Director Tran Anh Hung: Making commercial films like Tran Thanh is beneficial for Vietnam

Director Tran Anh Hung affirmed that blockbuster films will make the cinema industry survive. However, directors who make commercial films still have to balance, ensuring good artistry and cinematic language.

During a press conference on the morning of March 20, director Tran Anh Hung shared with Thanh Nien about the process of making the work The Taste of Things . In addition, the male director had frank comments on the success of commercial films as well as bringing Vietnamese cinema to the international arena.

Director Tran Anh Hung and his wife bring the Cannes Film Festival winning work - The Taste of Things to Vietnam

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“My films are always a gift”

* Where did the idea for you to make the film The Taste of Things come from? - Director Tran Anh Hung: I have wanted to make a film about food for 20 years, and had many previous projects but they were not successful. Until I came across the book La Vie et la Passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet (1924) and was immediately attracted when the characters in it talked about food very well. After that, I was lucky to find a producer who agreed and started making it. However, I did not take the whole story of the book but only kept the character's name. That book begins with the death of the character Eugenie, but I wanted to tell the previous events between Eugenie and Dodin. * What was the opportunity for you to find the two main actors? - Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel are two names in French cinema. I chose this couple because Juliette is very similar to the character as she is an independent, strong woman, and Benoît has the appearance and acting style that fits the humanity of the film. With Juliette Binoche, I met her a long time ago and we promised to work together on a film. I had to wait for a project that was suitable for Juliette and she agreed. It was also thanks to Juliette's acceptance that this project could "live", overcoming the difficult moments during the Covid-19 pandemic. Actor Benoît Magimel and Juliette used to be a couple and had a daughter together. However, they broke up and did not work together for more than 20 years. I was also very worried when I wanted the two of them to return to the screen. But in the end, Benoît said he wanted to make this film and Juliette was surprised by that. * How do you expect Vietnamese audiences to receive your art film? - I don't expect or fear that the audience will be picky about movies. For me, the movies that Tran Anh Hung makes are always a gift. Whether people accept them or not is up to them. They contain a lot of passion, cherished thoughts, and humanistic values ​​that my crew and I want to convey. I appreciate the fact that the audience comes to enjoy them, but I don't care about how much or how little they watch. The important thing is what I want to say, what special emotions I want to bring to the audience. For me, each movie is a work, not a product, and the audience is not a customer. Of course, I also have to make a work like that to have income to continue making future projects. * Do you plan to make another movie about Vietnam in the future? - Of course! In the future, I also want to make a movie about Vietnamese women and it will not show any male figures. That is an idea that I really like and am nurturing this goal.

Director Tran Anh Hung believes that it is necessary to make more art films so that Vietnam can reach international film awards.

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Commercial films are profitable but investment in art films is needed

* How do you evaluate the success of Vietnamese films in the current market, are there any names that impress you? - Films need to be diverse so that audiences have many choices when they go to see them. This is a very good thing. Commercial films that achieve great success like Tran Thanh's films are a very good sign, very beneficial for Vietnam's cinema. In any country, popular films make the cinema industry alive. If we imagine a world, a society where there are only art films, it will be very sad. It will only have films that are too sad, too serious, which is not good. But for us to truly have a life, there needs to be an interaction between art films and commercial films. At some point, I hope that production in Vietnam will have a change in spirit. Directors and producers must both make commercial films and ensure good cinematic language in them. * So what is your lesson in making art films after winning at Cannes? - I don't have any lesson, the important thing is to make a good film. I can't tell you all the complex aspects to define it but certainly an authentic film is a good film. If you think of creating a product, it certainly won't be good. But when you put your mind to creating a work, it's different. It must have its own, very personal quality in it.

Director Tran Anh Hung has faith in Vietnam's young generation of filmmakers.

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* So why is it difficult for Vietnamese films to reach international awards like the Oscars or Cannes? - Every year, Vietnam sends films to international awards. We have to continue to do it and at some point it will be successful. However, awards like the Oscars or Cannes are the result of a group of people, so in addition to professional factors, luck is needed. It's not because the film is bad that it loses, because even films that are masterpieces to me are not kept. In France, people make more than 200 films every year. The reason they make so many is to ensure that 1 or 2 of them are noticed. If the films are more diverse, we will have more choices. In Vietnam, only 30 films are produced, so we will only have 30 films. And if 99% of them are commercial films, how can they reach international awards? Because commercial films cannot go to Cannes, cannot go here or there because people are looking for art films. It is very lucky to have a commercial film because of the appearance of the stars that people need to invite. In short, the problem is that we have to continue to make and make it really good. * So how to increase the number of art films? - That is the problem of the individual filmmakers. If they do not want to make, only choose to make commercial films, then those who want to create more artistic cinematographic works will have a hard time. It takes them 10 years to find enough money to make them, in an extremely difficult situation. Even those 10 years are only enough to pay for filming and still have to manage a lot to get to the post-production stage. People who choose art films in Vietnam have a courage and determination that Hung has never had. That is because I am lucky to work in a place where producers value art films. And this is still very young in Vietnam. We need time, so that in the future there will appear producers with enough prestige to convince investors to put money into art films. I have full hope for such a bright future when looking at the brave and creative young generation of Vietnam.

Thanhnien.vn

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