This director is vindictive.

Chapter 453 Is Chen Mo a cancer in the Chinese film industry?

"Ocean Wedding" is just a wedding promotional video.

There's really no plot involved, which is why Chen Mo turned it into a "ritual".

Only in this way will people overlook the fact that this film is not a conventional film.

In fact, this can be seen simply by looking at the film reviews after the movie's release.

Douban long review: When film becomes an altar, we are all worshippers fulfilling our vows: "Chen Mo's cunning lies in using technology to deconstruct the essence of film - the 120-minute 'Ocean Wedding' is essentially an immersive performance art."

Upon closer inspection, this film actually has no plot, only visual spectacle. However, its greatest function is that it is more than just a movie; it is a catalyst for a long-awaited reunion!
Those who mocked the 'lack of plot' failed to realize that the humpback whale and the mermaid pearl on screen had already swum into reality through the fourth wall. The tear-stained tissues collected by the cleaning lady after the show were the real box office statistics.

Furthermore, let's look at some data: 72 hours after the premiere, the deep-sea blue topic surrounding "Ocean Wedding" continued to sweep across social media.

The "Thirteen-Year Promise" special page on Huayun Apparel's official website has received over 2 million visits. Among the 217 couples who reunited at the premiere, 89 went directly to the Civil Affairs Bureau after the show.

So, do you understand now? The film "Ocean Wedding" has already demonstrated its true purpose through its nationwide marketing campaign that tapped into the nostalgia of a thirteen-year promise. If there were an Oscar for Best Matchmaker, this film would undoubtedly be the winner.

Chen Mo, using a nano-waterproof marriage certificate and gene-edited jellyfish, accomplished a KPI that the Civil Affairs Bureau hadn't achieved in twenty years. Today, at the marriage registration office in Chaoyang District, Beijing, eight out of ten couples are holding glowing mermaid pearls—these aren't movie tickets, they're clearly modern-day wedding cups!

Zhou Xiaobin, a professional film critic and Chen Mo's go-to film critic: "When technology brings tradition to life!"

"The most stunning aspect of Ocean Wedding is not its expensive special effects, but its use of modern technology to reinterpret ancient culture."

For example, the 52-hertz low-frequency song of the humpback whale in the film was technically processed and transformed into the rhythm of the poem "Guan Ju" from the Book of Songs—"Guan guan cry the ospreys, on the islet in the river..."

This is not just a splicing of sounds, but a "transplantation surgery" of cultural memory.

Scientists say that 52 Hz is the frequency closest to the rhythm of human poetry in whales, and Chen Mo's team used sonar technology to turn it into the chanting of "Guan Ju".

Even more amazing is that when the more than 20-meter-long humpback whale swam over the newlyweds, the grooves on its belly looked like the black and white keys of a piano in the light and shadow, and its song was the melody of "Guan Ju".

At this moment, what the audience sees is not an ordinary documentary or romance film, but a "Zhou Ritual in the Digital Age"—using high technology to restore the ancient wedding customs recorded in the Book of Rites, but transcending the limitations of written records.

The mermaid pearls that lit up in sync in the darkness resembled modern-day "bronze inscriptions".

In ancient times, people inscribed vows on bronze vessels, which remained intact for millennia. Today, Chen Mo uses a location-trackable mermaid pearl to help reunited couples find each other within a 1314-kilometer radius. This is not just a simple romantic surprise, but a digital "contract"—like the oaths of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, only the medium has changed from bronze to pearls.

Therefore, the true value of "Ocean Wedding" is not how much money it cost, but that it used technology to bring traditional culture to life.

The song of humpback whales, the verses of the poem "Guan Ju", the positioning function of mermaid pearls... these seemingly unrelated things were stitched together by Chen Mo using technology, turning them into a "ritual" that spanned thousands of years.

This may be a new way of preserving culture in the future—not through rote memorization, but by using technology to bring tradition to life in the present.

The impact doesn't stop there; the fact that pearls take seven years to grow has prompted many relationship bloggers to express their feelings.

Because "seven years" is a very special number in love and marriage.

Emotional blogger MaiMai: "I didn't feel much about the movie 'Ocean Wedding' itself, but the most touching thing was the pearl Easter egg—the setting that it takes seven years for a pearl to grow, which is much more real than the 'I will love you forever' that lovers say to each other."

I was clutching the beads and crying my eyes out, thinking that this time I should finally achieve my goal.

Then, when I turned my head, I saw the lady next door sticking the third mermaid pearl onto her divorce certificate. Her remarriage certificate already had two shiny blue pearls embedded in the plastic seal. It turns out she's been in and out of the Civil Affairs Bureau three times!

I was still wiping away tears when the movie ended, the packaging of the mermaid pearl in my hand clearly stating "Seven Years of Nurturing." I felt a pang of irony then; in this day and age, how many relationships can last more than seven months?
Just as I was feeling sentimental, the woman next to me suddenly opened her bag, and three red certificates tumbled out—two divorce certificates sandwiched between them, each with a blue glowing pearl embedded in its plastic wrap, like an LED warning light. As she picked them up, she muttered, "This one won't be ready until 2031." In that instant, it dawned on me: some people's love is like an oyster spitting out a pearl; it takes repeated pain to polish it into a perfect shape.

