about how an ex-boyfriend dumped her for another girl, but Di says that she doesn’t love this guy anymore anyway. Still, she cares enough to discuss at length what this ex-boyfriend’s social media activities. And when he contacts Di to try to get back together with her, Di and her friend agree that it’s best for Di to ignore him.

The documentary takes a turn when Di starts dating a teenager close to her age named Thào A Vàng. It quickly becomes apparent that Vàng is much more smitten with Di than she is with him. She doesn’t want to break his heart, but she doesn’t want to marry him either. What happens during this courtship will define what type of woman Di wants to become, which might not align with other people’s expectations.

“Children of the Mist” presents an interesting sociological portrait of how teenagers who live in a relatively isolated rural areas are often caught in a world of being required to follow ancient traditions, but they have access to the modern world through technology and are keenly aware that these old traditions aren’t forced on people in other communities. In other words, Di is very aware that she can and should have options on what she wants to do with her life.

Di talks about wanting to finish her education and get a job so that she has enough money to travel with her mother, who has never traveled outside the village. The relationship that Di has with her mother is an example of how a mother wants the best for her child but is also fearful that her child will make the wrong decisions or will be trapped in the same harmful circumstances. Di says she’s not ready to get married at this time in her life, but how much will that decision be respected by other people?

In a very telling scene that shows the family’s dynamics, Di has stayed out past her curfew, and it’s assumed that Di is with Vàng. Kay’s attitude changes from slight annoyance that Di hasn’t been returning phone calls and messages to Kay expressing so much fear that she starts crying. Her husband Pho isn’t so worried and reminds her Kay that she used to break her curfew when she was Di’s age too, and it was how Pho was able to kidnap her. This reminder gets Kay even more distressed and worried about what happened to Di.

“Children of the Mist” offers an up-close look at many aspects of Di’s life. If there’s any flaw in the movie, it’s that it doesn’t really address the alleged abuse. Viewers are left to wonder if “Children on the Mist” director Hà had footage of this abuse but purposely chose to leave it out of this cinéma vérité-styled documentary. In addition, Hà says in the documentary’s voiceover introduction that she became friends with Di—perhaps inevitable, considering the intimate nature of this documentary, but still calls into question if this close friendship compromised the director’s judgment as a documentarian.

Even with so many unanswered questions about Di’s family life, “Children of the Mist” is still a very engrossing film that shows a poignant story about what child bride kidnapping can do over time to individuals, families and communities. It’s a real-life horror story that some people have become so numb to, it’s become accepted in the culture where Di was raised. Unlike a horror movie, there’s less likely to be a “final girl” happy ending.

Film Movement released “Children of the Mist” in select U.S. cinemas on December 16, 2022. The movie will be released on digital and DVD on February 14, 2023.

Review: ‘A Hundred Billion Key,’ starring Kiều Minh Tuấn, Thu Trang, Anh Tú and Jun Vũ

November 4, 2022

by Carla Hay

“A Hundred Billion Key”

Directed by Võ Thanh Hòa

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Vietnam, the action film “A Hundred Billion Key” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class, wealthy and the criminal underground.

Culture Clash: An aspiring actor steals the identity of a wealthy man with amnesia, but then finds out that the man whose identity he stole has a secret life as an assassin.

Culture Audience: “A Hundred Billion Key” will appeal primarily to fans who don’t mind action movies with plots that get ridiculous and have ill-placed comedy.

Anh Tú and Jun Vũ in “A Hundred Billion Key” (Photo courtesy of 3388 Films)

“A Hundred Billion Key” is an action flick that starts out promising but then turns into a heaping, nonsensical mess that mostly fumbles its attempts at comedy. This hyperactive movie about assassins and fake identities crams in too many surprises that become increasingly far-fetched. The film’s very absurd last 20 minutes look like the filmmakers couldn’t think of any believable ideas on how to end the movie.

Directed by Võ Thanh Hòa, “A Hundred Billion Key” is a Vietnamese remake of the 2012 Japanese film “Key of Life,” which was directed by Kenji Uchida. “Key of Life” was also remade into the 2016 South Korean film “Leokki (Luck-Key),” directed by Lee Gae-byok. “A Hundred Billion Key” is the least appealing of the three movies because of how it bungles this intriguing story that is supposed to have some intentional comedy.

