Someone: Is \u201cMai\u201d a film worth watching?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: Yes, for many people, and for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Does this dialogue contain spoilers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: It will reveal a little, including the ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Why do many people dislike this film?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: Everyone has their own perspectives, based on their \u201cmemories.\u201d A person\u2019s memories determine what they like or dislike and how mildly or strongly they resonate with something, including a film. Everyone is a \u201cslave\u201d to memory. So are S\u00e2u and Mai. So are all the characters in the film. And so are we.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: But some people who have never seen this film still express their dislike of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: That is also a choice governed by memory. Perhaps they cannot escape their subjectivity. For example, merely hearing the filmmaker\u2019s name immediately draws them into this \u201ctrap\u201d \u2014 imprisoning themselves in the \u201cprison\u201d of mind and memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Is this dialogue itself also a product of subjectivity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: No fear of judgment has been placed in this conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Why does this film have a sad ending? Is it because a sad ending will be remembered more? It doesn\u2019t seem very logical, does it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: When placed in the right \u201cposition,\u201d even the seemingly most unreasonable behavior becomes entirely reasonable. Everyone \u201chas a reason\u201d in their own way, at that moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: But S\u00e2u fought so fiercely for this love, yet in the end gave it up so easily?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: It was not that \u201ceasy.\u201d This is the pattern of a man\u2019s torment in society when he is not mature enough to bring genuine reassurance to both important women in his life. Ultimately, every choice is \u201cright\u201d in its own way when seen in the larger picture. When people analyze whether S\u00e2u\u2019s choice was right or wrong, good or bad, they ultimately base it only on their own memories, not necessarily S\u00e2u\u2019s. Even if he rebels and wants to \u201clive separately\u201d from his mother, deep inside he is ultimately seeking her true recognition, the recognition he is still trying to preserve at the end of the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Is this film successful because it explores psychological phenomena in society so well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: There is a great deal of \u201csuppression\u201d in society today. We have so many memories of it, which is why we easily resonate with films like this. This is also positive, giving everyone an opportunity to reflect on themselves. The more strongly a work resonates with the collective unconscious, society\u2019s unconscious, the more attention it draws, as we have just seen. But it also reveals that many patterns deep within society, individuals, and families remain unhealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Is \u201chealing\u201d something overblown? Wouldn\u2019t a few glasses of draft beer do the job?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: Yeah\u2026 And around the world, how many people still say \u201cI\u2019m okay,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m good,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d only for others to learn the next morning that they have died by suicide. As society develops, this will become more common. At some point, when we truly know how to love, and love enough \u2014 love ourselves \u2014 we will sit down to heal ourselves. With greater wisdom and love, we recognize that our former thinking was somewhat shallow. And eventually, even healing is an \u201cillusion\u201d; everything is already fulfilled. But it is a useful illusion, an educational illusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Have the wounds buried deep in the unconscious of an individual or a collective, or more specifically of the characters in these films, truly been healed by the endings of the films by this same director?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: The film succeeded in \u201ctouching\u201d wounds in the unconscious of ordinary people in society, but calling that healing is not entirely accurate. In fact, no real healing takes place, even in some endings that may seem happy: they are \u201chappy endings\u201d at the conscious level, a superficial joy or happiness. If you truly understand transformation, you know that transformation does not actually occur. Transformation is not a caterpillar becoming a better caterpillar; it is a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The knots are untied, but when the black box opens, no butterfly flies out. Everything remains there and will be buried again, sinking deeper still\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: In that case, isn\u2019t such an ending too \u201ccruel\u201d to Mai?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: Because some memories have not been transformed\u2026 Mai has partly denied the sacred feminine aspect within herself, shaping her character in the next stage of life. She cannot connect with feelings toward men and thinks she is unworthy of love. She says she does not want to love, cannot be bothered to love, that \u201cI\u2019m tired; no more love.