I have to say, Chen Mo's move was incredibly ruthless! Giving Pearl a seven-year growth period is a slap in the face to those lies about 'loving you for life'.

Seven years is an interesting timeframe. How many couples have succumbed to the seven-year itch? And how many loves can remain unchanged after seven years? Undeniably, some do, but sadly, such love is becoming increasingly rare. Perhaps that's precisely why it seems so precious?

I'm leaving this post as proof. There were over two hundred couples who were reunited after a long separation at the premiere. So let's start counting down again from today. I wonder how many of them will last until the mermaid pearl grows into a real pearl?

Hopefully, there will be more, leaving a glimmer of hope for love in this era, this restless era!

With the release of "Ocean Wedding," the fourth installment of the Huayun Wedding Costume series, the film achieved an astonishing box office of over 3 million yuan on its opening day.

Naturally, this has led many people to start researching why a film criticized for lacking a plot could still break the 300 million yuan mark at the daily box office in November, a relatively unpopular release period.

Netizens' reactions were strange: "Isn't this a matter of course? Back then, Chen Mo's three fingers, now, the box office has exceeded 300 million on the first day. Isn't this a perfect closed loop?"

"No problem, it's normal if you don't understand, that's just Chen Mo, your grandpa will always be your grandpa!"

"To be honest, I don't understand either, but I do know that you can always look forward to the promotional video for the Huayun Wedding Dress series. It's not about what tricks Chen Mo will pull in the video, but about what kind of trouble Chen Mo will cause by taking advantage of the promotional opportunity!"

From "The Phoenix's Auspicious Arrival" to "The Flying Swordsman" and then to "Space Odyssey," are there still people who haven't gotten used to it? So many years, so many times, and Chen Mo has consistently failed to deliver on his promises outside of the film itself.

"Anyway, Chen Mo's movies are just fun, and I mean fun, not just entertaining! Haha!"

"So many people are imitating him. Didn't someone make a wedding mockumentary a while ago? It only grossed tens of thousands of yuan. They just don't understand Chen Mo's tricks!"

Some industry observers have also said: "The fact that Ocean Wedding grossed over 3 million yuan on its opening day proves that contemporary audiences are willing to pay for 'emotional needs.' No plot? It doesn't matter! When a movie can make people curse 'rich people' while crying and scanning QR codes to find their exes, it has already transcended entertainment products and become a social experimental device—Chen Mo has used his money power to prove that 'ritual inflation' is the new blue ocean."

With the release of "Ocean Wedding," it has inevitably been criticized by some, who argue that Chen Mo's film is not a movie at all.

Especially after this non-mainstream film completely overshadowed other "serious" films released in the same period.

Many people began to criticize it.

Film critic Cinema Judge used eight words as the title: "Money-burning, technically impressive, but empty and meaningless!"

"Ocean Wedding" can be called the "most expensive PPT in history". Chen Mo spent hundreds of millions to create a visual spectacle, but he couldn't even tell the most basic story.

Humpback whales singing "Guan Ju"? Gene-edited jellyfish used as incense offerings? These seemingly 'cultural innovations' are essentially the ostentatious displays of wealth by tech nouveau riche—like gilding oracle bone inscriptions, they're expensive but soulless. I suggest the Oscars add a 'Best Special Effects Money-Burning Award'; this film would surely sweep it.

The film uses the "mermaid pearl positioning" and "seven-year pearl" as a "love talisman," but in reality, it is a scythe that precisely harvests emotional anxiety.

When audiences shed tears for the 'reunion within 1314 kilometers,' no one questioned: why does love need a QR code to prove it? Chen Mo's 'romance' is essentially driven by capitalist logic—even tears can be quantified into box office data; this is the true 'deep-sea fear.'

Did 89 couples head straight to the Civil Affairs Bureau after the show? The accuracy of this data is questionable, but Chen Mo is undeniably adept at emotional manipulation: using the 'thirteen-year promise' to manipulate nostalgia, and employing the 'pearl location tracking' to create the illusion of a reunion. The most ironic part is that the film itself admits the 'seven-year pearl' promise is as fragile as a bubble, yet it makes the audience pay for this 'man-made miracle'—isn't this just a high-end version of a 'pig butchering scam'?
The so-called box office miracle is essentially a marketing plague. Behind the 3 million yuan box office on the first day: how many people actually went to see the movie?

We need to understand that the essence of film is storytelling, and this applies to documentaries as well!

And what about this movie? The vast majority of people have all sorts of reasons for buying tickets, but it's definitely not for the film itself.

Chen Mo, a renowned director in the Chinese film industry, subverted the essence of film with the "emotional blind box" model—when audiences are engrossed in scanning QR codes to find their exes, who cares what is being shown on the screen? This is not a success for the film, but a victory for the social media virality.

This is actually the real betrayal of the art of film!
Undeniably, the film was a success in terms of box office and influence, but Ocean Wedding was a "deep-sea bomb" for the film industry: it proved that as long as you throw enough money at it, you can replace narrative and performance with special effects and gimmicks.

When Chen Mo gloats over the fact that the film is "not boring at all," does he realize that "not boring at all" equals "not thought-provoking"? If this is the future direction of cinema, then the masters of the film era should all be buried at sea.

Such criticisms still have a considerable following.

Ultimately, to be honest, the success of "Ocean Wedding" lies outside of the film itself, rather than in the film itself.

(End of this chapter)