This director is vindictive.

Chapter 341 The Nostalgia Virus of the Millennium: A Trans-Time Carnival of Glow Sticks and Old CD Players

With the release of a movie, a less popular release period can sometimes have its advantages.

That means there are few competitors!

Therefore, the number of screenings is quite impressive.

However, as the number of moviegoers increases, the polarization has become more and more severe.

Those who like this movie would give it a high score of 9 out of 10.

"Douban long review (9.2 points): 'A Tribute to Twenty Years of Youth: A Carnival of Tears and Laughter'"

"Chen Mo knows exactly how to touch the tear ducts of middle-aged people! When Yang Mi dug out her 2003 CD player and played 'Woman Flower,' and when Fan Binbin put on cheap lipstick in front of the mirror and said, 'I want to walk the Cannes red carpet in the future,' I cried so much that my contact lenses shifted."

This isn't just a movie; it's a snapshot of our generation's youth—the silly times we fought for our idols, the forced, nonchalant hugs at graduation—it's all been captured on film!

Weibo influencer "Nostalgic Cinema": "Given low ratings by young audiences? Not surprising, because they haven't experienced the evening study sessions where they secretly listened to 'The Wind Continues to Blow' on MP3 players. But for us 80s kids, every detail of this movie was a blow: entertainment magazines under desks, sticker stalls selling stickers for five cents at the school gate, even the 'fighting for your brother' scene—back in 2003, a girl in my class actually overturned the desk of the class next door because of this!"

A highly-rated post on Hupu (a Chinese sports forum) by straight men reads: "Admit it, you guys criticize 'selling nostalgia' because you're afraid to face the fact that you're getting old! When Zhao Liying, playing a single mother, belted out 'Super Star' in a karaoke bar, the three of us guys in my dorm collectively broke down. What makes a good movie? It's one that can make 30-year-olds secretly wipe away tears while simultaneously calling it 'sentimental'!"

Mtime user "Old Man": "This movie really exceeded my expectations. I initially went to support Chen Mo, and also to see the visuals. After all, the film brings together the most luxurious group of beautiful female stars in the entertainment industry right now. Just watching this alone is worth the price of admission!"
However, I never expected that this one movie would make me cry, because for those who experienced 2003, movies are "keys to youthful memories!"

There were naturally a lot of negative reviews.

Professional film critic Chen Bai: "Technically, it's impeccable, but the emotional expression is too contrived. Using the death of Leslie Cheung/Anita Mui to create conflict is like selling souvenirs at a funeral—effective, but not dignified. Compared to the subtlety of Chen Mo's previous work, 'Love is Not Blind,' this time it's more like using gold to make a gilded ornament."

A popular answer on Zhihu: "Sunny Sisters: An Exquisite Nostalgia Scam"

"The whole film is filled with the calculated 'Cry now, it's time to cry!' Using terminal illness, the deceased, and nostalgic hits as tearjerkers, it is essentially Chen Mo's emotional manipulation of his fans. What's even more ridiculous is the 'fighting for idols' premise—in 2023, they're still using 'brainless fans' as a label for passion. I suggest renaming it 'To Our Youth That Will Eventually Lose Its Intelligence.'"

This post sparked a heated online debate with thousands of replies.

"Haha, judging people and events from 2003 with the perspective of 2023 is just ridiculous! According to this logic, no more sentimental movies should be made!"

The original poster, 【Movie Sniper】, replied: "Those who say it's a nostalgia scam probably haven't experienced that era. In 03, the internet wasn't as developed, and idols were our entire spiritual world. Kids these days watch short videos and follow celebrities, so of course they can't understand why someone would fight to the death over a comment like 'Brother is effeminate'—back then, the boys in my class smashed up the basketball court over that!"

The original poster, 【Post-00s Rectifying the Entertainment Industry】, retorted: "Hilarious! According to this logic, if we were to film 'Three Kingdoms,' would we have to recreate human sacrifice? Times are progressing. What if we glorify irrational idol worship as 'youthful passion' and mislead today's middle school students? If Chen Mo were truly amazing, he should be making 'The Crowd,' not gilding the lily with brainless behavior!"

The original poster, a 03 college entrance exam taker, shares their experience:
"As someone who used to secretly cry in the classroom and get kicked out by the homeroom teacher, seeing the scene in the movie where 'The Wind Continues to Blow' was a complete emotional shock. Kids these days obviously don't understand—you guys have Weibo and can post #ForeverBrother#, but back then we had to save up our breakfast money for three months just to get a genuine CD!"

