Chapter 55
Recently, several major events have occurred in the foreign entertainment industry.
First, there was a famous actress who liked to adopt orphans with her businessman husband. Her reputation was ruined. Paparazzi revealed that she secretly abused her children with cigarette butts and needle tips at home, while her husband preferred to corporal punishment and hunger strike the children, and often tied up the children with tape and ropes for punishment.
Later, several children were rushed to the hospital, where examination revealed that they all showed signs of severe malnutrition and abuse. The couple, who originally had a good image, were also arrested by the police and are said to be likely to be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.
After this incident broke out, the entire Internet was in an uproar, but within a few days, the public's attention was diverted to another incident.
A certain young actor who is currently in the limelight was revealed to have participated in a primitive blood sacrifice ritual. Together with five other believers who were also participating in the sacrifice, he killed a young woman in a basement. This horrific video was exposed on the Internet, and it is said that many people have been frightened and have suffered psychological trauma.
Later, it was rumored that this man had committed more than one murder and even committed more horrific acts. This matter was spread vaguely for a long time, and many similar stories of celebrities were dug up, making the story very scary.
Xue Mi received a call from that friend, who thanked her for the information she provided and told her that the police had successfully rescued two victims who were almost sacrificed during the raid. This could be considered as another good deed for Xue Mi.
Although the whole incident had no impact on her, Xue Mi still felt happy when she thought that she had secretly upheld justice.
This overseas trip was much smoother than her last one, and she didn't encounter any messy problems. After finishing her own business, she returned home quickly.
While the foreign entertainment circles are in a state of uproar over various scandals, the domestic film industry has just gone through a major National Day battle. The number one and number two box office battled each other for a long time, but in the end one turned the tables and took the lead in the second half. After all the verbal battles between internet trolls and fans, both the film companies and the audiences were a little tired. The performance of several new films released later was not satisfactory. The film market has once again entered the off-season, and everyone has begun counting their fingers, looking forward to the New Year's Eve and Spring Festival periods.
Just at the end of October, on an ordinary Friday, "The Return of the Tired Birds", which had just won a major award overseas, was finally released before everyone was about to forget it.
Although a lot of funds have been given for publicity, the box office expectations are limited, and it is impossible to spend as much as those box office toppers and promote advertisements everywhere.
Xifeng Media is a small company and cannot create anything particularly big, but it is relatively good at using small funds to leverage large traffic - after all, this is what it has been doing all along, and it has been quite successful.
In this publicity work, the gossip public account under Xifeng Media became the main operator.
Although they claim that they are making serious art films, they don't care about their status at all. They make a fuss and tell jokes in all kinds of trivial popular events. Over time, they have even become familiar to many people and have become a strange flower in the film promotion industry.
However, this kind of behavior of riding on the popularity of the film can only be done when there is still a long time before the release. It is not until the release date that they really put their efforts into it, relying on their grasp of the trend, and successfully produced several popular short videos.
Family conflicts, houses, and small town test-takers, these topics are naturally easy for people to relate to, and are also particularly easy to start arguments in the comment section.
When everyone was hyping it up, the video's popularity naturally increased.
On the day Xue Mi returned to China, she happened to see a video related to mother-in-law and daughter-in-law problems. She was surprised to find that one of the videos had become a hot topic, and it didn't look like it was promoted with money.
I clicked on it and saw that, oh my, the argument was almost getting into a fight.
She read the comment section for a long time with great interest. Sometimes she felt that what the affirmative side said made sense, and sometimes she felt that what the negative side said seemed to be correct as well. She was just wavering from side to side and had no position of her own at all.
Parents have their own difficulties and children have their own ideas. Since no one can convince anyone else, they might as well just have a fight.
As more and more movie clips are released, for some reason, the public's impression of "The Return of the Tired Birds" has changed from a serious art film to a not-so-serious family film. Even though the old man has tried hard to correct the public's impression in interviews, and the official has jumped out from time to time to reiterate its artistic attributes, it has often caused public ridicule because it behaves too despicably.
After all, apart from comedy films, who has ever seen such a frivolous official who likes to stir up trouble?
Some filmmakers think that this way of promotion is quite down-to-earth and may bring unexpected results.
