Hanoi [Vietnam], September 16: Having grossed over 500 billion VND across three feature films, director Huynh Lap has affirmed his box office appeal, even though his works have never ceased to generate mixed reactions and controversies.
It's noticeable that Huynh Lap 's films often receive mixed reviews, with scripts criticized for being overly ambitious, having too much dialogue, and sometimes resembling web dramas, yet they consistently attract audiences, generate word-of-mouth, and achieve box office success.
This paradox actually partly explains how Huynh Lap found his place in cinema: he hasn't necessarily made films that are truly polished in terms of cinematic language, but he is quite adept at finding stories that resonate with the psychology, culture, and emotional lives of Vietnamese people.
Strengths and weaknesses in Huynh Lap's films
Looking back at Huynh Lap's three films, one can recognize a fairly consistent theme in his cinematic world: spirituality is just a facade; beneath it all are people, family, kinship, and losses that need to be resolved.
The 2019 film *The Blind Sorcerer* evolved from the web-drama * Who Dies First?* , revolving around Tinh Lam, a sorcerer who has lost his sight and seeks to regain it. The film blends spirituality, fantasy, comedy, and romance. Notably, the supernatural elements aren't simply used for scares. The film juxtaposes perspectives on spirituality, science, and superstition, creating a world quite unique compared to many other Vietnamese horror films of the time.
But even from his first work, the limitations later often mentioned in Huynh Lap's films were already present: a multi-branched storyline, some illogical plot points, unnecessary emotional elements, and limited visuals and special effects. The mark of someone who has matured from stage performances, online videos, and web dramas is evident in his mastery of dialogue, his skillful use of comedic elements, and his situational storytelling. Despite this, "The Blind Sorcerer" still grossed over 60 billion VND, demonstrating that the spiritual and comedic world that Huynh Lap created has its own audience.
In "The Ancestral House" (2025), Huynh Lap takes a significant step forward: reducing the horror element to place family and traditional culture at the center of the story. Gia Minh - the deceased brother who cannot yet leave the ancestral home - and My Tien, the younger sister, form two sides of a dialogue between the old and the new, between preserving family traditions and the right to choose one's own life.
Source: Thanh Nein Newspaper