The original poster (a PhD candidate in sociology) joined the fray:

"From a cultural studies perspective, this film precisely captures the sense of ritual within subcultural communities. Using 'fighting' as an extreme expression of group identity is far more authentic than the 'pseudo-passion' manipulated by capital like the current trending topics ranking system. I suggest those who criticize it as 'idiotic' should read 'The True Believer' first."

The original poster, 【Film and Television Industry Party】, provides technical analysis:
"Admit it, you guys are hypocritical! Marvel fans can accept Thor smashing up a bar, Japanese manga fans think the fight scenes in 'Crows Zero' are awesome, but when it comes to domestic films, it's considered 'promoting violence'? The fight scenes in this film are less than 5 minutes long, and the localized adaptation of the dialogue is more delicate than the original, okay?"

The original poster, 【Anti-Pretentious Expert】, mocked:
"The self-pity of middle-aged people is terrifying! By this logic, 'Tiny Times' can also be whitewashed—after all, 20 years from now, someone will jump out and say, 'We really would have fought over designer bags back then!'"

Summary by the original poster [Time Film Gallery]:

"This war of words proves the film's success—it allows two generations to see the gap between their youth. What young people find laughable is precisely what middle-aged people cherish most. Just like the line in the film: 'Later we finally could afford a CD player, but the person who fought for your tapes was long gone.'"

This controversy quickly began to sweep across the internet.

The neutral Southern Entertainment commented on this situation, stating: "Behind the polarized ratings lies a rare 'generational aesthetic gap' in Chinese-language films. Young audiences dislike 'paying for nostalgia,' while middle-aged viewers are willing to pay the price for memories. It's worth noting that 47% of the audience for this film are over 35 years old, with an average rating of 8.7; while only 21% are under 25, with a rating of 5.3—this is not a film dispute, but a concrete manifestation of the emotional purchasing power between two generations."

However, compared to the online criticisms that young people are good at making, the defenses of middle-aged fans seem more convincing!
A middle-aged fan posted "evidence" of his idol-chasing in 2003—a yellowed ticket stub for "Farewell My Concubine" and handwritten lyrics with the words "Forever remember Leslie Cheung"—proving that "there really were people this crazy back then."

A movie fan born in the 1980s wrote a long article: "On April 1, 2003, my male classmate flipped the table because a classmate said 'It's good that homosexuals die'... This movie is not an exaggeration, it's just that we are getting old."

As "Sunny" entered its third day of release, its box office performance showed an unusual curve—after an explosive opening of 1.7 million yuan on the first day, it rose instead of falling on the second day, directly breaking through the 2 million yuan mark.

Theater managers worked overnight to adjust the screening schedule, increasing the proportion of screenings for this "fan-exclusive" film from 35% to 48%, setting a new record for single-film screenings in March.

Such data has caused many in the industry to exclaim in astonishment: "This is not scientific!"

However, the truth is that this box office miracle was entirely driven by genuine demand for movies.

At 1 a.m. at Wanda Cinema in Beijing's CBD, women around 40 years old held up glow sticks and sang "Later" together. When the movie ended, the cleaners swept up more than a dozen wads of soaked tissues.

At the Grand Cinema in Shanghai, a bizarre "cross-generational movie-watching" phenomenon even occurred—a girl dressed as a cosplayer linked arms with her mother and asked, "Mom, were you this crazy about idols back then?"

The war on social media is escalating.

Douban's short review section is divided into two camps: "nostalgia fans" and "rational fans." Some users have noticed a strange phenomenon: most of the accounts that give five stars use landscape photos or baby pictures as their profile pictures, while those who give one-star reviews all use anime avatars.

Under the trending Weibo hashtag #WatchingSunnySistersWithParents#, a young viewer posted photos of their parents secretly wiping away tears during the movie: "My dad hasn't been to the cinema in twenty years, but today he actually bought an IMAX ticket just to hear 'Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies.' I just can't understand it!"

The most heated debates have been among film critics.

Led by Lin Tao, deputy editor-in-chief of Film Weekly, the "academics" blasted in their column: "Using the deceased as a catalyst for the plot and nostalgic songs as an emotional crutch is a desecration of the art of film!"

Three hours after the article was published, veteran film critic Zhou Xiaobin posted a rebuttal: "Some people always equate 'profound' with obscurity, but they can't see that the emotional resonance of millions of ordinary people is the most difficult reality to capture."

