This director lacks vision.

Chapter 418 The Ceiling of Violent Aesthetics

Seeing that Xiao Li's evaluation of the movie wasn't particularly high, Hu Lianxin looked at Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen's family was the poorest of the three girls, and she was often treated to meals, so she had relatively high "emotional intelligence".

So she said, "I think this movie is very good."

Look at the audience around you, most of them are excited, which means everyone's emotions have been stirred up.

When I watched this movie, I felt that the beginning was very depressing, but the later action was very exciting.

As for the film's plot and deeper meaning, I don't really understand them either.

I feel that with Jiang Yifeng's talent, he must have done a lot of design work in the movie.

But we were just young girls, unaware of the complexities of life, lacking experience and knowledge, so we couldn't see it yet.

Xiao Chen's answer satisfied both Hu Lianxin and Xiao Li.

She added, "Now that the movie is over, let's go ice skating."

The MixC Ice Rink on the fourth floor of MixC Mall is known as the largest real ice skating rink in East Asia, and many Shenzhen residents like to come here to cool off.

After arriving here, Xiao Li and Xiao Chen went ice skating, while Hu Lianxin was still reminiscing about the movie she had just watched and had no interest in ice skating.

She ran up to the fifth-floor stands, bought an iced drink, and sat down.

After downloading the Maoyan APP on her phone, Hu Lianxin saw that in addition to the ticketing section, there was also a "Watch Movies on Maoyan" section.

Click into this section, and at the top there is a slogan: "Maoyan Movies, letting everyone see the most authentic reviews."

The popular movies are listed below the slogan.

The top-ranked project is the Pacific Rim: 9.7 points (978372 reviews) / 9.2 points (502382 reviews).

Hu Lianxin clicked on the "Golden Score" and saw the following explanation: It is a genuine review given by viewers who have bought tickets on Maoyan. This is a review based on real money, hence the name "Golden Score".

Next, let's look at the impression score: the reviews from viewers who didn't buy tickets represent the general public's impression of the film.

Upon seeing these two explanations, Hu Lianxin understood that the high gold content of the film reflects the feelings of ticket-buying audiences after watching the movie.

Impression scores, on the other hand, may be subject to manipulation or attempts to stir up controversy.

However, impression points are still necessary because Maoyan is still in its early stages. In the past, many movies did not have a ticket-buying audience, so impression points were the only factor.

Moreover, a film will inevitably have a large audience that doesn't watch it during its theatrical run but through other channels, and these people also need a place to comment.

This "Maoyan Movie Viewing" section was created by Zheng Zhihao at Jiang Yifeng's request, with the aim of making the Chinese film rating market as realistic and objective as possible.

Although doing so may offend some film companies in the short term, and even affect Maoyan's own interests.

However, persisting with this approach in the long run will still benefit the market.

This allows some people in the industry to hear the voices of the audience who actually paid for tickets—at least Fengxing Media can adjust and optimize its creative direction based on this data.

This will reduce the number of bad movies that disgust audiences and allow the box office revenue to go to truly good films, gradually creating a virtuous cycle.

To this end, Maoyan also launched activities such as offering coupons for leaving comments to encourage more ticket buyers to speak up.

Hu Lianxin glanced at the reviews and found that the top-rated review for Pacific Rim was quite simple: "After watching Pacific Rim, I was moved to tears, and I can finally proudly shout: The world's best science fiction movie is in China!"

This comment received over 100,000 likes and thousands of replies.

Seeing this, Hu Lianxin felt a surge of pride and understood why Xiao Li wanted to see the Pacific Rim again.

The second most popular movie is Zhang Yimou's Great Wall.

This film only received a 3.7 rating in the Golden Score section, while its Impression Score was 5.8.

It's worth mentioning that only over 20,000 people rated the gold score, but the majority of the comments were negative.
The impression score has over 200,000 comments, and the comment section also has a lot of positive reviews.

It's obvious that there are paid commenters controlling the comments in the Impressions section.

But it's not very meaningful.

Because any viewer with a sound mind knows that the Golden Score is more valuable, and they will refer to the Golden Score before buying movie tickets.

Hu Lianxin continued to scroll down, with "The Witch" temporarily ranking 6th, and her comment popularity lower than "Sewing Machine Band," "Tiny Times 3," and "The Continent."

After all, this movie was only released today, so there are relatively few reviews yet.

She clicked into the witch's page; her gold score was currently 9.2, a very high score.

