After Defying the System, I Became a Genius Director

Although Shao Yichen (self-reportedly) had solved the mystery of the film’s increasing screening rate and box office, understanding the situation didn’t help her find a good solution.

After all, lowering her own film’s quality was simple, but improving the quality of concurrent films was an insurmountable challenge for Shao Yichen.

Fortunately, Shao Yichen was confident her film’s quality was guaranteed to be bad. Having other bad films releasing at the same time was unavoidable, but if she persisted, the public would eventually discover the truth that her film was a flop. Even if she did nothing, the box office and screening allocation would naturally decline—it was just a matter of time.

Looking at the concerning total box office, Shao Yichen silently hoped for the day of declining box office to arrive sooner.

But what she didn’t anticipate was that not only would that day not arrive, reality would deal her an even heavier blow.

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On the afternoon of the third day after the film’s release, Shao Yichen anxiously played on her phone while waiting for box office results.

The twin brothers were playing games with her, but the older brother Nan Rongyu appeared to be in low spirits. When Shao Yichen was confused, the younger brother Nan Rongzhou quietly told her that apparently discussions about the film had increased recently, so Nan Rongyu went to check the reviews. However, every viewer who mentioned the end credits music criticized it, essentially questioning their style, which made Nan Rongyu depressed and affected his gaming enjoyment.

Shao Yichen immediately understood what was happening—probably the paid reviewers she hired were diligently smearing the film, and the end credits music had become collateral damage.

But she couldn’t in good conscience praise the end credits music as good…

Moreover, her connection with the twins was still one-way; Nan Rongyu had no idea she was the mysterious director who had asked them to provide music without payment, while Nan Rongzhou, thinking he was creating a surprise for Nan Rongyu, was concealing the truth even more enthusiastically than she was. Abruptly bringing up the film would not only be sudden but could also make Nan Rongyu suspicious.

Being friends across two lifetimes—though whether they were friends in this life remained questionable—Shao Yichen felt obligated to comfort her former good friend.

So after finishing a game match, while waiting to team up again, she casually opened her browser and searched for “The Last Wish,” focusing on reviews of the soundtrack and end credits music. After all, with countless viewers in the world, even though few had seen this film, there might be some who forgot to bring their ears to the cinema, or whose musical taste made them long-lost brothers of Nan Rongyu.

Due to the low screening rate, discussions about “The Last Wish” were indeed scarce. Shao Yichen clicked into each discussion thread about the film and found most had fewer than ten replies. The only substantive discussions were the negative threads created by the paid reviewers she had hired.

Shao Yichen read through these negative threads from top to bottom and found not a single comment praising the end credits music.

Not only that, as she read these threads, something felt increasingly off.

…Why were there more and more voices praising the film toward the end of the threads?

When she looked at the first page, it was filled with the negative reviewers she had paid for, with only one or two IDs offering rebuttals.

But by the time she reached the last page, supporters of “The Last Wish” were trading blows with the critics, even slightly gaining the upper hand!

What was happening? What had occurred in these brief dozen pages of discussion? Had her 30,000 yuan contract been used up so quickly? Or were the paid reviewers slacking off?

Looking more carefully, Shao Yichen realized the situation was unusual.

The frequency of paid reviewer responses hadn’t changed from the first page, still consistently battling on the front lines of criticism at a steady rate. But there were more supporter responses, and they were coming more quickly!

This meant the actual popularity of “The Last Wish” was truly rising, and the number of viewers who had seen the film or learned about it was increasing!

What was going on? Why would people willingly jump into a fire pit despite seeing a screen full of negative reviews?

Shao Yichen was utterly baffled.

Refusing to accept this, she continued browsing these negative threads, trying to find clues.

Someone must be secretly sabotaging her money-losing efforts!

Soon, she discovered the source of the problem. Before last night, when the thread had reached about the third page, its composition was primarily paid critics and curious onlookers, with very few loyal fans. Even if some passersby developed a contrarian desire to see just how bad the film really was after reading these paid reviews, their numbers were very small.

The turning point occurred on the third page of the thread, at nine o’clock last night.

Suddenly, there were many more casual viewers.

[Is this the legendary independent film with few people and little money that Cat Mint recommended? Why so many negative reviews?]