Those experts who mocked "Titanic" as a "popcorn movie" back then are now buried under a mountain of weeds.

The accompanying picture shows the spectacular scene of a sea of ​​lights from the audience holding up their cell phones in the theater screening "Sunny Sisters".

At this moment, Chen Mo led the main creative team on a roadshow.

Backstage at a cinema in Tianfu, Yang Mi was scrolling through her phone when she suddenly burst out laughing: "Director Chen, guess who just messaged me? The president of my brother's fan club said they're organizing a private screening for twenty shows!"

"As expected."

Chen Mo handed Jing Tian a bottle of mineral water: "Do you remember what I said? This movie is a love letter to those who experienced the millennium."

As he was talking, a data report popped up on his phone from his assistant—the percentage of viewers aged 35 and above surged from 17% on the first day to 43%, and the repeat viewing rate was as high as 38%.

A dramatic scene unfolded at the roadshow. When the creators asked the audience for their feedback as usual, an elderly man wearing reading glasses in the front row suddenly grabbed the microphone: "My wife watched it yesterday, and this morning she dug out all her long-forgotten celebrity clippings!"

An auntie in the back row immediately chimed in: "My daughter insisted that our generation was silly for chasing stars, but she just sent me a WeChat message asking where to find Anita Mui's concert videos!" However, what's most interesting is that the polarized reviews actually started to change in a strange way as the film's release date went on.

Many young people are beginning to be surprised to find that what they consider incomprehensible, deliberate sentimentality, can move their parents' generation to tears.

"After watching the movie, I got home and found my mom calling her best friend to arrange to go to the movies together the next day!"

"My mom found a dusty metal box containing a lot of things that appeared in movies, such as an old CD player, celebrity stickers, autographed posters, and so on."

I just realized that my old-fashioned mom used to be such a crazy fan of celebrities!

"It's amazing! It's clearly a movie aimed at women, but my dad actually took my mom to see it. The key thing is, after they came back, they actually turned on the computer together and watched the concert from back then! I watched for a while and finally understood why some people only care about music and don't neglect those born in the 80s!"

This generational difference has actually sparked the curiosity of young viewers, with many launching a challenge on social media to "take their parents to watch 'Sunny Sisters'".

The hashtag #Parents'CelebrityChasingStories# on Douyin quickly surpassed 1 billion views. In a video uploaded by a Gen Z content creator, her mother showed off her treasured, yellowed celebrity sticker book, flipping through it while crying: "Back then, to buy Anita Mui's cassette tapes, I didn't eat breakfast for three whole months." This video received over 3 million likes.

Even more surprisingly, the 2003-era details featured in the film triggered a chain reaction. Taobao data shows that searches for keywords such as "vintage CD player" and "Walkman" surged by 500%, and the prices of vinyl records like "Woman Flower" and "The Wind Continues to Blow" tripled on secondhand trading platforms.

In response to this cultural phenomenon, the Beijing News published a commentary: "Sunny unexpectedly became a key to unlocking intergenerational dialogue. As young people begin to understand the emotional expressions of their parents' generation, the film's value far exceeds the realm of entertainment."

In a very strange way, "Sunny Sisters" suddenly began to reverse the previous situation.

The ratings on several film review websites have actually started to gradually rise.

It rose from 6.5 points to 6.9 points!
Meanwhile, clips of memorable moments from "Sunny Sisters" have also been uploaded by many netizens.

Especially the scenes of the two generations of best friends fighting and dancing together.

This sparked a wave of nostalgic music.

Classic songs featured in the film have experienced a resurgence in popularity. Data from Tencent Music shows that plays of old songs like "Woman Flower," "The Wind Continues to Blow," and "Monica" surged by 800% within a week, climbing into the top ten of the trending songs charts. Major music platforms urgently launched "Sunny Sisters' Nostalgic Playlists," and related topics have garnered over 20 billion views.

The box office and word-of-mouth surrounding "Sunny" continue to grow. After a week of release, the film's cumulative box office surpassed 10 billion yuan, becoming the first Chinese-language film to achieve this feat in March. This figure not only broke the box office record for March but also demonstrated once again to the industry the astonishing explosive power of "nostalgia economy."

This film was originally intended to be a fan-oriented movie, and even Chen Mo himself initially thought so.

However, the result was an unexpected turn of events. As for the concerns that the "inappropriate" casting might cause the nostalgic storyline to become "unrealistic," although there was some truth to it, it seemed to have been completely ignored.