The opening scene of “A Hundred Billion Key” (which takes place in an unnamed city in Vietnam) shows an assassin in his 30s named Phan Thach (played Kiều Minh Tuấn) disguised as a hotel waiter delivering room service to a man who’s a hotel guest. The cinematography in this scene is quite artistic, as the camera remains focused on the table being wheeled into the room without showing the assassin right away. As soon as Thach is in the room, he kills his target.

The murder victim put up a fight, which caused a big commotion. Hotel security is alerted to the disturbance in the room, the body is found, and the hunt is on in the hotel for the murderer. However, Thach escapes by shedding his waiter outfit and pretending to be a sanitation worker at the hotel and then slipping away into the night.

The movie than shows a 24-year-old man whose life will soon intertwine with Thach’s life. Cao Chí Dũng (played by Anh Tú) is an aspiring actor who hasn’t had much luck finding work. Dũng’s father immensely disapproves of Dũng’s chosen profession and pesters Dũng to get a “real job.” Dũng lives in an apartment and is five months behind on his rent.

When his landlady shows up with three men to demand the payment, Dũng is about to hang himself with a noose. This attempted suicide scene is played for laughs, in one of the movie’s many comedic scenes that are poorly done or in very bad taste. When the landlady and her three cohorts break down the door, Dũng changes his mind about killing himself and escapes out of a back window.

“One Billion Key” then abruptly cuts to a scene showing assassin Thach in the shower at a public bath house. He accidentally slips on some soap, falls down, and hits his head so hard, he becomes unconscious. Dũng happens to be nearby in the shower, and he sees that this stranger has accidentally dropped a key, but no one else notices. Dũng takes the key, while other people nearby rush to help this unconscious stranger.

A rideshare service is called to take Thach to the nearest hospital. The rideshare driver who shows up is a woman in her 30s named Mai Mai (played by Thu Trang), who is understandably stressed-out over this situation, since she’s the only person accompanying this stranger to the hospital. Viewers have to suspend disbelief that an ambulance wasn’t called in this emergency medical situation.

Mai doesn’t want to stay at the hospital, but she’s forced to do so because she’s the only person at the hospital who can tell the medical professionals what she saw when Thach was put in her car. Thach left all of his identification and his clothing at the bath house. And his wallet, clothing and ID have been stolen by Dũng, who has quickly figured out that Thach is wealthy, based on Thach’s designer clothes, credit cards and home address. Dũng leaves his own clothing and ID behind, in the hope that people will think Thach is Dũng, even though the two men aren’t close in age and don’t look alike.

Dũng uses the key to gain entry to Thach’s house and sees that Thach lives alone. Dũng figures that he can get away with this identity theft as long as Thach is in the hospital. And so, Dũng goes on a spending spree that includes a lot of partying and buying of luxury items. He also uses some of Thach’s money to pay the rent that he owes his landlady. Dũng’s identity theft lasts longer than expected when he finds out that Thach has amnesia, and people have told him that Thach’s name is Cao Chí Dũng.

This flimsy concept is the shaky basis for “A Hundred Billion Key,” which wants viewers to believe that this identity switch is plausible. A huge plot hole that’s never addressed is how two men who don’t look alike, who are years apart in age, and who had photo IDs before this identity switch could be mistaken for each other. The movie’s not-very-believable explanation is that Thach is a loner assassin who is a master of disguises, so his clients don’t ever really know what he looks like. It’s even less believable that Dũng can hide his true identity, in order to steal Thach’s identity.

As soon as Dũng finds out that Thach has taken on Dũng’s identity and is about to be discharged from the hospital, Dũng rushes to his apartment building and tells the landlady that someone else will be living in his apartment unit for a while. Dũng tells the landlady not to bother this new tenant. Back at Thach’s home, Dũng finds a secret room filled with surveillance equipment, walkie talkies and disguises. Dũng incorrectly assumes that Thach is an undercover police officer.

Dũng also finds out from the surveillance cameras that Thach has been spying on a pretty young woman named Hồ Phuong (played by Jun Vũ), who lives nearby. The more that Dũng observes Phuong, the more he’s attracted to her. Eventually, Dũng comes up with a plan to meet Phuong, and he charms her into going on a date with him. You know where this is going, of course, because Dũng can’t keep up his charade forever.