[The “Last Wish” that Cat Mint recommended? Checking in early, I’ll come back to comment after watching.]

[If Cat Mint recommended it, it can’t be that bad, right? I don’t believe it; I need to see for myself.]

Shao Yichen frowned.

It seemed this “Cat Mint” mentioned by these people was the culprit blocking her path to losing money!

She reopened her browser and searched for content related to “Cat Mint movie.” The results were shocking—this “Cat Mint” was quite a famous film critic in the film circle, whose reviews received at least 10,000 reads per post, easily reaching 100,000 views.

When Shao Yichen opened this person’s public account, the latest review published by this famous critic was prominently displayed at the top.

“‘The Last Wish’ Review: Can a Good Script and a Good Actor Save a Poor and Amateur Production Team?”

Shao Yichen: …

Why would this big shot, with nothing better to do, take notice of her independent film?

With trembling fingers, she opened the review.

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“The Last Wish” Review: Can a Good Script and a Good Actor Save a Poor and Amateur Production Team

Original · Cat Mint

It’s time for this week’s [Searching the Film Sea] column update, and I’ve been looking for suitable films.

Last week I recommended two quality films in a row, and I believe everyone is experiencing some aesthetic fatigue, so this week I originally planned to find films of different genres from last week to give everyone a change of pace.

This isn’t actually easy.

While most films are flops, even flops have dignity. Most have eye-catching trailers that completely contradict the plot, character posters edited beyond recognition, seemingly impressive directors and cast lineups, and numerous paid reviewers. When all films wear such glamorous disguises, it’s actually difficult to judge whether a film is good based on online reviews and film introductions.

But during my search for material, I came across a unique film: “The Last Wish.”

Let’s first look at this film’s Bean rating:

Out of a perfect score of 10, Bean rating: 2.8.

[Thinking deeply.jpg]

Well… under normal circumstances, this would undoubtedly be a flop.

But then I thought, this film has only been released for two days (yes! I was surprised to discover it’s currently in theaters!), with a screening rate of less than 2%. The sample size for ratings is too small; a few deliberate critics could easily bring down the score. So I curiously continued searching for other information about this film.

The more I searched, the more I felt this film was quite unique.

Unique in that—it not only has obvious flaws, but it also doesn’t attempt to conceal them.

Why do I say it doesn’t attempt to conceal its flaws?

Because it has nothing.

That’s right! Literally! Nothing!

No promotion! No character posters! No premiere!

Even the trailer took me half an hour of digging through a movie app, finally finding a video that resembled a trailer from a private account buried in the deepest parts of the comments section.

[Black person question mark.jpg]

What’s with all this mystery?

And as soon as I opened the trailer, I was greatly shocked!

[Image: High energy ahead, please consume with caution]

[Trailer link.mp4]

I believe friends who have opened the trailer link now understand my feelings.

Those shaky images! Blinding my eyes!

That jarring noise! Deafening my ears!

After the minute-and-a-half trailer ended, I was practically blind and deaf, but I still rose from my pain to applaud this production team!

To so honestly expose their unprofessionalism from the beginning, without deceiving or hiding—this production team is so pure and unpretentious, successfully catching my attention.

The more a film is like this, the more it piques my interest. I was determined to lift the veil and see what this little enchantress was really like!

With this mindset, I immediately ordered a ticket for this film, and then, fighting against the evening rush hour traffic after work, I went against the flow to the cinema, finally managing to enter the theater on the very day I discovered this film.

An hour and twenty minutes later, I walked out of the cinema, immersed in deep thought.

In some aspects, this film had obvious issues as I had expected; but in other aspects, it was eye-opening.

A question I’ve long been pursuing may have found its answer in this film.

—Can a good script and a good actor save a poor and amateur production team?

That’s right—a good script, a good lead actor, plus a poor and amateur production team—that’s all this film has.

As for the answer to this question, allow me to save it for the end of this post.

Let me first explain why I describe this film’s production team as “poor and amateur.”

Author’s Note: I can’t believe I’m writing a public account film review in my novel (lights a cigarette with a weathered expression)

Thanks to the little angels who cast Overlord Tickets or watered with nutrient solution during the period from 2020-08-16 10:50:45 to 2020-08-18 20:52:12~

Thanks to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Gentle Words 10 bottles; Jessica, Little Stream 1 bottle;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!