Some people also think that this is a pure mess. After all, what's the problem with being down-to-earth? Even if it can really trick those audiences who never watch art films into going to the cinema, they will most likely be scolded, and from then on there will be a new case of publicity fraud in the world.
Moreover, such an art film would seem too low-brow if it were made like this, and it would drive away the original audience, which would probably end up being very embarrassing.
That's why we say that the promotion of this movie is very unconventional. Not to mention the general public, even film critics and people in the industry accidentally got into a fight, which was quite lively.
The general manager of the media company also asked Xue Mi once whether he should stop in time in this situation. Xue Mi didn't think it mattered.
This movie is not a particularly traditional art film.
Its threshold is actually not particularly high, the storyline is also very clear, and there is a classic commercial movie-style happy ending in the end - although even if you read it thoroughly and understand it, you can still feel the sadness behind it, but those who can appreciate this meaning are probably those audiences with a higher level of movie-watching skills.
As long as the attendance rate can be guaranteed, Xue Mi feels that this movie may bring unexpected surprises to many people.
Just one week before the movie was released, the 5,000 head-mounted VR glasses that had been pre-ordered were finally shipped smoothly and soon reached the buyers.
Zhang Boxuan waited and waited, and finally got the glasses.
His first impression when he got the glasses was that they didn't seem to be particularly different from other VR glasses sold on the market.
With the advancement of technology, the shape of VR glasses has become more and more similar to traditional sunglasses. The body is light and the weight when worn on the face is almost negligible. There is a large black glasses screen on the front. If the built-in function is not used, the lens can also be adjusted to a light color to minimize the obstruction of the field of vision.
But now, while his girlfriend hasn't gotten off work yet, Zhang Boxuan must experience the effect of VR glasses as soon as possible to see how big the difference is between them and the game cabin.
Although the appearance seems to be similar, the function of this pair of glasses is very simple and only focused on games. The only additional function is a large-screen projection for watching movies, which seems more practical.
Zhang Boxuan couldn't wait to enter the game interface.
It’s still the familiar interface and the same taste.
He seemed to be in another world, with extremely delicate visuals, but it didn't seem like the promotion said it had only 50% of the effect of the game cabin.
When he started to act, he found that the reduction in effect was mainly in the sensation of movement.
Because the game cabin has special seats, when it swings up and down, there is a particularly realistic effect, but the glasses can only control vision, or make judgments based on the wearer's movements, but it is impossible to simulate the physical sensation of reversed reality.
But this does have one advantage, as death isn't that realistic either, and your heart rate doesn't keep beating too fast, making it seem like you've really died many times in a short period of time.
To celebrate the release of the new glasses, several new games have been added to the game interface. And unlike the simple mini-games that the game cabin focuses on, the device actually comes with two larger free games, which is obviously more friendly to home users.
The first one was an RPG game of the immortal hero type. As soon as he clicked into it, Zhang Boxuan found himself standing on the clouds. The overly realistic feeling made him shiver with excitement. It took him a long time to completely overcome his fear of heights and he began to try to register an account.
He soon discovered that this was actually an online game!
A VR online game!
It seemed that his previous dream of holographic gaming had finally come one step closer.
It’s just killing chickens in the Novice Village, and it’s so painful!
It's different from previous RPG games that only used keyboard and mouse, and it's also very different from mobile online games. In this game, killing chickens really takes a lot of effort.
At first, it was relatively easy for him to chop the colorful, specially animated egret chickens with his sword. However, as he chopped more and more, this urban worker who was used to working at a desk soon felt that his arms were so tired that he could hardly lift them.
I finally completed the task of helping Aunt Wang at the village head kill 10 chickens. The next task to be completed was to help the village beauty wash clothes in the creek.
If the previous task only required hands-on work, this part required both hands and feet. Especially when stepping on clothes in the water, Zhang Boxuan had to stand up and do high-leg raises continuously before the game would prompt that the task was going smoothly. If he wanted to be lazy, he would be ridiculed by the village girl!
After completing two tasks, he temporarily quit the game, sweating profusely.
This is not an RPG game, it's clearly a fitness game for weight loss!
Even if it was interesting, he couldn't hold on for long. He would reach his limit in half an hour at most.
I’m really tired!
After a while, Zhang Boxuan finally mustered up his courage and opened another large game.