Meanwhile, Mai takes it upon herself to help Thach, who thinks he’s Dũng, in order to get his life back on track. They find out that Dũng is an aspiring actor who has been called to audition for a small role in an action TV show. Guess who’s going to the audition instead of the real Dũng?

This part of the movie is just one of a minefield of plot holes in “A Hundred Billion Key.” This movie takes place at a time when Internet searches can easily be done, so it makes no sense that Mai and people at the hospital don’t try to find out what Dũng looks like before putting his identity on this amnesiac stranger who looks nothing like Dũng. There’s also no explanation for how Dũng’s identity as an actor could be replaced by someone who doesn’t look like him.

Mai has another job besides being a rideshare driver. She works at a fast-food restaurant owned by her meddling mother (played by Kim Xuan), who is upset that Mai is in her 30s and still not married. Mai has a younger sister (played by Puka), who also looks down on Mai for being a spinster of a certain age. Expect to see a lot of stereotypical family bickering between these three women.

Mai helps Thach/the fake Dũng get a job at the restaurant. A running gag in the movie is that this cold-blooded and confident killer is now an insecure fast-food server who is an aspiring actor. It should come as no surprise that Mai, who helps Thach/the fake Dũng build his confidence as an actor, starts to become attracted to him. And the feeling is mutual.

The real Dũng’s only family is his widowed father, who is currently estranged from him, so Dũng’s father doesn’t know about the switched identities. But what about any of Dũng’s friends, neighbors or previous work colleagues who could easily identify him? They are all non-existent. Meanwhile, (dumb plot development alert) Thach, as the fake Dũng, becomes a TV star.

Things get complicated for the real Dũng when he finds out that the man whose identity he stole is really a high-paid assassin. And guess who’s supposed to be his next target? Hint: It’s the only person in the movie who didn’t know Dũng’s real identity before meeting him. It’s all so obvious and lacking in any real suspense, although “A Hundred Billion Key” throws in ludicrous plot developments on top of ludicrous plot developments in a feeble attempt to distract viewers from all the movie’s plot holes.

The rest of the movie involves people on the run from crime bosses, a computer flash drive that contains information that will access a fortune, and a series of cliché-ridden fight scenes. The cast members’ adequate performances aren’t the movie’s biggest problems. “A Hundred Billion Key” fails at being creative because of the insipid storytelling, erratic tone (its attempts at being a wacky comedy look very awkward) and all-around bad dialogue. Action movies aren’t supposed to be intellectual, and many action movies aren’t realistic, but there’s just too much stupidity in “A Hundred Billion Key” that drains the movie of even having the entertainment value of being a guilty pleasure.

3388 Films released “A Hundred Billion Key” in select U.S. cinemas on October 28, 2022. The movie was released in Vietnam on February 1, 2022.

Review: ‘The Roundup’ (2022), starring Don Lee, Son Suk-ku, Choi Guy-hwa and Park Ji-hwan

June 5, 2022

by Carla Hay

Son Suk-ku and Don Lee in “The Roundup” (Photo courtesy of Capelight Pictures)

“The Roundup” (2022)

Directed by Lee Sang-yong

Korean and Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Korea and Vietnam, the action film “The Roundup” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class, wealthy and the criminal underground.

Culture Clash: Roguish police detective Ma Seok-do and his colleagues try to hunt down a ruthless crime boss, who eludes law enforcement in Korea and Vietnam.

Culture Audience: “The Roundup” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of “The Outlaws,” star Don Lee, and suspenseful action flicks about cops versus criminals.

Don Lee and Choi Guy-hwa in “The Roundup” (Photo courtesy of Capelight Pictures)

“The Roundup” delivers plenty of thrills and adrenaline-pumped action in this worthy sequel to 2017’s “The Outlaws.” In this “cops versus criminals” story, the flawed protagonist’s misdeeds and mistakes bring some intentional laughs. The last third of the movie includes an epic chase during a kidnapping and ransom drop that will make “The Roundup” a memorable standout among a sea of action films.