"Why is that?" Jing Tian asked.

Because at the beginning, Chen Mo had given them a heads-up, so that everyone was mentally prepared. What kind of preparation?
Be prepared to be criticized and face the possibility of poor reviews for the film.

Chen Mo thought for a moment and said with a smile, "To be honest, I didn't understand it at first either. Because of the spontaneous support from the fans, I just felt that the movie had become a label and they probably wouldn't care so much about the content."

However, we overlooked the fact that many of our fans are middle-aged, and this group of moviegoers is the most irresistible to nostalgia and flashbacks.

Look at this!

Chen Mo handed over the tablet computer as he spoke.

Jing Tian and several other women all crowded over to look.

However, the cultural phenomenon triggered by the film has intensified, prompting the program "Cultural Interviews" to produce a special episode, inviting sociologists, psychologists, and film and television experts to discuss the "Sunny Sisters Phenomenon".

During the program, a sociology professor from Peking University pointed out: "This film unexpectedly triggered the collective memory mechanism of Chinese people."

As those born in the 80s enter middle age and those born in the 90s begin to feel nostalgic, the millennial cultural symbols presented in the film serve as a bond connecting the two generations emotionally.

Film and television experts and veteran filmmakers said: "The phenomenon that 'Sunny Sisters' has generated is actually closely related to its previous publicity and distribution."

The fans of Chen Mo, Yang Mi, Fan Binbin, Liu Yifei, and other female celebrities are all people who experienced the millennium. Although they initially went to see the movie to support their favorite stars, this behavior is actually quite different from other star-chasing activities.

This is also a way for them to reminisce about the past, and this emotion perfectly matches the theme of the film.

It's fair to say that the film has precisely targeted the audience most suited to it!

A renowned psychologist stated, "For middle-aged viewers, it's a compensatory psychology at play, because the changes in the sunny sisters in the movie between 20 years ago and 20 years later precisely resonate with the emotional deficiencies of the middle-aged demographic."

For young viewers, it's also a kind of compensation mentality. From initial incomprehension, they later begin to envy that generation! The era of fast-food economy, attention economy, and traffic economy has greatly lowered the threshold for them to access information. However, more means more chaos, so it's hard for anything to leave a deep impression on them.

This is quite different from the millennium.

When they begin to learn about their parents' generation's stories, especially those about the entertainment industry and the superstars, they feel a deep sense of envy.

The film's popularity has even spread to overseas markets.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Chinese culture is now going global and its influence is penetrating into all aspects of life.

However, in terms of film and entertainment, it is actually far inferior to what it used to be.

Artists like Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung, along with the nostalgic hits featured in their films, had an impact on Asia that today's domestic stars can't match.

In response to such a warm market response, Chen Mo posted on his personal Weibo account: "Thank you for the support of all the viewers. 'Sunny Sisters' has never been a perfect movie, but it carries our generation's tribute to our youth."

If it helps people reconnect with old friends or spend more time chatting with their parents, then its value far exceeds box office numbers.

This Weibo post quickly garnered millions of likes, and the comment section became a massive "missing person" forum. Countless netizens shared photos of themselves with old classmates or told stories of searching for their long-lost best friends. Weibo even temporarily launched a special "Sunny Sisters" topic page, offering a "Find Old Classmates" function to help users reconnect with friends they had lost contact with for many years.

This resulted in a wave of nostalgia.

Many people recalled the days when Renren and Friends Network were launched, and how everyone collectively searched for lost classmates and friends on them.

However, controversy persists. On Zhihu's hot list, under the question "How to objectively evaluate 'Sunny Sisters'", the most upvoted answer reads: "This movie is like a mirror, reflecting the awkward situation of the Chinese film industry—we crave originality, yet cannot resist the temptation of nostalgia. Chen Mo packaged a remake story with top-notch industrial standards, which may be the best solution for Chinese films at present."

One viewer wrote on social media: "We laugh at our parents for not understanding Jay Chou, just like our children can't understand why we cried over this movie. But that's what inheritance is, that's the power of memory."

Perhaps, as Chen Mo said, "A film is never just a film; it's a shared experience of life." *Sunny Sisters*, in its own way, allowed two generations of Chinese people to rediscover each other and showcased the boundless possibilities of Chinese commercial cinema to the world. In this era of fast-paced culture, it proves one thing: truly moving stories never go out of style.

(End of this chapter)