Monica Nguyễn

please don't waste your time with this. I just want to see it for myself before judging anything, and do I much regret for putting up with this for almost 1.5 hours. This is a complete mockery to the original piece and an insult to the Vietnamese literature. Bad writing, plot holes, distasteful dialogues that do not match the settings, little depths, and horribly paced storyline (not to mention stupid additional details that sabotage the real essence of Nguyen Du's original work). The main actress's acting is lacking, but I don't blame her because she has so little spotlight and is given too little development. I could even careless about the main casts, maybe except for Hoan Thu. Because the pacing is so horrible, their characters become so dull and flat. If only Dam Tien wasn't there, and the audience could see Kieu managing her own conflicts (or struggling through them like in the original work), it would speak more about her character and provoke more thoughts in the audience. Furthermore, the s*x scenes and implications are revolting because they just do not make sense in this historical context (and don't get me started with how Kieu is supposed to be a v*rg*n in this adaptation despite being in the wh*rehouse). S*x can be artistic and delicate in cinematography, but this explicit and crude representation is laughable. The only decent thing about this movie that I can come up with this is Madame Hoan's acting and the OST, but those are not enough to offset my experience with this.