Reading for Acting

Hai năm trở lại đây, các nhà đầu tư ít đầu tư cho phim truyền hình. Lí do là vì phim kém chất lượng giống như trường hợp có những phim đang chiếu trên VTV bị ngưng. Bây giờ, người ta lại thích đầu tư phim chiếu rạp vì thời lượng ngắn, thu hồi vốn nhanh. Còn phim truyền hình thì chôn vốn lâu lắm, ví dụ bỏ ra 10 tỷ để đầu tư cho 100 tập phim truyền hình thì khoảng một năm sau mới có thể lấy lại được vốn nên người ta e dè.

– Đạo diễn Hữu Phước, Hãng phim Nguyễn Đình Chiểu

He said that in 2011. And now, in 2016, after 5 years, it’s still true, even more true. We can see the development of Vietnamese movie through the number of movie showed in cinema. Eventhough it’s just a small number but in comparison with a few last years in Vietnam, it’s the noticeable number. I feel glad for Vietnamese movie. But Vietnamese drama is still the same. Last year, I watched episode one of Khuc nhac mat troi (because I like its Japanese version Taiyou no uta too much), and I find myself totally depressed. The episode one really made me feel annoying. In Japanese version, they just used 15 minutes to tell the story that Vietnamese version extended it to one hour. I can’t endure it. The dialogues were too long and sometimes, meaningless.

These days, I realize that after all, I’m still in love with drama – the initial reason took me to the love with cinema. It’s just that I don’t have so much free time to watch drama anymore… I hope that one day, Vietnamese drama will develope.

I still remember the day when I was in that casting room and silently watching the candidates acted. There were so much fun, so much laugh, so much emotion, so many questions made me think. The director asked so many the candidates about books that they read before told them to act. I felt a little weird but somehow happy because I could see the director loved book and reading. But the answers from the candidates made me surprised. They didn’t even know some classic works that must have been quite popular in Vietnam. Then, the director told them had to read literature book or social science book. “It’s also the essential task of the actor. The actor not only acts but also has to understand about the world, or just say it simple, the thing that happening around them everyday. If the actor doesn’t understand about the people or the world they live in, how can they act, how can they recreate reality through their acting. Therefore, you guys have to read so many books, not only read books about acting, cinema but also the other kinds of books.” The way the director said it touched me, it made me love books even more. That day, something changed in my mind. I thought that there was still hope in Vietnamese drama. There is still hope now if we just continue reading and loving, if we are in love with cinema and in love with literature.