2023 Movie
Dir. Lý Hải · Vietnam · Vietnamese
Friends fight friends for a winning lottery ticket in Vietnam
The latest installment of Ly Hai’s Face Off franchise has an entertaining premise with some terrible plot twists. With this premise, it’s almost expected to see the worst of the worst of people when given a jackpot, and it’s easy to feel distraught when this happens, because the initial dynamic between the six friends feels genuine. However, the fun and wacky hijinks devolve into seriously messed up plot twists. Some of these work, but certain scenes feel like it was just added for shock value at the expense of other characters. The film couldn’t choose between vilifying some characters and celebrating their friendship. Because of this, Face Off 6 feels like it missed its mark.
A friend group bought a lottery ticket and won the jackpot but the ticket holder of the ticket accidentally died. Some of the surviving friends intended to unravel their friend and retrieve the winning ticket, some don't.
In one of their reunions, a group of six friends purchase a lottery ticket with all their birthdays. After the accident of the ticket holder, the surviving friends find out that they just won the jackpot. They all scramble to find the winning ticket.
Ultimately, the film suffers each time it mistreats its female characters. There are too many shots lingering on women’s body parts every time some of them stare at his dead friend’s wife. These scenes hint at their later fates, making their upcoming plot twists understandable. While it’s great that the film gives them their just comeuppance, each time the camera falls on her, it makes the audience complicit in her totally unnecessary objectification. Their plot twists feel earned, but there are better ways to show their wrongdoing. These scenes also make the protagonist’s imagined friendship reunion feel icky.
Cut the objectifying scenes, and it’s decent. Unfortunately, these scenes still exist.
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
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