Xú Zhēng’s new film is in great controversy, and some viewers call it ＂consumption suffering＂! My latest response

Every edited Cheng Peng　　　　

Directed by Xú Zhēng and starring Xú Zhēng and Xin Zhilei, The Retrograde Life was released on August 9th. According to China News Network, on August 14th, Retrograde Life held a roadshow at Nanjing Station. Xú Zhēng, the film director and starring, and Wu Jiakai, the actor, met the fans.

The film "Retrograde Life" tells the story that programmers of big Internet companies were laid off, people suddenly lost their jobs in middle age, and finally decided to put on take-away rider clothes and enter the take-away industry. However, since the film was released on August 9, it has encountered word-of-mouth polarization, and netizens have been hotly discussing: Is it focusing on the little people, or is it consuming the takeaway and suffering?

Poster of Retrograde Life

As of 22: 00 on August 15th, the box office of summer file in 2024 has exceeded 9.6 billion yuan, which is obviously different from the 20.63 billion yuan in summer file in 2023. However, the summer movies are still on the rise, with rich types and diverse themes, or it is expected to continue to help the summer files pick up this year.

Xú Zhēng denies consumer suffering.

The film "Retrograde Life" reflects various problems of modern society, such as economic pressure, family responsibilities, workplace competition and so on, through the living conditions of a new type of labor group, the takeaway brother. This paper mainly tells the story of Gao Zhilei (played by Xú Zhēng), a middle-aged man who was laid off and unemployed, who became a takeaway by chance and switched tracks to start again. Gao Zhili, played by Xú Zhēng, suddenly lost his job in middle age, but lost thousands of resumes. The medical expenses of the elderly at home, the monthly mortgage payment, the tuition fees of his daughter, and so on, all need money. Under the pressure of life, 45-year-old Gao zhilei decided to wear a takeaway rider’s suit. After entering the take-away industry, the film follows Gao zhilei’s perspective and tells the stories of other take-away workers such as Dahei, Laocai and Dashan. This film is Xú Zhēng’s work, which is a combination of screenwriter, director and starring.

However, it is worth noting that "Retrograde Life" has attracted controversy.The audience’s evaluation of "Retrograde Life" is significantly divided, and some viewers think that it focuses on the little people and is close to reality; Other viewers think that they are consuming takeout staff, "the rich play the poor" and "consuming suffering to beautify suffering".

According to Chongqing Daily, "I actually cried several times when I read it." In the eyes of Mr. Wang, the movie is not only about the group of takeaway brothers, but also about all kinds of life in Qian Qian. From this point of view, Retrograde Life is worth letting people walk into the cinema.

However, many viewers have higher moral expectations for realistic themes. This part of the audience thinks that, under the banner of realistic theme, besides setting the plot close to reality, we should go further in criticizing reality and revealing the root of the problem.

"In all fairness, the film has talked about the unreasonable customers, outrageous security, traffic problems, ruthless rules and regulations encountered by the takeaway, but the reasons behind these contradictions, big and small, will be touched upon."On the evening of August 13th,Liu Hongji, who is engaged in the service industry, expressed his disappointment with the film after watching the movie.Liu Hongji said that the real dilemma is very clear, but it is less critical, which makes people feel like a sore throat.

　

According to the report of Securities Times E Company, Xú Zhēng said at the scene of the Hangzhou roadshow on August 13th that he had been running the "loser" track for many years, and although there were many excellent actors on the same track, he saw that the role was still itchy. "I think only by acting on his own can we better grasp the inner world of the role".Xú Zhēng denied the controversy about the "consumption suffering" caused by the film.

Xú Zhēng responded that:"I feel so difficult to make a movie now, because making a movie can’t satisfy everyone. After watching the movie, everyone feels differently. Different audiences will see different details and have different expectations. But if you don’t watch a movie and spray it directly, it’s unfair to a movie. "

Xú Zhēng also said that,After watching the movie, both praise and bad reviews are accepted together, because each audience has a different attitude towards life and feels different.

The data shows that the film "Retrograde Life" was released for 7 days, and the box office exceeded 250 million yuan. More than 50,000 people participated in the scoring of Douban, and the current score is stable at 6.8. This is also after Dying to Survive, Xú Zhēng once again launched a realistic film after many years. Previously, in 2018, the film Dying to Survive, directed by Muye Wen and supervised by Xú Zhēng, was released, which not only sold well at the box office, but also stimulated a wide-ranging discussion on drug fairness. The film topped the global box office with a box office of 1.333 billion yuan in the first week, and finally reached 3.1 billion yuan. Compared with Dying to Survive’s Douban score of 9.0 and the box office of 3.1 billion yuan, Retrograde Life is doomed to be an insurmountable ending.

