Me Chông

Mother in Law is a cheesy family drama movie set in the French-Vietnam era with a touch of black magic and after The Housemaid (2016) I don't think those two go well together so I got no hope in this movie to be this surprisingly good but somehow the combination works and it become a hidden gem of a movie that I discover in the list of Vietnamese movies in 2017. This movie follow the book of "How to make a melodrama movie" from page to page with no surprise punch at all but I never let that bother me because at the time I'm still craving for a decent Vietnamese movie that don't think too highly of itself and quickly deliver what it promises and Mother in Law is just that. Everything in this movie is beautiful to look at from the scenery, the costume, the main cast and the hammy acting in some of the supposed to be intense scene only make it more enjoyable to watch with a large audience. You may got nothing out of this movie other than a grim reminder that women can be the cruelest creature on earth if you get on their bad side but at least this time it only happens in a movie

The mistress is an absolutely unpleasant experience. Not only the movie itself is terribly directed and is full of plot holes, but the few pieces of plot are awfully unpleasant. The acting terrible. The characters absolutely unlikable. It is the worse film I have seen in 2020.

I wasn't familiar with the 2017 Vietnamese drama "Me Chông" (aka "Mistress") prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2023. In fact, I stumbled upon the movie by random chance, and with it being an Asian movie that I hadn't seen or heard about, of course I opted to watch the movie.

The writer didn't really manage to churn out a script that held much of any particular entertainment for my liking, and that made sitting through 90 minutes of a family drama such as this quite an ordeal. However, I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as this, because it seemed to be a rather well-detailed and thought through plot; it just simply didn't entertain me.

I will say that the acting performances in the movie were good, and while I was unfamiliar with the cast ensemble, aside from the lady playing the family matriarch, then they definitely had a good cast ensemble to play and portray the roles and characters.

A heavy family drama such as this makes for a rather acquired taste in movies, but I am sure that director Minh Thang Ly's 2017 movie does have an appeal to the right audience, no doubt about it. Personally, I just didn't care much for the storyline, nor the characters.

It should be noted that the movie is presented in a very pleasing manner. The cinematography in the movie is quite good, and the director is making really good use of the colors in each scene. Lots of nice details in each scene as well.

While I managed to endure the movie to the end, this is hardly a movie that I will be recommending, nor is it a movie that I will ever pick up a second time.

My rating of "Me Chông" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Though there are some illogical scenes but the film conveyed the message quite well.