This director lacks vision.

Chapter 356 Only Scumbags Understand Scumbags
The first to make a move was Zhu Yanping, a Taiwanese filmmaker and well-known comedy director.

On the evening of December 27th, he posted a Weibo message saying: "I was delighted to hear that director Jiang Yifeng's 'Lost in..." The opening week box office of "Lost in..." piqued my curiosity, so I went to the cinema today to watch and learn from it.

I was very disappointed after watching it.

The entire movie revolves around a failed man's womanizing adventures, and the humor comes from the relationships between men and women.

I'm already a pretty mediocre comedy director, but I still felt uncomfortable after watching "Lost in..."

The movie is filled with topics about men and women, such as Avatar cosplay, bare thighs, online dating and hookups, and hiring female masseuses.

Jiang Yifeng's journey from an online director to a Cannes Palme d'Or winner should have been an inspirational story.

But he never seemed to grow up.

Several years have passed, and he is still making works with borderline themes, attracting audiences with eroticism and topics about men and women.

But it seems that the mainland market only accepts this approach.

I never expected a movie like "Lost in..." to gross 10 billion yuan in its opening week.

Perhaps director Feng Xiaogang is right; our film audience's aesthetic sense needs to be improved, and a positive market still needs to be cultivated.

I hope Chinese-language films will get better and better, but I don't want films like "Lost in..."

Zhu Yanping is a well-known director in Taiwan with a long career. He directed the "Shaolin Popeye" series, which made Shi Xiaolong and Hao Shaowen famous and is a childhood memory for a generation.

He is considered one of the earlier Taiwanese filmmakers to develop his career in mainland China. His recent works include "Kung Fu Dunk", "The Treasure Hunter" and "The Great Laughing Swordsman", and he remains active in the industry.

Zhu Yanping spearheaded the attack on Da Jiong and Jiang Yifeng because he is about to take over as chairman of the Taiwan Island Film Development Foundation.

The Taiwan Film Development Foundation is the leading organization of the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards. Jiang Yifeng led the boycott of the Golden Horse Awards, which achieved some results.

In particular, this year, Youthful Days won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and also won awards at several film festivals, including the Golden Rooster Awards, the European Film Awards, the French César Awards, the British Independent Awards, and the Asia-Pacific Film Awards.

It can be said to be the most successful Chinese-language film of 2013.

Such an amazing Chinese-language film was not submitted for this year's Golden Horse Awards.

This significantly reduces the prestige of the Golden Horse Awards.

And just like in the previous year, this year's Golden Horse Awards are promoting the film "The Grandmaster".

After the grandmaster received the award, the Golden Ma Award's reputation in mainland China plummeted.

After all, Zhang Ziyi's reputation was really bad at this time. Her roles as a grandmaster and Ip Man had been exposed in mainland China, and her overall reputation was not high.

The Golden Horse Awards' attempt to promote a grandmaster of martial arts has naturally alienated mainland audiences.

The emergence of Jiang Yifeng and Fengxing Media has made people realize that mainland films and stars don't suffer any loss by not attending the Golden Horse Awards.

You'll still earn the money you're supposed to earn, and you'll still have the status you're supposed to have.

This is a huge blow to the Golden Horse Awards.

The decline in the influence of the Golden Horse Awards has truly harmed the interests of Taiwanese filmmakers, which is why Zhu Yanping harbors a great deal of resentment towards Jiang Yifeng.

Besides, this guy isn't a good person either.

In his early years, he put on a very respectable act, but later, under his leadership, the Golden Horse Awards became increasingly disreputable.

When a director made inappropriate remarks in 2018, Li An always looked extremely uncomfortable.

Zhu Yanping, the chairman of the foundation, was all smiles, clapping as he laughed, appearing to be very supportive.

However, the current environment is still one family. Zhu Yanping is currently very active in mainland China and is preparing to make a movie called "The Big House Man" with Bona Film Group.

His criticism of "Lost in Thailand" stemmed from its erotic and vulgar aspects, which seemed to have some merit.

When "Breakup Buddies" was released, it was criticized by many for being too vulgar and cheapening its appeal for box office success.

The current arguments are pretty much the same.

Following Zhu Yanping, many film critics and media professionals began to criticize "Lost in Thailand" for being vulgar and tasteless.

They also came up with many tricks, using the theme of vulgarity as a starting point to develop multiple directions of attack.

First, the popularity of "Lost in Thailand" among students, especially middle school students, has had a negative impact, leading to complaints from parents. The show should be rectified.

Secondly, "Lost in Dali" portrays Dali negatively. The film depicts the sex industry, places for casual sex, and gang fights, which should be rectified.

Thirdly, the film objectifies women, labeling them as "simps." The dialogue and plot are full of degrading remarks about women, and this should be rectified.

