Vietnamese cinema has brought to the big screen a series of literary works by writer Nguyen Nhat Anh. Some of them include: The Girl from Yesterday, Blue Eyes, I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass... and most recently, "Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story".
“Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story” by director Trinh Dinh Le Minh, after 6 days in theaters, earned 28 billion VND in revenue (as of the morning of November 6) according to data from Box Office.
To reach the hundred billion revenue milestone, “Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story” needs to maintain a large number of screenings in theater systems, and at the same time needs a stronger “push” and word of mouth like “Mat Biec” or “Toi thay hoa vang tren co xanh” once had.
“Once upon a time there was a love story” has a “common denominator” with the film works adapted from the literature of writer Nguyen Nhat Anh.
The work brings a pure atmosphere following the main characters from childhood to adulthood.
The female lead Mien (Ngoc Xuan) is built with Nguyen Nhat Anh's literary style with an unmistakable style. She is the girl who makes all the male leads and supporting actors "fall in love" at first sight, secretly loving her since childhood.
Coming to "Once upon a time there was a love story", it can be seen that Mien has many similarities with Viet An of "The girl from yesterday", and even Ha Lan of "Blue eyes"...
The way Mien appeared on screen was described exactly like the way Viet An appeared in class for the first time, making Thu (Ngo Kien Huy) stunned, or the way Ha Lan stepped from the book onto the screen... Still the expressive eyes, long hair, pure, clear beauty, making anyone melt.
Phuc or Vinh in "Once upon a time there was a love story" are as infatuated as Ngan was in love with Ha Lan, or Thu was "crazy" about Viet An.
The works of writer Nguyen Nhat Anh that were chosen to be adapted into films have the "common denominator" of pure first love, beautiful memories of childhood, and the depth of emotions from childhood to adulthood of the characters.
They are often built with a love triangle, each character choosing their own path when facing the crossroads of adulthood.
Even though they encounter many storms and sufferings on their life journey, they still keep the beautiful and bright memories of their childhood.
The subtle vibrations of first love, the struggle between love and friendship often recur in the literary works of writer Nguyen Nhat Anh.
The peaceful, nostalgic countryside space, with pure childhood memories in the literature of writer Nguyen Nhat Anh, once helped the film series achieve a revenue miracle.
In 2015, the film “I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass” reached a revenue of about 78 billion VND, a miracle at that time. Many American newspapers reported, in which Hollywood Reporter wrote, the film “I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass” became a box office phenomenon when it earned more than 3.5 million USD (about 78 billion VND at that time).
In 2017, the movie "The Girl from Yesterday" directed by Phan Gia Nhat Linh earned 50 billion VND after 10 days of release, considered a surprise fever, the movie achieved a final total revenue of about 70 billion VND.
In 2019, the film “Mat Biec” directed by Victor Vu made a record of 180 billion VND, once being in the top of the highest-grossing Vietnamese films of all time. To date, “Mat Biec” is still on the list of rare works with revenue of hundreds of billions of Vietnamese cinema.
With "Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story", a revenue miracle will be difficult to happen, because the film's color is similar to old stories, from the countryside space, the linear time of storytelling, the way of building a love triangle, to the emotions from first love...
The billion-dollar "curse" once happened to a series of blockbuster films adapted from Nguyen Nhat Anh's stories to the screen. This "curse" will probably be difficult to come true with "Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story".