\u201d But throughout the film, she actually longs for love the most, and only she has the greatest courage to seize it. Beyond all her angry words, she has never \u201cdropped\u201d her love for her father, no matter how many wrongs he has done her. She has never lost kindness in anything she does, expressing love toward everyone, whether in small daily tasks or toward people, from unpleasant neighbors to the kind parking attendant. Even getting into a serious fight means she truly wants to love herself. When she tells S\u00e2u that she wants love, like an aggrieved child saying they want candy, those are words from her very heart. That is truly beautiful, lovable, and moving\u2026 And in the end, only she truly \u201cwaited.\u201d Even when she told S\u00e2u not to wait for her, and half of her conscious mind truly wanted that, ultimately 4 years passed and she still never let go of this love. Only she kept holding on to love, never truly abandoning it. Her customers cherish her because they feel so much love within her. Happiness need not wait for tomorrow, and Mai\u2019s love need not be left until tomorrow either. She truly is love already, however hard her mind tries to deny it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Is this conversation suggesting that there are many people even more \u201cpitiable\u201d than Mai because they lack love within?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Are we trying to romanticize this so that Mai\u2019s ending feels less painful for her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: That is still a sad ending for Mai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: By creating such an ending, might someone be haunted by the feeling that they \u201cowe\u201d Mai some happiness? Might something be added to \u201cliberate\u201d Mai, and also liberate the consciousness of the person who created it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: That depends on the person\u2019s memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: If I were the director of this film, I would agree with the ending too, but I would add a little to it. A little something is missing\u2026 Just a little, but it would truly be like a \u201cliberation.\u201d The ending would still be remembered, all the messages would remain intact, but perhaps it would be more meaningful\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: Then\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: It sounds strange, but ultimately, everything we experience serves a single purpose: our spiritual evolution. If I were the director, I would add a little \u201cfaith\u201d to Mai at the end. But then perhaps it could no longer be a film earning a hundred billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: Given everything she has experienced, it is not \u201coverstating\u201d anything to believe there is faith within her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Because she is always worthy of love, worthy of being loved. She has spent her entire life trying to learn how to love others. Faith is when she experiences the deep love this universe has for her. Although she does not have a \u201chappy ending\u201d with S\u00e2u, she still has a \u201cdivine ending\u201d with herself. I would let her end with this profound love. An ending that liberates everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: And no religious element is needed. Because all of us deserve love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: But isn\u2019t that too poetic? Real life is harsher, reality more ruthless?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm: The reality of life? The reality is that the universe always supports people\u2019s efforts made with true intentions. Balance will always be established. And so Mai is always, always loved by the universe. That is reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Someone: Let\u2019s see\u2026 She will cry a liter of tears in the car at the end of the film. She can still cry because there are still so many feelings and so much love within her. The car will pass a scene where she asks to stop. Then she steps out, and before her is the endless green of love, the green of vast forests below, a new sun rising, a deeply blue sky, a gentle breeze caressing her hair, and soft rays of sunlight falling on Mai\u2019s lightly dyed hair and lightly made-up face. Remember that her child\u2019s name is B\u00ecnh Minh, meaning a new beginning, a new day of hope. If \u0110\u00e0o can also play Mai, then tomorrow also begins today. Today, let her be happy in knowing that everything that happens \u201cought\u201d to happen, rather than necessarily \u201chaving\u201d to happen. She will be bathed in light and able to smile and bless everything, above all, truly bless herself. The symbol of the sun will appear once again to remind her of this, like her love for B\u00ecnh Minh; that name is also a symbol. This is when she knows that everything is a blessing, including all she has built over the past 4 years and all that lies ahead. A new dawn has come into her life. The universe always watches over and loves everyone, including Mai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B\u1eddm smiled.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ai \u0111\u00f3: “Mai” c\u00f3 ph\u1ea3i l\u00e0 m\u1ed9t b\u1ed9 phim \u0111\u00e1ng xem kh\u00f4ng? B\u1eddm: C\u00f3, v\u1edbi nhi\u1ec1u ng\u01b0\u1eddi, v\u00e0 v\u1edbi b\u1ea1n. Ai \u0111\u00f3: \u0110o\u1ea1n \u0111\u1ed1i tho\u1ea1i n\u00e0y c\u00f3 ti\u1ebft l\u1ed9 n\u1ed9i dung phim kh\u00f4ng? B\u1eddm: N\u00f3 s\u1ebd ti\u1ebft l\u1ed9 m\u1ed9t ch\u00fat, k\u1ec3 c\u1ea3 c\u00e1i k\u1ebft. Ai \u0111\u00f3: T\u1ea1i sao c\u00f3 nhi\u1ec1u ng\u01b0\u1eddi kh\u00f4ng th\u00edch phim n\u00e0y? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hanh-trinh-chia-se"],"yoast_head":"\n