A scene in Em chua 18.
|
Opening on April 28, the rom-com about a school girl and her scandalous love story with a much older man has racked up VND86 billion ($3.78 million), local media reported. It stars Kaity Nguyen, a 18 year-old newcomer who has stunned critics and fans with her impressive acting skills.
The film is likely to hit the VND100 billion mark in ticket sales soon, which means it will also dethrone the current champion Em la ba noi cua anh (Sweet 20), a rom-com released last year.
Em chua 18 - a film of director Le Thanh Son, is rated C16 as it is deemed suitable for mature audiences only. According to the film database IMDB, its more provoking English name for the U.S. market is Jailbait. Director Le Thanh Son says his film comes with a message: Vietnamese parents should be more open with their teenage children.
Family-friendly “Guardians of the Galaxy” did well around the world but could not defeat Em chua 18 power. The latest from Disney and Marvel made more than $106 million in its first weekend at 58 percent of overseas territories, Variety reported on Wednesday.
The movie is directed by Le Thanh Son of Bay Rong (Clash) fame, and De Mai Tinh (Feel For Love) filmmaker Charlie Nguyen. A romantic comedy, Em chua 18 is a love triangle involving high school student Linh Dan, her boyfriend Tony and a Sai Gon playboy Hoang.
Linh Dan is in a relationship with Tony, a handsome sportsman who is every girl’s dream, including Yen. Trouble begins when Linh Dan spots Tony kissing Yen at a school party and decides to make him feel jealous and hurt for cheating and losing a girl like her.
She dresses up sexily to woo Hoang, has a one-night stand with him and then blackmails him into pretending to be her boyfriend under the threat that otherwise she would make public their sex video, which will get him into trouble as she is under 18.
The movie stars new actors Kieu Minh Tuan (Hoang), Tony (Will from 365 music band), Chau Bui (Yen) and Kaity Nguyen (Linh Dan), who is 18 years old and moved to the US when she was 10. She is known for her online beauty videos and has no previous acting experience.