It turned out that this game called "Warm Little Nest" was actually a business online game. The game background should be the material of the previous city walk. It is also set in a small county town. Players must rely on their own efforts to buy a house in the county town step by step and decorate their own cottage.
Based on his many years of experience as a veteran player, Zhang Boxuan immediately felt that this game should have a lot of room for expansion.
After all, we now have a county town, and it is very likely that big cities will be opened in the future, as well as various towns and villages, factories and fields, and all kinds of scenic spots. Maybe even foreign areas can be opened!
He inexplicably felt that the ambition of this game seemed very big.
Although the plot is similar to the reality faced by most office workers, in the game one does not have to work hard, time progresses quickly, and most importantly, the housing prices are much cheaper than in his city. He soon felt the fun of management and began to carefully design the cabin of the future.
The only thing that made him a little unhappy was the bald boss in the store where he worked. He looked and behaved very similar to his real boss, which left him with a subtle psychological trauma. Fortunately, he soon found a better job and left. Before leaving, he cursed the bald boss severely. When he turned around and left, he felt so happy that his bones were broken.
Oh, by the way, the gaming helmet also has a video recording function. He just posted two clips of himself playing the game online. As a result, a netizen who had previously quarreled with him about the Vientiane Game Hall came running over and asked him what game this was. It looked quite interesting.
Zhang Boxuan replied proudly: "It's the helmet that some people said only fools would be fooled, so I paid money to buy it. By the way, the effects of these VR games are not even 1/10 of the actual experience."
As expected, that person stopped talking. Zhang Boxuan, this argumentative loser, finally felt the joy of winning an argument online.
After his girlfriend got off work, she saw Zhang Boxuan still holding a helmet and smiling like a fool even though the game time had passed.
Her girlfriend was more interested in the Heart-beating Moment, but because this love game was too small and short, even if she created her favorite handsome guy's face, she still saw the same few sweet words and fixed interactive scenes over and over again, which she found a bit boring.
I switched to "Warm Little Nest" and unexpectedly received a different kind of fun.
Her boyfriend played this game as a typical business game, working hard to level up and save money to buy a house according to the game goal. But she was more interested in finding various interesting job opportunities. She could also flirt with the handsome boys at the work place, and even have a certain chance of triggering a love affair. She made money while being a sea king, and had a much more extravagant time than Zhang Boxuan.
She even compiled a special guide about the interesting aspects that might be triggered at various working locations, as well as the hidden emotional lines of each character. After it was posted, it became much more popular than Zhang Boxuan's post. Some people even asked to transfer their glasses in the comment section. Their tone was very humble and the price they offered was very high. Unfortunately, it was not very attractive.
As the glasses arrived one after another, various reviews and feedback increased, and the topic related to the Vientiane Game Hall became a hot topic again. However, this time, most people's reactions were envy and jealousy. Even the number of reservations for the Vientiane Game Hall once again set a new record.
Xue Mi was a little confused when she saw the number sent by the branch manager. She could only urge the factory to produce another batch of machines as soon as possible.
There are also VR glasses. The second wave of 5,000 pre-sales were sold out instantly as soon as the quota was released. The speed was even faster than last time. A lot of people went to the company's official website to make a fuss because they couldn't get one, which made Xue Mi feel helpless.
To be honest, before launching the game cabin and VR glasses, she was prepared to advertise at a loss to increase her popularity. After all, many large and powerful related manufacturers are also stuck in the quagmire of losses and cannot extricate themselves.
Unexpectedly, due to the R&D costs, VR glasses are still some distance away from recovering the cost, but the game hall that looks small in scale and has not many machines has become a money-making tool.
Wanxiang Game Hall now has a total of 25 branches across the country, and another 15 are being renovated and prepared for opening. After deducting rent, utilities and employee wages, each store makes a profit of about 60,000 yuan a day. It only takes two months to earn back all the equipment costs, and the rest is pure profit.
It may not seem like much money when calculated this way, but the annual profit of a single store is more than 20 million, and the annual profit of 20 stores is more than 400 million. If all 40 stores are successfully opened, at least 800 million in profit can be recovered in one year. What's more, the new store is still in the process of selecting sites and expanding slowly.
