Review: Mai (2024) dir. Trấn Thành

Vietnam’s box office appears to be one of the fastest growing audiences in Southeast Asia. Almost every year the country produces a new all-time box-office regent and the country’s newly minted highest-grossing film of all time, Mai, has also become Vietnam’s greatest success abroad. Director Trấn Thành owns all three of the top-three admissions with this year’s Mai, 2023’s The House of No Man, and 2021’s Dad, I’m Sorry. All three of these titles come in at over 420 billion đồng. Number four, Avengers: Endgame, comes in at just over half of that at 285 billion đồng. Thành possesses a formidable grip on the box office; the grip is also a simple one. He makes simple films that capitalize on basic human appeals.

Mai, a straightforward romance that gets a bit twisty toward the end of its runtime, never deviates too far from the universal standard of the romance. And people devour romance.

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