These people stirred up trouble online, which actually influenced a group of people who lacked judgment, causing controversy surrounding the reputation of "The Big Lost".

Seeing this, Jiang Yifeng took a break from preparing for the Spring Festival Gala and posted a Weibo message.

"A thousand readers will have a thousand Hamlets. Once a work is finished being filmed, it no longer belongs to me as the director."

After watching Lost in Thailand, each viewer will have their own unique viewing experience based on their personal experiences.

Some people, like Zhu Yanping, who are full of lewd sentimentality, will find the movie vulgar after watching it.

To cover up his own depravity, he stood on the moral high ground and began to criticize the film, as if this would make him seem pure and refined.

But Zhu Yanping didn't understand at all that "Big Jiong" wasn't about men hunting for women.

On the contrary, this is a movie that teaches everyone self-respect and self-love.

Whether you're a man or a woman, never self-degrad or belittle yourself in love. Love yourself first, then love others; this is the true essence of a positive and healthy relationship.

Following Jiang Yifeng's Weibo post, the publicity team of the "Lost in..." series also followed suit, beginning to set things right.

Many influential bloggers also shared their opinions on the film.

The most attention-grabbing comment came from Han Han, who published a film review titled "Lost in Thailand in My Eyes."

"Jiang Yifeng's 'Lost in Thailand' may seem like a lively and funny road movie about picking up girls, but it is actually a 'White Paper on Sexual Charm' that exposes contemporary gender relations."

This white paper tells everyone:
A person's value in the dating market does not lie in how much you give, but in your "integrity" and "attractiveness" as an independent individual.

Once you begin to "castrate yourself"—suppressing your self, abandoning your individuality, and making the approval of your partner your sole survival goal—your sexual attractiveness will rapidly diminish until it reaches zero.

The film repeatedly uses a contrasting structure to tell multiple love stories, explaining this principle clearly and profoundly.

First comparison: Kang Xiaoyu and her ex-boyfriend.

The opening of the movie is meaningful.

The groom's nervousness led him to misspoke and call the bride by the wrong name. What seemed like a slip of the tongue actually hinted at his "disorder" in the relationship.

The groom was a jerk; when it came to actually getting married, he couldn't truly "define" himself, so he even confused his most important name.

The real destructive power of Kang Xiaoyu's revenge lies not in ruining the wedding, but in discovering that she is "nameless" on the other party's chaotic list.

Her scumbag ex-boyfriend mentioned so many of his girlfriends' names, but never her, which shows how low Kang Xiaoyu's ranking was in his heart.

It's worth mentioning that the groom said "I'm sorry" when he mispronounced the name.

This "sorry" is not an apology, but the name of a dog.

Because after Kang Xiaoyu found the dog in Dali, she named it "Sorry," and these are all details.

At the beginning of the film, Jiang Yifeng had already planned everything, which also echoed the later lines—"Once you become a simp, even if you are Gao Yuanyuan, you will become ordinary," and "Simps are ranked after dogs." The second set of contrasts is also the main storyline of the film—Geng Hao and Hao Yi's "reversed lives."

Geng Hao is the most typical example of self-castration; his world revolves entirely around his ex-wife, Kang Xiaoyu.

After the divorce, his behavior was not based on "what I lost", but on "why does she not want me?"

His gesture of wielding a hammer to argue was not a defense of dignity, but rather another form of begging for his ex-wife's attention—an extreme form of "appeasement."

When Geng Hao trembled as he lit a cigarette for the male mistress, he had completely "castrated himself."

It's worth noting that his ex-wife, Kang Xiaoyu, hated the smell of smoke the most, but the male mistress could smoke without any restraint.

At this moment, Geng Hao lost his most basic masculine charm in the eyes of all potential women.

Therefore, no matter what he did in his subsequent attempts to seduce women, he failed.

Because what women perceive is not the technique itself, but the "masculine tension" behind the technique.

Geng Hao's core is empty; he is begging, which makes all his actions seem greasy and pathetic.

Hao Yi, on the other hand, is the exact opposite.

He is the opposite of Geng Hao; he is extremely self-centered and not controlled by women.

His greatest charm lies in his uncontrollability and unattainability, and the resulting sense of danger and mystery—in other words, the so-called romanticism.

He can make promises without considering the consequences and can quickly fulfill women's fantasies about love.

Therefore, Hao Yi was always successful at picking up girls.

The so-called "hunting for women" is not a contest of skills at all, but a projection of personal charm.

Geng Hao's failure was not due to his poverty or ugliness, but to his cowardice; he lost himself.

In the end of the movie, Geng Hao didn't find new love; instead, he erased the name from the wall.

