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.