With the expansion of game halls and the decline in players' enthusiasm, the number of reservations will surely decline slowly in the future. However, the company will not only be able to continue to launch new games, but also cooperate with other game companies to develop more games suitable for VR devices. By then, the sale of games and the operation of online games will make a lot of money again, and it is likely to make much more money than simply opening a game hall.
Xue Mi suddenly felt that she seemed to be walking the old path from game halls to Internet cafes, then to personal computers, and finally to mobile games. The only difference was that it took decades to develop to the current situation. This time, the evolution will probably be much faster.
Although she has already achieved a significant lead in the new field, referring to the past, she still has a strong sense of crisis. After all, other large companies are also ready to make moves, trying to steal Vientiane's current position and advantages at any time. If she slacks off even a little, she will most likely miss an important era.
Having finally stood on the crest of the new era, Xue Mi was unwilling to give up her throne casually.
In that case, just throw money at it!
Thanks to the continuous development of new technologies by the super boss Director Ming, she doesn't have to worry too much about technology. But even if she has the technology, how to turn it into a real business is also a big problem.
The first is to make more interesting games, and the second is to reduce costs and increase production capacity. These are the key issues that Xue Mi needs to solve in the future.
Spend money happily, and earn money hard!
She wrote down both things in her little notebook and was considering how to proceed next when she received a call from Miaomiao, saying that "The Weary Bird Returns to the Nest" was finally going to be officially released and she wanted to invite her boss to watch the domestic premiere.
Although she had already seen the movie once at the preview, Xue Mi was still happy to watch it again. Not only did she want to watch it herself, she also invited all her relatives and friends. Even the company's employees received the benefit of free movie viewing, and each person was given 4 tickets, which was just right for her to invite friends over and boost the box office at the same time.
After all, it is a movie that I invested in. If I don’t support it now, when will I support it?
When Zhang Boxuan heard that his girlfriend was making an appointment with someone to go to the movies, his ears pricked up immediately.
He didn't say anything when his girlfriend played a love game with an 2D character, but he couldn't help but feel nervous when she suddenly ran out to watch a movie with someone.
"They are all friends I met in games," his girlfriend rolled her eyes at him, "It's just "Cozy Nest", don't you play it often too?"
This business-oriented social game has a wide variety of gameplay. Some people treat it as a business game, some treat it as a relationship development game, and some people just play it for pure leisure, doing nothing but wandering around the town. Of course, there are also many people who engage in online romance, and it has even become a platform for some people to expand their social circle without realizing it.
There was even one outrageous person who directly rented a piece of farmland in the game and started playing a planting game, which also had a lot of fun.
Zhang Boxuan was initially amazed by the NPC modeling of this game, but he soon discovered that there was more fun to be discovered in the interaction between players.
The only thing he regrets now is that he didn't buy two glasses. As a result, he has to fight with his girlfriend all day long to play games, and they can't even play together. It's really frustrating.
He did not have the same good luck with the second batch that was released not long ago. By the time he heard about it, not a single hair was left. He can only continue to look forward to the third batch being released.
It is said that the pre-sale quantity of the third batch will exceed 15,000 units, so it should not be as difficult to get as before.
but……
"You guys met in person during the game, why do you have to go to the cinema for team building?" He looked puzzled.
"You don't know yet? The modeling used in "Warm Little Nest" is the content of that movie. We also want to find out together whether there are any familiar scenes in the movie." said my girlfriend.
Zhang Boxuan really didn't know about this. He asked his girlfriend in surprise, "Why didn't you ask me to come along?"
His girlfriend rolled her eyes at him and said, "Didn't I ask you yesterday? You said you'd rather stay at home and play video games than watch that movie."
"I didn't know it had anything to do with games," Zhang Boxuan muttered, scratching his head. "When I checked online yesterday, it said it was an art film. You know I get sleepy easily when watching that kind of film. If I accidentally fall asleep in the cinema, you'll be the one who's embarrassed."
"So are you going or not?" the girlfriend asked impatiently.
"Go, go, go! Take me with you to buy tickets!" Zhang Boxuan said immediately.
Two days later, when the movie was officially released, he stood in the crowded cinema and couldn't help wondering: "Is there a particularly popular movie recently? Why are there so many people in the cinema?"
He and his girlfriend actually go to the cinema quite often, but in late October, the cinema is usually not so busy.