This action signifies that Geng Hao is no longer dependent on Kang Xiaoyu; he has rediscovered himself and his charm.

So in the post-credits scene, Geng Hao is able to have sex with Avatar in the car, and he's even more excited than Hao Yi.

On the contrary, Hao Yi, who married Avatar, gave up his "wanderer" persona and unattainability that he relied on for survival and became ordinary.

At the wedding, Avatar was already impatient with Hao Yi.

Hao Yi may very well begin to self-mutilate in order to maintain his marital relationship, following in Geng Hao's footsteps.

There are many control groups in the movie, so I won't analyze them one by one.

Many viewers were surprised by the dual narrative of "Lost in Dali"—Jiang Yifeng used the trick of dual narrative to make the audience mistakenly believe that Geng Hao and Gao Yuanyuan would meet and fall in love in Dali and have a beautiful relationship.

But the ending reveals that Kang Xiaoyu's storyline took place five years ago, and everything was just a dream.

Many of the loves we believe in are nothing more than wishful thinking and illusions.

This isn't love at all; it's just your physical urges, or perhaps it's just that at a certain point in time, you both need to comfort each other.

True and beautiful love is always a two-way street.

Director Jiang's dual-narrative structure is indeed a stroke of genius, but I must say that Lost in the Big Bang is not only a dual-narrative structure, but a closed loop or cyclical story.

The film begins and ends with a scumbag getting married, creating a closed loop.

Imagine if there were no external interference, wouldn't the same story just keep repeating itself?
How to avoid repetition? It's about learning self-respect and self-love.

Therefore, "Lost in..." is not a movie about hunting for women, nor is it a movie about romance; it is a movie that teaches people how to "be themselves".

It tells us through a hilarious and chaotic journey: when you stop self-censoring and start living for yourself, you don't need to go to Dali; love may be waiting for the complete you at the next crossroads.

When you place your charm on another person, your life becomes a never-ending, chaotic wedding farce.

Lost in the dark is by no means vulgar; it is a real and vibrant good movie.

This is a film review and analysis I made after watching "Lost in..." four times.

It has to be said that Jiang Yifeng is truly amazing. His films are expressive and meaningful, yet they don't make people dislike them.

It will only give you a little insight while you're laughing heartily.

By the way, my movie "The Continent" has been approved and filed for production, and filming will begin soon.

From long-distance runner to writer, from writer to race car driver, and from race car driver to director, this is the third time in my life that I have crossed over into different fields.

Every journey is a brand new experience, and I hope you'll always be with me.

Han Han's film review is quite insightful, providing a relatively complete analysis of Jiang Yifeng's embarrassing situation, and has gained recognition from many people.

It was even reposted by CCTV News.

Many viewers said that after reading the film reviews, they had a new understanding of "Lost in Thailand" and felt that they had previously watched a fake version of the film.

Of course, many netizens also joked that Jiang Yifeng's filming of "Lost in..." was a summary of his own experience in male-female relationships.

Han Han's film reviews are the same.

"Only a scumbag understands a scumbag," which is why Han Han is able to accurately understand the core of the movie "Lost in..."

That evening, the hashtag "Only scumbags understand scumbags" became the number one trending topic on Weibo, sparking a lot of discussion.

Han Han was very pleased with the comments from netizens.

As a minor scumbag, he greatly admired Jiang Yifeng, a major scumbag.

Netizens put him alongside Jiang Yifeng, which made Han Han very happy. He then posted two more Weibo posts, taking the opportunity to promote "The Continent".

Following the Korean wave, there were many more film reviews and analyses of "Lost in Thailand" online, and the film's reputation improved again.

The attacks by Zhu Yanping and others are becoming less and less effective because "Lost in Thailand" is indeed a good movie.

Moreover, as time goes on, the quality of the movie "Lost in..." will increase, just like "The Hunting".

After its reputation stabilized, Lost in China continued its strong box office performance.

Especially during the New Year's Day holiday, Lost in the East broke 4 million yuan at the box office in three days, and after half a month of release, the total box office has exceeded 16 billion yuan!
It is about to break the highest box office record of John Wick.

The newly established Maoyan predicted the total box office of "Lost in..." and gave a final figure of 25 billion yuan.

This prediction was further publicized and hyped, which boosted the box office of Lost in the End.

After seeing that the box office of "Lost in Thailand" had stabilized, Jiang Yifeng stopped paying attention to it. With the preparations for the Spring Festival Gala entering the countdown, all his energy was focused on that.

On January 4th, the Spring Festival Gala's song and dance programs held their first full dress rehearsal and recording.

Jiang Yifeng arrived at the new CCTV building early in the morning.

As soon as I entered the hall, I encountered Li Qin, who was rushing out.

She was carrying a bag and looked somewhat anxious.

(End of this chapter)