The top-rated comment is from someone called "Demon Hulk," and his account is verified with an asterisk.

Clicking on his profile picture reveals a list of his titles—renowned Hollywood film critic/senior contributor to the Los Angeles Times/multi-time Oscar voter…

This is also a pioneering move by Maoyan Movies, which has partnered with Rotten Tomatoes to share some of its film review data.

The Demon Hulk commented:
Before seeing the witch, the Mad Max series was always the best violent aesthetic film in my mind. Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" is certainly good, but the action design is stiff and the visuals are simple and crude. Kill Bill only wins in terms of script structure and film soundtrack, but it is not the highest level of violent aesthetics.

After watching The Witch, I must confess that this is true violent aesthetics.

First, the film has a highly stylized visual system, using highly saturated red and black, paired with a dim yellow sky and clever lighting to create a unique contrast between light and dark, constructing a desolate and chaotic post-apocalyptic wasteland aesthetic.

Jiang Yifeng is a true master of color theory, and also possesses a perfect talent for composition.

Every frame of the movie "The Witch" could be used as a post-apocalyptic fantasy computer wallpaper if taken out individually.

Viewers do not need to understand color theory or cinematography when watching this film.

Your innate genetic instincts will cause you to experience chaotic and negative feelings when you see these images, suppressing your emotions and accumulating anger within you.

Seeing this, Hu Lianxin nodded repeatedly.

She had this feeling right after watching the movie. She felt that every frame of the movie was beautiful, but also so fragmented and disordered, which made her feel depressed and want to vent.

"Secondly, the witch has a very rigorous narrative logic, and the introduction of religion is a stroke of genius."

The film perfectly illustrates the birth of a cult and its destruction of humanity, but I won't go into details.

I just wanted to talk about the important role of religion in the aesthetics of violence—the contrast between ritual and fanaticism.

The various rituals in religious occasions can elevate the aesthetics of violence to an artistic level, giving the audience a sense of collective power oppressing individual power.

The fervent, fearless behavior of the believers, who are oblivious to death and pain, contrasts sharply with that of normal humans, creating an uncontrollable sense of panic for the audience.

This is precisely the essence of the movie "The Witch".

Much of the violence in the first half of the film wasn't directly directed at the main characters, but it still made the audience feel very uncomfortable.

I call this kind of cinematic art "cold violence".

Jiang Yifeng uses a cold, violent filming style to constantly oppress the audience and squeeze our emotions.

When the revenge finally began, the violence shifted from passive-aggressive to active-aggressive!
Our emotions were like a volcanic eruption, bursting forth! Finally, and this is my favorite part—Jiang Yifeng's action choreography in the film.

The early fight scenes in the movie are realistic, with punches and kicks mainly targeting vital points; however, the fights become more imaginative and unpredictable after the witch evolves into a new human.

If Jiang Yifeng's action design in John Wick was abstract and entertaining, then the action design in The Witch was emotionally driven.

There are no fixed moves, but every move must be imbued with emotion, allowing you to experience the catharsis and exhilaration of violent output.

This action design perfectly echoes the oppressive cold violence in the early part of the film, making the audience's adrenaline surge in the last 40 minutes, giving them a thrill from head to toe!

I believe that many viewers will not understand the theory I am talking about, but they will have the same feelings as me.

Sweating profusely and feeling refreshed after watching the movie—that's the thrill of extreme violent aesthetics.

Besides these, the film *The Witch* also features a soundtrack, an anti-violence theme, and humanistic concern, but I won't go into details.

Because these things also appear in other movies, they are not unique to witches.

In my mind, The Witch has surpassed the Mad Max series and become the pinnacle of violent aesthetics.

Jiang Yifeng is a true master of film. He doesn't need to use complicated stories to deceive the audience. He directly uses the simplest yet most superb shooting techniques to create a timeless classic film.

I also want to say that Tian Qianwei, the actress who plays the witch, is truly captivating. Her martial arts moves are unique, and I've become a fan of hers!

After reading the long film review in one go, Hu Lianxin finally felt satisfied.

Hulk's words struck a chord with her.

She felt the same way after watching the movie. All the frustration from the various hobby classes and tutoring classes during the summer vacation was released after watching the movie.

I feel much better now.

Moreover, after watching The Witch, Hu Lianxin also became a fan of Jiang Yifeng. She was very happy to see Hulk praising Jiang Yifeng as a master of film.