Directed by Lee Sang-yong, “The Roundup” (which picks up four years after the events of “The Outlaws”) continues the story of hot-tempered police detective Ma Seok-do (played by Don Lee), who is nicknamed “The Beast” or “Beast Cop,” because he doesn’t hesitate to commit police brutality to get his version of justice. Detective Ma works in the major crimes unit of the Seoul Police Department in South Korea. His antics have given him a reputation as a loose-cannon cop.

An early scene in the movie shows how Detective Ma operates. He’s called to a crime scene at a convenience store, where a deranged man with a knife is having a shouting meltdown and wildly swinging the knife at anyone who comes near him. Detective Ma shows up late because he says he was on “a blind date.”

Detective Ma quickly subdues the attacker with a very illegal beatdown. The movie then cuts to a scene at the police station, where Detective Ma and three colleagues look at an unflattering newspaper article about this incident. The article, which has a photo of Detective Ma at the convenience store, has a headline saying that the Beast Cop has struck again.

The article mentions that Detective Ma was disciplined for excessive use of force, and he was sent to rehab for 12 weeks. Detective Ma scoffs at the report with his three cop colleagues: mild-mannered Oh Dong-gyun (played by Heo Dong-won), eager Kang Hong-seok (played by Ha Joon) and rookie Kim Sang-hoon (played by Jung Jae-kwang). All three of these cops look up to Detective Ma for his fearless and often-irreverent attitude.

One person in the police department who tries (and often fails) to control Detective Ma is his supervisor Captain Jeon (played by Choi Guy-hwa), who frequently admonishes Detective Ma, but begrudgingly admits that Detective Ma is often effective in his work. That’s why Captain Jeon often looks the other way or enables Detective Ma to get away with certain unethical things, if it means that it will help the cops solve a case. When Captain Jeon and Detective Ma do interrogations together, it’s easy to predict who will play the “good cop” role and who will play the “bad cop” role.

Captain Jeon tells Detective Ma that the two of them will be going to Vietnam to investigate why a South Korean criminal named Yoo Jong-hoon (played by Jeon Jin-oh) has turned himself into authorities in Vietnam. Yoo Jong-hoon was a suspect in a high-profile jewelry heist in South Korea, so the two cops want to see what Yoo Jong-hoon has to say and if he can be extradited back to South Korea. There’s some comical back-and-forth between Captain Jeon and Detective Ma about which of them can speak English on this trip.

The interrogation of Yoo Jong-hoon leads to him confessing to being involved in a 2008 kidnapping and murder of a wealthy South Korean business scion in his 20s named Choi Yong-gi (played by Cha Woo-jin) in Ho Chi Minh City. This kidnapping and murder were committed by a gang led by a ruthless overlord named Kang Hae-sang (played by Son Suk-ku, also known as Son Seok-koo), whose charming good looks mask a nasty and sadistic personality. Son’s portrayal of this villain is one of the main reasons to see “The Roundup,” because he convincingly plays the Kang Hae-sang character as both coldly calculating and insanely reckless.

The rest of “The Roundup” involves Detective Ma and his colleagues uncovering more of Kang’s crimes and trying to track him down to arrest him, first in Vietnam and then in South Korea. Kang is an elusive and crafty criminal who always seems to be far ahead of law enforcement. Instead of keeping a low profile when he knows he’s being hunted, he goes out of his way to cause more madness and mayhem. It’s why, as a movie villain, Kang is riveting to watch.

Needless to say, “The Roundup” has a lot of brutal violence that is not for viewers who get easily offended by this type of content. Some of the fight stunts are over-the-top and unrealistic, because these fights would definitely cause more damage in real life than what’s shown in the movie. However, that doesn’t mean that the cops and other people involved in the fights don’t have the physical effects of getting beaten up or shot. “The Roundup” has four people credited as the movie’s screenwriters: director Lee Sang-yong, Ma Dong-seok, Young-jong Lee and Min-Seong Kim.

People don’t watch a movie like “The Roundup” for award-worthy acting. However, the acting in “The Roundup” is better than the average “cops versus criminals” movie. Lee is very charismatic in his role as Detective Ma, the rogue cop who makes wisecracking quips in between some of his questionable and harsh ways of getting what he wants. The actors in supporting roles get their jobs done well, but make no mistake: It’s the Beast Cop’s world, and everyone else is just living in it. The villain Kang Hae-sang is the only supporting character who can be considered truly formidable to Detective Ma.

