In the context of Vietnamese cinema constantly searching for profound stories that touch on core social issues, the Vietnam - Korea cooperation project called "Take Me Away" has officially released its poster, immediately making a strong impression and evoking a series of thoughts in the public's mind. The touching image on the poster, with Tuan Tran carrying Hong Dao on his back, both smiling but their eyes looking into an indefinite space, has become a meaningful highlight. The mother's smile is radiant and carefree like a child, while the child's smile is gentle and quiet, as if hiding within it deep thoughts and inner struggles.
Related articles
The main message portrayed on the poster: “What happens when love becomes a burden?” – a direct and challenging question. Combined with the symbolic image of carrying mother on the back, the film not only evokes issues of responsibility and sacrifice between generations in every modern family, but also touches on a sensitive emotional area, rarely exploited in Vietnamese cinema: Does family love have a limit, if love becomes an unbearable burden?
Tuan Tran carried Hong Dao on his back, both of them smiled and looked into the unknown space.
Bringing Vietnamese family stories to the world
Sharing about the content orientation, director Mo Hong-jin, who is behind this project, expressed his great ambition: “I want to make a story about a Vietnamese family but the whole world has to watch.” He emphasized that the film focuses on portraying maternal love, family affection and human depth – universal values but with very unique features when placed in the context of Vietnamese culture.
The director expressed special respect for Vietnamese culture, where filial piety and family love are always put first. Therefore, he wanted to ask the audience: when everything is pushed to the limit, how strong can love, filial piety and family protection be for the characters to make their own decisions, facing the suffocating challenges of family love.
This work is not only an emotional symphony about maternal love, but also shows a significant change in the wave of international cooperation cinema.
Mo Hong-jin also emphasized that although Vietnam and Korea are different in geography and language, they are similar in kindness and warmth between people. For him, national boundaries are not an important factor in the film. What he cares about most is highlighting the sincere feelings between people, something that any audience can feel, no matter where they come from. This is a cross-border family story, close to audiences of many countries.
The character Hoan, played by Tuan Tran, is not only a typical example of filial Vietnamese children who always take care of their elderly parents. He is also a model of a generation racing against life, struggling with mental illness and social neglect. Inspired by the true story of a young man struggling to care for his mother with Alzheimer's disease, the script by director and screenwriter Mo Hong-jin skillfully leads the audience from feeling pity to empathy, from sympathy to deep contemplation.
Sharing about the content orientation, the director said that the film focuses on portraying maternal love, family affection and humanistic depth - universal values but very unique when placed in the context of Vietnam.
Lines like "take mother away" are not only the title of the film, but also a form of suffocating family love challenge, putting the child before the harsh question of responsibility and love. Hong Dao in the role of Mrs. Hanh promises to bring diverse expressions, while Tuan Tran surprises with a series of images expressing complex inner emotions, showing maturity in acting.
Mr. Phan Gia Nhat Linh, the producer representing the Vietnamese crew, said that this is the first film in which the Vietnamese and Korean sides share equal roles in terms of investment budget, creativity and the entire production process. “Although this is a film with an original Korean script, directed by a Korean director, we always want the film to retain Vietnamese culture and elements,” he shared. “The director and I talked a lot about the script, to edit even the smallest details to suit the habits and lifestyles of Vietnamese people.”
Faced with the challenge of how to portray the tragedy of Alzheimer's patients on the big screen, artist Hong Dao painstakingly researched and studied the character by asking people around her who had relatives with Alzheimer's disease.
Besides the deep emotional slices of motherly love, ""Take mother away" also shows a very unique "Vietnamese quality" when cleverly incorporating humorous, healing elements through the group of close friends of the character Hoan. Each person has a color, a personality, they bring an interesting contrast to the quiet atmosphere of the emotional mother-child story. Actress Lam Vy Da, in the role of Chau, Hoan's friend, humorously shared: "The role of Chau is like a tailor-made shoe for me, along with Quoc Khanh, Hai Trieu, Vinh Rau, Hoan's group of friends has the function of healing in the film. If there is too much crying in the scene, they push us out to heal."
Every day for Hoan is a struggle between love and responsibility, between choosing to give his mother a better life or selfishly keeping her by his side during the difficult days.
Unlike many Vietnamese films that favor fast paced and easy-to-understand dialogue, "Mang Me Di Bo" has a strong Korean cinema vibe in the post-"healing" film genre - where the story is told through atmosphere and emotion rather than action or dramatic details. The appearance of director Mo Hong-jin in Vietnam at the film announcement, along with information about the 3-year incubation and production process, shows a serious attitude, not the usual "cultural exchange" type of cooperation.
Especially the presence of Korean actor Jung Il-woo - the actor who appeared in the famous series "High Kick Through the Roof"
Each frame in the film is not intended to be aesthetically pleasing, but rather evokes the viewer's emotional intentions from the very roots within. Static camera angles, low light, narrow spaces - all seem to intentionally "suffocate" the viewer and the character's emotions, creating a feeling of pressure.
However, there are still promising, bright rays of optimism in the characters' journey forward. This is not a new form of visual language in Korean cinema, but it is still a "difficult" choice for most Vietnamese audiences, who are used to a faster pace of films. The director does not hide his intentions when he does not need the film to be attractive from the beginning, but lets the feeling of repression rise slowly like a crack in a family relationship: small, smoldering, and no one wants to say it, but not too tragic or sad.
Finally, Hoan was forced to make a heartbreaking decision: to take his mother and "abandon" her to his older brother in Korea, whom Hoan had never met.
If you only look at the cast like Hong Dao, Tuan Tran, Lam Vy Da, Hai Trieu, Vinh Rau,... it's easy to think "Mang Me Di Bo" is an entertaining movie with family elements, enough comedy, enough emotion. But this is a movie that forces the actors to escape their comfort zone and familiar image, to transform into people who are nothing special, even normal like the fates that have to struggle with life out there.
The film touches on an emotional area that many Vietnamese people still avoid: the feeling of “debt” in family relationships, the fear of becoming a burden to others and the fatigue that no one dares to express. For the audience generation that is entering their 30s – those who are in the middle of two responsibilities (children and elderly parents), the film has the potential to create great resonance if it is communicated properly: not sensational, not following trends, but letting it penetrate through authentic stories, stirring emotions in theaters.
"Mang Me Di Bo" promises to be a remarkable work, not only for its story, but also for the way it dares to ask difficult questions, forcing viewers to face themselves and their most sacred relationships.