Hu Lianxin wanted to like Hulk's comment, but received a message: "You are not a ticket holder and cannot like comments in the Gold section."

The movie tickets were bought by Xiao Li; Hu Lianxin isn't a ticket purchaser, so she can't even like them.

Maoyan's rating system is very strict, but I still like Hu Lianxin more.

She has made up her mind that from now on, she will use the Golden Score from the Maoyan app as a reference when watching movies.

Hu Lianxin wasn't in a hurry. She planned to use Xiao Li's account to like the post later and have Xiao Li add her to Jiang Yifeng's fan group.

After taking a sip of her iced drink, Hu Lianxin went on Weibo to check the reviews of the "Witch".

She found that some viewers did dislike the movie "The Witch" because they hated violence, but most viewers gave it high marks.

The main reason is that everyone is under a lot of pressure in today's fast-paced life.

This pressure accumulated in my heart, forming a lot of negative emotions.

After watching The Witch, it was like a psychological detox, and everyone was quite satisfied.

Moreover, Jiang Yifeng's publicity efforts were very effective.

The opening line, "She can pluck the stars from the sky, yet she still pities the people of the world," tells everyone that the film "The Witch" focuses on a personal perspective.

This not only created a distinctive difference from Pacific Rim, but also lowered the audience's expectations.

Otherwise, if viewers watch Witchcraft with the same mindset as watching Pacific Rim, they will inevitably experience a psychological letdown.

Following the premiere of The Witch, Jiang Yifeng posted multiple times on Weibo, reminding everyone that The Witch contains violent scenes and is not suitable for children.

Although it may not be very effective, it at least fulfilled its obligation to remind people.

It also left an impression on many viewers, letting them know that witches are quite violent.

Jiang Yifeng did a great job in managing expectations, and the film was indeed excellent, showcasing his talent for "composition" and "violent aesthetics" to the fullest.

Therefore, the movie "The Witch" received very good reviews and its box office performance was very strong after its release.

On its opening day, August 8, The Witch's box office reached 2.32 million yuan (including 63 million yuan from preview screenings).

While this result may not be comparable to the Pacific Rim, it still ranks second in the Chinese market!

By Saturday, August 8th, the box office for "The Witch" was still 2.13 million yuan. Excluding the preview screenings from the previous day, the actual box office on Saturday was 44 million yuan more than Friday's.

By Sunday, August 9th, the box office for "The Witch" was still above 200 million, reaching 2.07 million.

The box office reached 6.52 million yuan in its opening weekend!
Under these circumstances, the Great Wall's reputation has collapsed, and its decline is evident, with daily box office revenue falling below 2000 million.

Because they wanted to catch the tail end of the summer movie season, The Witch's release date in North America was the same as in China.

The film also did well at the North American box office, grossing $5840 million in its opening weekend.

This opening weekend box office performance is certainly not as good as Pacific Rim, but it has already surpassed the 5300 million of Fast & Furious.

Moreover, this is a movie with an all-Chinese cast.

Achieving this box office result is a huge surprise!

This also served as a resounding slap in the face to the film "The Great Wall"!

To boost overseas box office, The Great Wall cast a foreigner as the male lead to save ancient China, but the film was a flop overseas.

The Witch didn't think too much about it; it was just a normal Chinese-language film, yet it achieved box office success in North America.

The two films were released one after the other, creating a stark contrast and sparking public discussion about how Chinese-language films should go global.

The Great Wall was once again criticized, and Zhang Yimou faced even wider criticism and ridicule.

The reason why "The Witch" was successful in North America was actually due to the popularity of the movie "Pacific Rim".

More accurately, "The Witch" is a film directed by Jiang Yifeng.

Jiang Yifeng is very popular and well-regarded in North America, and audiences generally approve of him.

In addition, the story of the witch is a dark and heroic one, anti-official like cyberpunk, and the film style is an action movie that showcases violent aesthetics.

This still has a significant market in North America.

The film was loved and sought after by a large audience, which in turn boosted Jiang Yifeng's reputation in North America.

The success of The Witch in North America was just the beginning; the film subsequently achieved good box office results in Europe and Japan.

Especially in Japan, the image of witches has been widely discussed, and many viewers have petitioned online to see witch manga.

With the popularity of "The Witch," Tian Qianwei's popularity and status have skyrocketed, making her the top young actress in the company.

(End of this chapter)