Just when you think “The Roundup” is going to be a typical international police caper that will wrap up in a certain way, the movie ramps up the suspense with a kidnapping. This abduction involves the parents of murder victim Choi Yong-gi, whose father Choi Chun-baek (played by Nam Mun-cheol) was with him in Vietnam before Choi Yong-gi was abducted and murdered. The Choi spouses are targeted because of their wealth and because of certain things that happened after their son’s death.

One of the Choi spouses gets kidnapped, but this review won’t reveal which spouse. A Detective Ma colleague named Jang Isu (played by Park Ji-hwan) is recruited to help in the kidnapping case. This kidnapping plot development leads to the best parts of the movie, which takes some action-packed twists and turns that will have viewers completely on edge to see what will happen next. It makes “The Roundup” the type of gripping and crowd-pleasing thriller that is sure to inspire more sequels.

Capelight Pictures released “The Roundup” in select U.S. cinemas on May 20, 2022. The movie was released in South Korea on May 18, 2022.

Review: ‘The Ancestral,’ starring Lâm Thanh Mỹ, Quang Tuấn, Mai Cát Vi and Dieu Nhi

May 21, 2022

by Carla Hay

“The Ancestral”

Directed by Le Van Kiet

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed part of Vietnam, the horror film “The Ancestral” features an all-Vietnamese cast of characters representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: After the tragic death of his wife, a widower takes his two underage daughters to live in an abandoned ancestral mansion, which appears to be haunted by ghosts.

Culture Audience: “The Ancestral” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of horror movies about ghosts and haunted houses.

Mai Cát Vi and Quang Tuấn in “The Ancestral” (Photo courtesy of T2 Group)

“The Ancestral” overcomes repetitive clichés in movies about haunted houses, by delivering an intriguing plot twist in the last third of the movie. Spooky jump scares, convincing visual effects and good acting make “The Ancestral” an entrancing horror film. “The Ancestral” does a lot with a relatively small number of people in its cast. It’s a movie that could have gone down a predictable route, but it keeps viewers guessing over what will happen until the very last scene. Viewers should stick around for a mid-credits scene that shows the fate of one of the characters.

Written and directed by Le Van Kiet, “The Ancestral” (which takes place in an unnamed part of Vietnam) begins with a widower named Thanh (played by Quang Tuấn) driving himself and his two underage daughters to an abandoned and dilapidated mansion, which is described as an ancestral family home. Elder daughter Linh (played by Lâm Thanh Mỹ), who’s about 14 or 15 years old, is a serious and responsible child who has essentially become the female head of the household. Younger daughter Yen (played by Mai Cát Vi), who’s about 10 or 11 years old, is more outgoing and playful than Linh.

The family is grieving over the death of Thanh’s wife, who was the mother of Linh and Yen. Thanh’s wife died a year before for reasons that are later explained in the movie. Even though this ancestral mansion is dark, run-down and very creepy-looking, Thanh has decided that they are going to move there for a change of scenery. He thinks that this change of environment will help all three of them heal from their grief.

However, the house is a less-than-ideal place to raise two children. There is no electricity in the house. And it’s the type of abandoned place that has been neglected for so long, many things in the house look rusty and worn-down. And as is typical for a haunted house in a horror movie, it’s also in an isolated area, where there doesn’t seem to be any neighbors around for miles.

Not long after moving into their new home, Thanh tells his daughters: “It’s just the three of us now.” He also tells Linh that she has to look after Yen when he’s not there. The movie never details what Thanh does for a living, but he’s often away during the day. He plans to have Linh and Yen homeschooled, so he later introduces them to a pretty young woman named Ms. Hanh (played by Diệu Nhi), whom he says will be the girls’ tutor.

Strange things start happening immediately after the family gets settled in the house. Linh and Yen both start to see various people in the house. And these people appear to be ghosts. Some of them are shadowy apparitions that run across a room and disappear. Others run on all fours and then attack before Linh and Yen wake up, as if it was all a bad dream.

And these sightings don’t just happen at night. In an eerie and chilling scene, Linh is outside in the house yard as she hangs laundered sheets to dry. She starts to see human faces pressed against the sheets. But when she looks behind the sheets, no one is there. And then what appears to be an old lady, who has matted hair and black teeth, attacks Linh before running away. This time, Yen saw this ghost too.