Xú Zhēng is regarded as the director who started the era of high box office in China. The "Jiong" series of films directed by Xú Zhēng has accumulated about 2.8 billion box office, which is one of the most popular domestic films in China. In 2012, Xú Zhēng’s "It’s Too Bad for People to Walk Again" broke the attendance of "Avatar" in one fell swoop, becoming the first Chinese film to break 1 billion yuan in Chinese film history.

Realism theme is a test, and it is even more difficult to produce such fine works as Dying to Survive. We expect more film and television works to face reality and stimulate people’s thinking about reality.

This year’s summer box office is not as good as last year’s.

Halfway through August, there is still about half a month before the end of this summer vacation. Summer movies are still being updated, with rich types and diverse themes, or it is expected to continue to help this summer file pick up.

According to the real-time data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of 22: 20 on August 15th, the total box office (including pre-sales) in the summer of 2024 (June-August) has exceeded 9.6 billion.

Among them, the film starring Shen Teng and Mary became the hottest film in this summer, accounting for 31.9% of the box office, breaking the box office record of comedy films in the past five years, and the previous holder of this record was Moon Man starring Shen Teng and Mary; Silent Killing accounts for 14.2% of the box office, ranking third in the cumulative box office of crime films in China’s film history summer file.

"Silent Kill" and "There is a canteen by the cloud" are temporarily ranked second and third in the summer box office list.

The new movie released in August is also full of stamina.

The film Decryption, directed by Chen Sicheng, earned 40.889 million yuan at the box office on the first day of its release on August 3, and by 22: 00 on August 15, the cumulative box office reached 310 million yuan, ranking seventh in the summer movie box office.

"White Snake: Floating Life" became the box office champion of Tanabata movies in 2024, and created the box office record of Tanabata cartoons in China film history. At present, the film has a box office score of 250 million yuan.The 9 th place in the box office of the movie.

Meanwhile, "Deadpool and Wolverine", "Daddy Thief 4" and "Brain Agents 2" ranked 4th to 6th at the summer box office respectively, with box office receipts of 410 million yuan, 370 million yuan and 340 million yuan respectively.

It is worth mentioning that the total box office of summer movies in 2023 (from June 1 to August 31) was 20.619 billion yuan, and the top six movies in the summer box office were: "Put All Your Eggs on One Egg" was 3.526 billion yuan, "Disappeared She" was 3.523 billion yuan, "Goddess Part I: Singing in the Wind" was 2.481 billion yuan, and "In the octagonal cage"

In 2023, the summer file finally reached 20.6 billion box office, which was called "the strongest summer file in history".There is still a certain gap between the total box office of summer movies this year and last year. At present, only one movie has exceeded 3 billion yuan, and the box office of other movies has not exceeded 2 billion yuan.

According to China Business Daily, "The competition in the film market is becoming increasingly fierce, and the audience’s viewing choices are more diversified. This year’s box office may be affected by multiple factors such as film quality, publicity strategy and release time, resulting in the box office failing to meet expectations. This also reminds us that the film industry needs constant innovation and breakthrough to meet the growing aesthetic needs of the audience. Producers should pay more attention to the innovation and depth of the film content, and at the same time increase publicity efforts to improve the popularity and influence of the film. " Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu think tank, told China Business Daily that although there is still a gap between the box office and last year, we should also see the positive side, that is, the film market still has great potential and vitality.

The Zhongtai Securities Research Report pointed out that policy support stimulates the kinetic energy of cultural and entertainment consumption, and high-quality film and televisionRong reserve company is expected to benefit. The State Council issued "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Service Consumption", pointing out that it is necessary to stimulate the kinetic energy of cultural and entertainment consumption, enrich the supply of films, support the distribution of films in different modes such as line distribution, and promote the related consumption of films. At the same time, it is expected that companies with high-quality film and television content reserves will benefit from policy catalysis, promote the project turnover rhythm and expand the scale of users by improving the quality of radio and television and network audio-visual, deepening the management of TV layer-by-layer charges and complex operations, and accelerating the development of ultra-high-definition TV.

AVIC Securities said that from the supply side, the supply of domestic high-quality films has accelerated, and the number of imported films and Chinese and foreign co-produced films has continued to increase, which is expected to meet the diverse viewing needs of the audience. The supply and demand sides continue to exert their strength, optimistic about the performance of the market in 2024, and companies that lay out cinema lines and high-quality films are expected to benefit.

　

edit|Cheng Peng Gai Yuanyuan

Proofread |He xiaotao

Cover Image Source: Retrograde Life Weibo

National business daily is integrated from Securities Times E Company (Reporter: Nie Yinghao), Chongqing Daily, CBN, China Business Daily.