What kind of love movie is "Crossing the Line"?
First of all, this is a very personal film. It tells the story of a man from the bottom of society who tried his best to go to Hong Kong to give birth to a child in order to avoid the fine for having a second child in mainland China. The story is very good, but the problem is that the strong directorial style and some gentle plot designs make the whole film look like it lacks the usual explosive points of commercial films, such as big scenes, high contrast, suspense, etc. This directly led to the embarrassing situation that there were no more than ten people in the huge screening room when I was watching, a few people left the show during the process, and two people were sleeping next to me. A similar situation happened twice in my memory, once when watching "A Separation" and once when watching "Sister Tao". Yes, the overall style of "Crossing the Line" is the same as them: they are all typical literary films.
I checked the data online, and sure enough, the box office performance of "A Separation" in China was also dismal. Because "Sister Peach" is supported by a special actor like Andy Lau, it is considered a commercial film to a certain extent, so the box office performance is not a reference.
What is the reason why "Cross the Line" did so poorly at the box office (something that was too predictable) and why its ratings were so low? Clearly, it was released at the wrong time. It was released on Valentine's Day and added the words "male and female" after the title, thinking that it would be a box office hit. But it completely underestimates a problem: most lovers who choose to go to the movies on Valentine's Day will only like and talk about "Tiny Times", "To Youth", "33 Days of Love", etc. due to their overall cultural level. type of movie. And even if you choose a name that attracts their interest and find an actor (Chen Kun) that attracts their interest, it still won't be able to match the strong literary style created by the director and the story.
If we could do a survey, I think the ending would be like this: These lovers (who are the easiest to spread information) go back and tell their colleagues and friends and the couples who are going to see the movie about it. Shi said it didn't look good, and every time I wanted to kiss him, the music in the background made me feel like I was about to break up. Couples who happened to watch it on Douban on this day may have clicked countless one-stars overnight. After a chain reaction, coupled with some followers who have been on Douban all year round (others will give low scores to show that they have better taste than others and will never give high scores), this is how the tragedy of this movie was born.
The above takes "Crossing the Line" as an example to analyze the topic of "Why good films fail in the Chinese film market". Now it’s time to talk about “Why bad movies are successful in the Chinese film market”.
Speaking of our bad movies, they are all over the place. The most popular ones recently include "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", "Little Times", "Where Are We Going, Dad", etc., and they are criticized one after another. Why are they still so good at the box office? ? I want to explain the reason clearly. It’s so huge that I don’t even know where to start. I think it may involve... China’s modern history, the development of civilized society in China, and other things that sound very nonsense. To put it simply, people with lower cultural and ideological levels are cultivated in our country’s social environment, accounting for the majority. Because of various reasons caused by history and the X Party, we are a developing country, so why don’t we talk about it. Ideology has always been very restricted, and the development of civilization is lagging behind that of developed countries. This is why "A Farewell" is so popular abroad, but why it is so bleak in China.
If you put some of the movie types mentioned above into an order according to the degree of understanding of the development of civilized society, I think it should be like this (from high civilization to low civilization): A Farewell Class GT; Dad Goes Where class gt; small time class.
Why is this sorting done? The pursuit of truth (a separation) gt; The father-son relationship that is not valued by our social civilization (Where are we going, Dad) gt; The money-worshiping youth of the rich, handsome and beautiful? (Little Times)
Under this sorting, it is obvious that compared to a developing country, those who like money, famous brands, handsome boys and beautiful women are the easiest to understand, and the pursuit of truth, freedom, science and democracy.... These are the most difficult to understand (when not pursuing these). Finally, this troublesome problem has been explained, and the next step will be easier.
In this way, it can be clearly understood why the market for literary and artistic films is so poor in China (most of the expressions of literary and artistic films are for this reason). The reason why films like "Where Are We Going, Dad" and "Tiny Times" are so popular at the box office in China is because their level of civilization is the easiest to be understood and loved by the current Chinese audience. This lays the foundation for the types of films that are good at the box office in the Chinese film market: don’t go into too much detail.
The second is the typical commercial film path, using big names. The redder, the better, and the bigger, the better. If you can hire Andy Lau, don’t hire Zhao Xiaoguang. It can guarantee the gathering of big names and has completed the simplest box office speculation trick. This is why every year when we celebrate the Chinese New Year, there are countless big names in various Lunar New Year movies, and fans of idols can basically crowd the cinema just to see them.