Adding to the terror, Yen starts to sleepwalk. And sometimes she appears to be experiencing paralysis during a nightmare where she can’t wake up unless someone vigorously shakes her. Yen and Linh tell their father about these scary incidents, but he dismisses it all as the girls having bad dreams. Thanh tells his daughters: “There are no such things as ghosts and demons.”

Ms. Hanh is kind and sympathetic to Yen and Linh. This tutor also seems to be spending a lot of time with Thanh, which leads Yen to joke that maybe their father and Ms. Hanh will end up dating each other. Ms. Hanh also goes out of her way to show that she wants to befriend the girls, and not just be their tutor.

One day, Thanh surprises the girls by showing them a new, more modern home where they will be moving to in the near future. Yen and Linh each has her own bedroom in this new home. Ms. Hanh has even gone to the trouble of decorating each of the girls’ bedrooms, according to the tastes of each girl.

But this seemingly idyllic new living situation is hindered as more haunting incidents occur. These ghost sightings and jump scares become a little tiresome after a while when it’s just a repeat of the girls getting scared, and their father not really doing anything about it but comforting them and telling them that ghosts aren’t real. By the middle of movie, viewers might be frustrated that nothing much is being done in plot development.

But viewers who are patient enough to stick around for the last third of the movie will be rewarded with some compelling twists and turns. Lâm Thanh Mỹ and Mai Cát Vi give very good performances as loyal sisters Linh and Yen, whose sibling relationship is at the heart of the movie. There’s a little bit of melodrama in a climactic “life or death” scene, but this melodrama doesn’t lessen the impact of the suspense that ramps up in this last section of the movie. “The Ancestral” has its best moments when it shows that even in the devastation of grief, there is always hope for healing.

T2 Group released “The Ancestral” in select U.S. cinemas on May 13, 2022. The movie was released in Vietnam on March 18, 2022, and in Malaysia and Singapore on March 24, 2022.

Review: ‘Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry),’ starring Tuấn Trần, Trấn Thành and Ngân Chi

June 19, 2021

by Carla Hay

“Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)”

Directed by Tran Thanh and Ngoc Dang Vu

Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon), Vietnam, the comedy/drama film “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” features an all-Asian cast representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A dysfunctional family has ups and downs as the family’s fortune ebbs and flows, and the family is affected by a paternity scandal.

Culture Audience: “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching a soap-opera-styled family story that has overly exaggerated acting and elements of broad comedy.

Cast members of “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” Pictured in back row, from left to right: Quốc Khánh, Lan Phương, Aquay and Lê Trang. Pictured in middle row, from left to right: *La Thành*, Hoàng Mèo, Trấn Thành, Ngọc Giàu and Bảo Phuc. Pictured in front row, from left to right: Tuấn Trần and Ngân Chi. (Photo courtesy of 3388 Films)

If you’re prone to get headaches from watching movies where most of the actors shout unnecessarily when they over-emote, then make sure that you have some aspirin nearby when watching “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry).” It’s a convoluted and frequently messy film that awkwardly tries to balance comedy and drama, with over-the-top acting that lowers the quality of what could have been a more interesting movie. The treacly sentimentality tacked on at the end of the story can’t erase the problematic scenes where women are treated as nuisances, in order to make sure that the male characters have the most importance in the story.

Directed by Tran Thanh and Ngoc Dang Vu and written by Ho Thuc An and Nhi Bui, “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” tells the story about a very dysfunctional family in Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon. (“Bố Già,” which means “The Godfather” in Vietnamese, is based on Tran Thanh’s web series of the same name.) Within this family are varying degrees of wealth, which cause feelings of insecurity and jealousy among the poor family members who live in the ghetto and the middle-class family members who have more comfortable lifestyles. During the course of the story, the family’s fortunes change, which affect the clan’s dynamics in how they treat each other and how they are viewed by the outside world.

