Eating "pho - bun - chao game show", still can't give up "Vietnamese movie rice"

Films that are attracting audiences such as The Apple Tree in Bloom (left), Love for the Climbing Catfish (above), and Sunflower Against the Sun (below) all have themes about family.

After a period of not being interested in TV dramas, in recent years audiences have chosen to watch movies - especially Vietnamese movies - for entertainment.

Of the 10 TV shows with high ratings, Vietnamese films account for half. On YouTube, Vietnamese films are always on the top of the search results, and at the same time create heated public opinion on forums.

The Apple Tree in Bloom Movie

"Rice can be eaten every day"

Mr. Le Quang Nguyen - former director of Vinh Long Television Station - compared: "Entertainment programs are like pho or other delicacies, you get bored of eating them all the time. Meanwhile, movies are like rice for Vietnamese people. Everyone can eat rice every day, so movies always attract the attention of the audience."

Ms. Truong Son - Head of the Film Exploitation Department of Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) - also affirmed: "If done well, Vietnamese films will still attract many viewers because films are about everyday life, about circumstances, fates, situations... very rich and attractive, if exploited. Watching films is not boring and saturated like watching game shows".

Currently, in addition to the familiar television channels of Vinh Long, Vietnam Television, HTV, SCTV; K+ have also jumped into the field of television production, with the first film being Evil Mother, Angel Father directed by Vu Ngoc Dang, scheduled to air this July. SCTV has just established a second film studio, opening a new Vietnamese film hour on SCTV4 at 9:10 p.m. from Friday to Sunday every week.

Most recently, on April 17, HTV7 also changed the weekly foreign film broadcast time every Saturday to Vietnamese film broadcast time called Saturday Entertainment Film. The opening of this film hour is Nguoi giu Viet (4 episodes) and HTV is currently broadcasting the film Sex.

Movie Love for the climbing perch

Long road to conquering the audience

Mr. Le Quang Nguyen analyzed that television is no longer popular, about 60% of the population does not watch television but instead switches to the Internet. Prime time on television has been shortened to 5pm to 10pm (previously there was an additional prime time at noon), so how to maintain the audience's love for Vietnamese films is not simple.

Ms. Truong Son said that currently HTV9 has Vietnamese movies at 10pm, but so far it has not been really effective because the broadcast time is quite late. The station is also researching to move this movie to an earlier time slot.

As a direct producer of the film, director Truong Dung shared that one factor that makes Vietnamese films suitable for the taste buds is understanding what the audience needs and satisfying their curiosity. According to Mr. Nguyen, "the main audience is still housewives because the best ratings are still for this group, so films need to focus on satisfying the majority's tastes."

Sunflower Against the Sun

And perhaps because they mainly target women, recently producers and TV stations have only focused on the theme of family psychology and emotions, and it is true that most of the films attract audiences, such as Come Home, My Dear, Sticky Rice, Whole Rice (Part 1), A Lifetime of Enmity, Sunflower Against the Sun, Apple Blossom... Other film genres such as crime, youth are absent...

However, the producers of some films have tended to extend the number of episodes, making the films long-winded, rambling, and illogical... causing the audience to react.

For example, the series Gao nep gao te was originally 80 episodes long, then increased to 99 episodes, then finalized to 109 episodes; Huong duong nguoc nang originally had 60 episodes but has now passed episode 64 with no end in sight... Many viewers complained: "It's too long, I watched it out of curiosity but the more I watched, the more disappointed I became."

Therefore, Vietnamese TV dramas still have to try very hard to keep the audience from turning their backs.

According to Tuoi Tre