Decoding the appeal of "Tinh Dau La Soi", the 100-million-view romance short film with Le Ha Anh, Kang Chul

On social media, the film also garnered over 364,000 discussions, holding the top 1 position on the SocialTrend rankings, according to statistics from agency YouNet Media.

Kang Chul, Le Ha Anh, and child actor Trong Hieu, the three main actors in "Tinh Dau La Soi" – the short film causing a social media fever in early November.

What made "Tinh Dau La Soi" stand out so much? Is it the superior image quality compared to the standard of Vietnamese short films? Or the creative content, enough to rival television projects?

In reality, those are not the film's strengths. The appeal of "Tinh Dau La Soi" comes from its imperfection. The naive dialogue, the still-stiff acting of the young cast, along with the surprising appearance of Le Ha Anh – an actress previously acclaimed in the movie "Mua Do" (2025) – makes the audience wonder why she chose to participate in a web-drama project with such "middling" quality.

However, that very noise, whether praise or criticism, unintentionally turned "Tinh Dau La Soi" into a true social media phenomenon, helping the film become the most talked-about Vietnamese work in the first week of November 2025.

Review of the short film "Tinh Dau La Soi"

Le Ha Anh as Nhat Vy, Kang Chul as Minh Duong.

"Tinh Dau La Soi" possesses a plot straight out of an "overbearing president" (tổng tài) romance novel. The film is about Tran Nhat Vy (Le Ha Anh), an ordinary girl, who accidentally gets entangled in a harsh fate with Tong Minh Duong (Kang Chul), the president of the Tong Lan group and also a purebred werewolf. After an incident, they share a son, Khoi, a hybrid of human and werewolf, but Minh Duong is unaware.

Six years later, when Vy is a single mother, she gets hired as a cook in Minh Duong's very own villa. That is also when he realizes Khoi's true identity and wants to care for the mother and son. But things are not easy. By Vy's side, there is a man with a mysterious identity named Nguyen Hao who always cares for her. On Minh Duong's side, there is My Yen – the daughter of the wolf clan chief who always wants to possess him. The human-wolf love between Vy and Minh Duong thus continuously faces tests.

Quality has improved compared to "Me Lao Cong Hoc Yeu"

With such a premise, "Tinh Dau La Soi" has a plot that is "strange" (lạ) to the Vietnamese film scene but extremely familiar and formulaic to "dime-store" (ba xu) romance novels – referring to romance stories that are superficially written, valueless, with "outrageous" (cẩu huyết) and absurd details. Combining genres of romance, fantasy, and psychological drama interspersed with some action, expressed through cringe-worthy (khó ngấm) lines and situations, the most prominent point of the film is the feeling of awkwardness and stiffness (cringe) it brings to the viewer.

However, compared to "Me Lao Cong Hoc Yeu", the extremely hot vertical short film from early 2025, also from YeaH1, "Tinh Dau La Soi" shows significant improvement.

A praiseworthy point for the script is the setup of conflict, which is then resolved in a way that makes the viewer feel satisfied rather than frustrated like previous short films. With a not-so-high budget, the audience cannot expect spectacular action scenes or transformation effects. However, this film is more meticulous in post-production and costumes, no longer having blatant technical errors or "accidental" frames where the film crew gets caught in the shot.

To talk about a surprising attraction, it is the acting of the cast. Le Ha Anh is the "savior" of the film. With experience having conquered audiences through many television and film roles, she brings natural, gentle emotions, not at all exaggerated in expression, making the scenes with "cringe" dialogue less stiff.

The male lead Kang Chul, although his acting is not yet flexible enough compared to his co-star, truly has an attractive appearance and stable chemistry with Le Ha Anh, creating a couple with natural, lovely interaction that is also gradually attracting a certain amount of fans.

Three reasons why "Tinh Dau La Soi" is "massively" hot despite "cringe" content

1. "Instant noodle" romance script (ngôn tình “ăn liền”) but hits the entertainment needs of short-term viewers

One of the most common comments about "Tinh Dau La Soi" is: "cringe" but strangely addictive. With a runtime of under 15 minutes per episode, the film maintains an extremely fast pace, transitioning scenes continuously, with almost no quiet moments. This structure keeps the audience glued as conflict follows conflict, with dialogue exaggerated to the point of being funny but still dramatic enough to stimulate curiosity.

In reality, the trend of watching quickly and understanding immediately is dominating short video platforms through film summary videos. A 90-minute movie can be summarized in 30 minutes, or an 8-12 episode series reduced to just 1 hour of viewing. Although this method cannot fully convey the emotions, depth, or artistic value of the film, it is an effective way for viewers to grasp the plot quickly.

Even in South Korea, this summarizing trend is popular, even for films invested with meticulous messages, not purely for entertainment. "Friendly Rivalry" (Ban Ban Be Be), a phenomenon from early 2025, is only 30 minutes/episode, just enough for the lunch break or short rest of office workers.

2. "Cringe" dialogue but easily goes viral

The line "Oh My Sói" (Oh My Wolf) is going viral on Threads

If you search for "Tinh Dau La Soi" on social media platforms, you will quickly realize that the stiff lines are the very things helping the film spread strongly.

Phrases like "giong cai diu dang" (the gentle female) or "Oh my sói" (Oh my wolf), though ridiculous, are perfect material for the online community to turn into memes or trends on Threads and TikTok. Thanks to the word-of-mouth effect, using these strange slang terms, the more people share, the more curious audiences seek it out, even if just to verify the level of "cringe" everyone is talking about.

3. The main couple creates natural attraction

Even without watching the film, many people know "Tinh Dau La Soi" through the trend-catching TikTok videos of the actor couple Kang Chul and Le Ha Anh. They both have compatible visuals, a cute height difference, and natural interactions in behind-the-scenes clips. That image spread widely, making audiences curious to find the film to see their "chemistry" on screen.

Without a massive media campaign, just with short content, viral dialogue, and a cute couple, "Tinh Dau La Soi" has successfully created a phenomenon of watch-fast – discuss-fast – spread-fast within the online community.

Overall, "Tinh Dau La Soi" is a decent entertainment choice, suitable for audiences who genuinely need a laugh. Thanks to Le Ha Anh, the "cringe" elements of the film become milder, and it can also be said to be one of YeaH1's most convincingly acted short films. Although it doesn't hold high artistic value, for a film with a purely entertainment purpose, isn't bringing laughter to the audience a sign that the film has completed its mission?

The short film "Tinh Dau La Soi" is released at 21:00 daily on TikTok YeaH1 Phim Viet from 29/10.