The members of this bickering family are:

Ba Sang (played by Trấn Thành), the movie’s narrator, a divorced father who lost his fortune and is now heavily in debt.
Quấn (played by Tuấn Trần), Ba Sang’s son, who is a 23-year-old aspiring YouTube star.
Bu Tot (played by Ngân Chi), a 6-year-old girl who has been raised by Ba Sang, ever since he brought her home when she was a baby.
Hai Giàu (played by Ngọc Giàu), Ba Sang’s older sister, who sells gravestone plots and employs Ba Sang to help him pay off his debts.
Út Quý (played by La Thành), Hai Giàu’s alcoholic son who’s the “black sheep” of the family.
Bình Lợi (played by Quốc Khánh), Hai Giàu’s goofy younger son.
Tư Phú (played by Hoàng Mèo), Ba Sang’s younger brother who is generally passive unless he gets irritated by his nagging wife.
Thím Ánh (played by Lan Phương), also known as Ánh, who is Tư Phú’s overly critical, shrewish and very materialistic wife.

Another featured character in the movie is Cam Le (played by Lê Giang), a platonic friend of Ba Sang who might or might not have romantic feelings for him. Cam Le is often the calm voice of reason when Ba Sang and his family start feuding or acting unstable. And a woman named Truc Nhan (played by Minh Tu), who’s from Quấn’s past, resurfaces with news that shakes up the family.

Much of Ba Sang’s insecurity comes from feeling like a loser because he used to be a successful businessman, but he made a lot of bad choices, and now he’s drowning in debt. His financial problems also cost him his marriage. Ba Sang is living in a very poor neighborhood that he thinks is beneath the social class that he thinks he deserves.

Ba Sang’s alcoholic nephew Út Quý is a criminal who is in debt to some local gangsters. The movie has a subplot about these gangsters lurking around because they’re growing impatient with Út Quý being unable to repay the money that he owes. Út Quý’s drinking problem is so bad that he has the unsavory reputation of being the “town drunk.”

Ba Sang’s adult son Quấn still lives with Ba Sang, who is annoyed because he doesn’t think that Quấn’s YouTube channel is a practical way to make money. Ba Sang lectures Quấn to get a “real job,” but Quấn refuses to do anything else for work because he’s convinced that he will eventually get rich from being a YouTube star. The only person in the family whom Ba Sang doesn’t seem to get irritated with at some point or another is Bu Tot, who is an adorable and obedient child.

Because “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” is a soap-opera-styled movie, there’s a lot of twists and turns to the plot that include a paternity scandal and a health crisis where someone needs a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, the melodramatic tone to the story means that the actors tend to over-act in a way that’s not flattering to the movie. And there’s too much shouting of dialogue, as if some of the actors think that in order to convey strong emotions, you have to shout.

“Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” also has a problematic way of depicting domestic violence. In more than one scene, Tư Phú slaps his wife Ánh very hard on the face when they argue. But this type of abuse is brushed aside as nothing more than a man trying to control his wife when she gets too mouthy. When he slaps her, it’s in front of other members of the family who do nothing about this abuse. In one scene, Ba Sang says that Ánh deserves to be slapped for “running her mouth.”

As annoying as Ánh can be, no one deserves to have this type of abuse inflicted on them. Ánh isn’t even the most troublemaking member of the family. Ne’er-do-well drunkard Út Quý is the family’s biggest problem, but his destructive behavior is excused, with the implication being that because he’s a man, he’s allowed to get away with it. There’s a scene where Út Quý literally destroys a birthday party for his brother Bình Lợi, but Út Quý faces no real consequences.

In addition to the movie’s over-the-top acting, “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” falters by trying to cram in too much melodrama, which results in some of the more pivotal scenes being rushed. And many of the scenes that are intended to be comedic are just irritating, unless you consider it amusing to see a bunch of actors portraying family members who act like feuding chickens.

Some of the direction is downright sloppy. There’s a scene where the family has gathered inside an apartment, and the family member who owns the apartment goes inside a bedroom, and is surprised to see an estranged member of the family in the room. How did that person get in that room without anyone else knowing, when there’s only one door for the apartment? It’s never explained.

“Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” isn’t a terrible film, since it has some touching moments that are meant to be a sentimental message about how people should not take family members for granted. It takes this 128-minute movie a long time to get to that message toward the end of the film. Just be prepared to sit through a lot of tiresome human squawking along the way.

3388 Films released “Bố Già (Dad, I’m Sorry)” in U.S. cinemas on May 28, 2021. The movie was released in Vietnam on March 12, 2021.