Foreign movie blackout period ends

For a whole month, the Chinese cinema blocked all new foreign movies to boost the release of many new Chinese movies and to protect the Chinese movie industry.  However, in September, new foreign movies came flooding  into the cinema once again. Movies such as Dunkirk and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets gained a huge audience in China.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a movie adaptation based on the French comic book series Valerian and Laureline by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières.  It was directed by Luc Besson and released in July 2017. Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne and Clive Owen star in the lead roles. Although the visuals of the movie have been greatly praised, there has been much criticism on the plot and the casting—from Delevingne’s expressionless acting to the feeble antagonist. Many review sites have criticized the actors and the characters, calling them “lifeless” and “poorly written” (Rotten Tomatoes). Plenty have also scrutinized the poor chemistry between them (Seattle Times). Tomoko Hasegawa (11A) commented that, “the main plot of the story was so predictable and it was too cliché.”

Dunkirk, the highest grossing World War II movie of all time, raked in over 500 million dollars worldwide, receiving international acclaim and has been dubbed one of the best war films of all time. The movie, directed by Christopher Nolan, stars Tom Hardy, Fionn Whitehead, Jack Lowden and Harry Styles and is about the Dunkirk Evacuation during the World War II. The movie films different perspectives of the evacuation, with the intention of telling the story visually; the events overlap which allows the audience to connect the dots. Many critics praise the movie for its cinematography and music, as well as being historically accurate. “I personally loved watching the movie, having been filmed in a way that made me feel as if I was part of the story,” says Stefanie Deng (10C).

Ironically, it seems that halting the presence of foreign movies in Shanghai only boosted the excitement and anticipation people had about the new films. Once September began, millions of people, Chinese and foreign, flocked to the movie theatres. Dunkirk and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets were the two highest grossing movies in Chinese theaters this summer, grossing 197 million RMB and 188 million RMB respectively (China.org).

Featured image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.