My girlfriend said she didn't know either. By the way, she took a look at the list of movies currently being shown. Except for a few blockbusters that are about to end during the National Day holiday, the rest are unknown movies whose names I have never heard of. The only famous movie released recently seems to be "The Return of the Tired Birds" which they are about to watch.
"Could it be that everyone comes here to watch an art film? Has the aesthetic level of our Chinese people improved to this extent?" Zhang Boxuan laughed and did not take it to heart.
As soon as he entered the cinema, he couldn't help but be shocked.
Normally, only during the Spring Festival period can you see a movie theater so full.
In fact, it wasn’t just ordinary moviegoers like Zhang Boxuan who were surprised.
Even the cinema's scheduling managers are confused by the current situation.
It's just a niche art film. If it weren't for the award, their cinema might not even schedule one show a day for it, and the time slot given wouldn't be very good.
After all, for this type of movie, everyone assumes that the box office won't be too high, just a few tens of millions. It's the type where you can't eat the meat, but at most get some broth.
Considering that it is the off-season for the box office recently and there are no outstanding choices of new films, the scheduling manager was generous for once and gave this art film three screenings a day, one of which was during the prime time. For such a niche subject, this is definitely the best treatment.
Their cinema started pre-sales a week in advance. The first day was fine. The pre-sales of this movie were slightly better than previously expected, but it was still within an understandable range. After all, it was a movie that won major awards abroad. Maybe it could even become a classic in film history. It was understandable that those art film lovers paid to go to the cinema as soon as possible.
But starting from the second day, the pre-sale curve suddenly showed a strange upward trend.
It was like a dragon that suddenly rose up. Before you could react, it soared up.
On the third day of pre-sales, the theater manager felt something was not right and urgently added two screenings. Then on the fifth day, two more screenings were added, which directly filled the screening schedule for an art film that was not optimistic at all, and even arranged some of the best time slots for it.
On the contrary, the big movies that have had some box office revenue intermittently during this period have been squeezed into the marginal time periods. As for several other new films that did not perform well, they were only given one or two screenings and were completely marginalized.
It is really something that these experienced professionals cannot understand at all!
His cinema is not big, and seven shows is already very scary. I heard that there are big cinemas that have scheduled 15 or 18 shows. The manager there is adding more shows while constantly doubting his life. He even thinks there is something wrong with him.
However, without management and understanding, real money is the most realistic.
So what if it’s an art film? As long as it can make money, it is a gold nugget in the eyes of theater managers and a cash cow in their hands!
The rapidly growing pre-sale results quickly attracted the attention of others.
Some suspected that it was flooding, some suspected that it was false advertising. Anyway, everyone felt that this kind of increase was not normal and there was probably something fishy going on.
By the last day before the film's release, the pre-sale box office had reached 43 million - just 7 million away from the highest total box office predicted by many forecasting agencies, and it could be passed with just a raise of the hand.
Generally speaking, the first-day box office is usually 3 to 10 times the pre-sale box office. This multiple will fluctuate depending on the intensity of the film's pre-promotion and its reputation after its release. The greater the publicity and the more well-known the film, the smaller the multiple. If it is a low-cost word-of-mouth film, the multiple will be larger.
Art films like this, especially award-winning ones, are a little different from commercial films. The first-day box office is generally two to five times the pre-sale box office. However, because the numbers are often low, they are not even worth much analysis.
If it can recoup its costs, it can be considered a very successful art film.
But now, even if calculated by the lowest multiple, the first-day box office of "The Weary Bird Returns to the Nest" can reach nearly 90 million. Even if the multiple is a little higher, it will exceed 100 million.
This is an art film!
Of course, there have been art films that grossed over 100 million yuan in the past, but that movie suffered a huge box office collapse due to false advertising. It did make money, but it also experienced a very rare box office decline curve, and also earned a lot of infamy.
Many people in the industry are curious whether "The Return of the Tired Birds" will become the next movie with a similar trend.
Including the director, Mr. Zhong, who couldn't help but break out in cold sweat on his palms when he saw this unprecedented good result.
Could it be that his lifelong reputation was really ruined like this? But that's not right. Apart from some trivial matters, the film promotion doesn't seem to have put much effort into other areas. Logically, it shouldn't have such a good promotional effect!
A few months later, when the box office dust had settled, people began to carefully analyze this miraculous typical case, only to find that this promotion and marketing could never be replicated by future movies.
