A still from the movie "Rom". |
In the movie, protagonist Rom (played by Tran Anh Khoa), who sells lo de, an illegal type of lottery, helps a man win VND70 million ($3,030) and thus gains the confidence of many others, who later try to beat him up after they fail to win any money.
His "enemy", Phuc (played by Anh Tu Wilson), is also introduced along with a number of underprivileged people in Ho Chi Minh City, who live in poor neighborhoods and spend a lot of time and money on lo de.
Developed from the critically acclaimed short film ‘4:30 p.m.,’ screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, ‘Rom’ took over seven years to make.
The crime drama won the grand prize at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival in South Korea and Khoa won the Asian Film Festival best actor award last month.
Released in Vietnam in September 2020, it earned more than VND60 billion ($2.6 million).