Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story: Does the Blue Eyes version have a better ending?

Continuing the school love project of Nguyen Nhat Anh being made into a film, Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story contains simple but also "fierce" memories of a time of youth of young people who knew how to love. The film can easily make viewers remember 2019's Mat Biec, about an unfinished nostalgia that Nhan cherished for Ha Lan all his life. So, can Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story take the audience out of the painful misery of love and youth?

One Eye of Blue is haunting, but more poetic and fulfilling.

It is easy to see that Nguyen Nhat Anh's writing style of school love stories all comes from secret admiration, with the first-person narrative style. The same goes for Ngan in Mat Biec and Vinh in Ngay Xua Co Mot Tinh. Both harbored a crush on their classmate, and were attached to each other throughout their childhood. However, because of their "shy" nature, Nhan and Vinh almost "gave in" to the temptations of adolescence, losing their loved one to the arms of another.

That torment is even more disturbing in Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story when the person who took away Vinh's Land was Phuc - Vinh's best friend. Standing between a long-hidden love and a "close friend" friendship, Vinh has a headache with the endless crossroads. Director Trinh Dinh Le Minh subtly expressed Vinh's state of mind through the images of the village road, the bicycle, and the sometimes green, sometimes yellow fields as if representing the male lead's feelings.

However, unlike Mat Biec, Nguyen Nhat Anh has conveyed the beautiful aspect of love into the words of Ngay Xua Co Mot Truyen Tinh. By turning the "1-person narrative" story into a "3-person narrative" film of all 3 characters, Trinh Dinh Le Minh helps viewers better understand the hidden corners of Vinh, Mien and Phuc's lives, to see that every young man and woman has to endure the bitterness of life. They fight for a love, which means there will be winners and losers, but this time, sincere hearts prevail.

Sitting on the lonely bus is no longer Ngan - the naive person who thinks that if you love sincerely, you will receive sincerity in return, but Phuc - the "hunter" of love but lost his treasure because of a wrong choice. A poetic, gentle and happy ending that the audience should have expected 5 years ago, now takes place in Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story in 2024.

The pinnacle of Vietnamese school romance movies

Trinh Dinh Le Minh's cinematic storytelling style is also different and unique among the works that have been adapted by Nguyen Nhat Anh. Without the grand grand scenes like Mat Biec or Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh, Ngay Xua Co Mot Tinh scores points for its simplicity and attention to detail. Every image of costumes, landscapes, houses... depicts a poor village in the 90s, where pure but fragile love blossoms.

Making a film from a series that already had many thrilling and engaging details, Trinh Dinh Le Minh had the strength to not worry about the content being bland. On the contrary, he was still slow in each beat of the story, avoiding "cramming" and still patiently taking the audience through each door of Vinh - Mien - Phuc's life. At the same time, the fresh acting, natural and rustic approach of Avin Lu, Ngoc Xuan and Do Nhat Hoang easily made the audience's emotions surge, whether they were lovable, pitiful or blameworthy and hateful.

Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story is not only the best film adaptation from Nguyen Nhat Anh's universe, but also one of the top school romance films on Vietnamese screens. The gentle, poetic way of making the film but still maintaining the intensity and climax of the "nail" details from Trinh Dinh Le Minh is the factor that helps Once Upon a Time There Was a Love Story shine brightly, far beyond the expectations of anyone watching.