Because from the very beginning, "The Return of the Tired Bird" entered the public eye as a complete circle-breaker.
First of all, winning the internationally recognized top award has attracted the attention of art film lovers and veteran movie fans from the very beginning.
Although this group of people is not large in number, their influence is wide-ranging, especially since many of them are big Vs active on the Internet. Even if they just make a few casual remarks, the number of fans affected can reach hundreds of millions.
And this is just one of the potential movie-watching groups.
The second wave consists of those who just enjoy arguing in the comment section about trivial matters.
Not many of this group of people who love entertainment will choose to watch art films, but their numbers are too large. Even if only one in ten will pay attention to this movie and one percent may buy tickets to watch it, the number is still quite large and can easily overwhelm the previous group of people.
In addition, there is the third wave, which is the gaming group represented by Zhang Boxuan and his girlfriend.
So far, although Wanxiang Interactive has only sold 5,000 VR glasses, the number of people covered is actually much larger than 5,000. For example, Zhang Boxuan let several of his friends try out the glasses, and his girlfriend also brought the glasses to the company several times, and many people have tried them as well.
In addition, there are the old customers of the Wanxiang Game Hall, especially those who have played "City Walk" and "Warm Nest". They naturally have a familiarity with this movie. If they want to meet offline, hold team building activities, watching a movie related to games seems to be a good choice.
There are still many players complaining that Wanxiang Interactive is a company that does not do its job. They made the game but didn’t even release any peripheral products, leaving players with money but nowhere to spend it, which is really lonely.
Now, a spin-off movie has finally come out, so why not go and watch it right away! It also satisfies the joy of offline check-in.
Although these three groups of people are not completely non-overlapping, the overlap ratio is indeed not large. Although the number of people in each group is not particularly large, when they are put together, they look very scary.
As a result, the pre-sale box office of "Homecoming" skyrocketed. On the first day of its official release, the cinema was half full. Everyone came together with various purposes to watch this, which should be a very niche art film.
Zhang Boxuan was holding a huge popcorn bucket in his arms and had an incredibly large drink at hand. He was fully prepared so as not to fall asleep in the middle of the movie.
At least, I have to hold on until the last 2/3 before going to sleep... he thought without much confidence.
Zhang Boxuan is a typical commercial film audience. He likes big scenes, intense gun fights, comedies full of laughs, and he is even interested in cartoons.
The only thing I can’t get into is art films.
Not long ago, he went to see a movie with his girlfriend. His girlfriend started crying while he fell asleep on his seat. In the end, he didn't wake up until the end of the movie because he snored too loudly. His girlfriend slapped him awake and he was so scared that he almost fell to the ground.
All in all, it's barely worth watching.
However, if the movie scenes are really related to the game, Zhang Boxuan feels that he might still be able to persevere a little bit.
If he can find his own cozy little home in the movie, the dozens of dollars of ticket price will be all worth it.
At this time, his girlfriend was chattering with another girl, discussing the handsome NPCs in the game. Maybe they were modeled after actors with good looks, no wonder they looked so high quality. If they could become famous with this movie, maybe it would be worth buying stocks and finding new crushes.
Zhang Boxuan couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard this.
Behind Zhang Boxuan's seat were several college students. They were all members of a school film club. They had come to see the movie as a group because they had heard that the Flying Eagle Award-winning film "Homecoming" was officially released. They didn't expect that there would be so many viewers when they thought it was a niche film that not many people would watch.
Someone also asked the student in charge of buying tickets if they had bought the wrong tickets. Could it be that they had mistakenly entered a screening of a commercial film?
The student himself was no longer confident. He took out his ticket again, checked it carefully several times, and shook his head: "It's not wrong!"
A middle-aged couple nearby, hearing the students' discussion, couldn't help but turn around and interject, "That should be right. We also bought the premiere tickets for 'Homecoming'. We heard that this movie has received high praise abroad, so we wanted to see it first."
They were just discussing privately when the Flying Eagle Award became so popular at the box office. In the first half of this year, the winning films of last year's Flying Eagle Award were released in China, but the total box office revenue was only a little over 2 million.
Even if this year's box office increased tenfold because it was a domestic film award, it would only be 20 million at most, not as grand as it is now.
At this time, two middle-aged ladies sitting next to them said, "We have never watched an art film before, but we saw a clip online that made us angry, so we wanted to see it with our own eyes to see what the plot was all about."
"That's right," another middle-aged woman nodded, "I just heard that art films are hard to understand. I don't know if we can understand them."
But no matter whether he understands it or not, the most important thing is to see what happens to the family after the quarrel, whether they can vent their anger or they really fall apart and go their separate ways.
"Ah, it's the quarrel scene. I got angry when I watched it too, but the director shot it very well. He captured the characters right away." said the wife in the middle-aged couple.
It turns out that the interest in gossip is something that humans are born with.
As the lights in the cinema dimmed, the whispers in the theater finally stopped, and everyone's eyes turned to the screen. No matter whether they were full of anticipation or trying to remind themselves not to sleep, at least at this moment, everyone was watching very seriously.
Zhang Boxuan was originally chewing popcorn slowly, but as he ate, he slowly stopped.
This movie... first of all, it certainly doesn't have those grand scenes of commercial films, no high-tech weapons, no thrill of explosions, and no ferocious punches.
Even the emotions are light, not too sad, nor too happy, making the story in the movie flow like a poem - it is indeed an art film, and as I watched it, I seemed to become more artistic myself.
But if it can be said to be an art film, this film is somewhat different from the ones Zhang Boxuan has seen before - at least this one, he can understand it and get into it. Sometimes he can't help but smile knowingly, and sometimes he feels sad, thinking about the helplessness of his childhood and the time that has passed.
He suddenly felt that his parents would definitely like this movie.
He likes it very much, too.
In fact, it is hard to explain what he likes about it. Maybe he was touched by the young man's drive to soar high, or it could be the middle-aged man's confusion that touched a sensitive nerve in his heart, or it could be the older generation's nostalgia for their hometown that made the blood hidden in his genes stir.
He, his father, and his father's father seemed to have experienced those days full of hope, those hopes that were seen and then dashed, and those helpless moments when one had to grit one's teeth and persevere.
Life is not good, but we can only grit our teeth and move on. Maybe as time goes by, things will suddenly get better.
Zhang Boxuan changed his posture and gently grabbed his girlfriend's hand. His girlfriend also leaned her head over with rare tenderness. The two of them snuggled together like two little animals trying to keep warm.
In the movie, the most intense conflict finally broke out and the family began to quarrel fiercely.
But at this time, even the two aunts who were arguing with others in the comment section because of this plot just felt worried and sighed helplessly.
Isn't that how life goes on, with quarrels and fights, compromises and concessions. It's not easy to just turn against each other and go our separate ways.
It's not easy for anyone in this world!
What Zhang Boxuan and his girlfriend saw were lights burning faintly in the turbulent waves, but what the two aunts saw were the inevitable frictions and entanglements.
The feelings of middle-aged couples are a little more complicated. They reminisce about the past and look forward to the future, but ultimately, their focus is still in the present.
As for the group of college students in the film club, they have been completely mesmerized by the director's smooth shots and the use of progressive symbolism. They are dazzled and full of admiration as to what those fleeting but clearly captured images represent, which ones represent the director's position and which ones represent the opposite.
This is definitely a movie worth watching multiple times! Everyone thought the same thing.
This is definitely a movie suitable for recommending to relatives, friends, classmates, and colleagues - everyone thinks so.
The ending of this movie is not like those commonly seen in art films, which are either tragic or sad and weird. It can even be said that this ending looks more satisfactory than many commercial films.
All the conflicts seemed to be resolved, and the family reunited and worked hard for a better tomorrow.
The two aunts couldn't help but smile happily and nodded continuously.
Zhang Boxuan and his girlfriend seemed to feel vaguely uneasy, but the beautiful peace and tranquility always made people feel longing and tired.
The middle-aged couple sighed deeply.
As for the group of college students, they are already preparing to watch the movie a second time, because they believe that they have found some clues from the previous shots, proving that the final ending is purely an illusion after despair.
Everyone saw what they wanted to see in the movie, and everyone felt satisfied and decided to take others to watch it again.
Even Zhang Boxuan, who is most impatient with art films, decided to drag his good friend to watch this interesting movie.
The reputation of the movie began to ferment wildly in this strange atmosphere.
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