After hitting the big screen on December 19, Personal Tailor, one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, seemed to set the box-office ablaze as viewers packed theaters across the country.
Directed by China's beloved comedy film director Feng Xiaogang, who is famed for his long list of popular films over the past decades, the media hype surrounding the film drew widespread attention, especially as it is the follow-up to his historical drama, Back to 1942 (2012).
Just on the first day of release, the film went on to rake in 80 million yuan ($13.18 million) at the box office and attracting 300,000 viewers.
Now, in just under four days from its release, this movie already broke 300 million at the box office. Although Feng did not give a clear number of his expectations for the final revenue, it is widely anticipated by the public that it may reach 1 billion and become a huge success in the industry.
Despite its epic assault on the box office, the film has come with divided opinions.
It has already caused a wide discussion among audiences on whether it is another of Feng's blockbusters, or a critical failure.
Satirizing reality
One of the main plots of the film features four black suited characters who run a company that aims to fulfill other people's dreams by recreating them. The four help customers no matter how absurd their dreams may be, whether it is a driver who aspires to become a leader in government, a vulgar film director who wants to show respectability through his art, or a poor woman who dreams to be a billionaire.
Personal Tailor shares similar characteristics with that of most of Feng's comedy films, focusing on the everyman and satirizing society through humorous language. For example, in the first episode, a driver came to realize his dream of becoming a government official in order to test himself on whether he could still keep his cool and do the right thing when faced with bribery and seduction.
Particular scenes in the film hit home with many Chinese viewers as they satirized recent news reports about corruption. One part which sees the driver-turned official asking the dream makers to "bring the social bad influence into the office," which means to bribe him, and another in which the secretary told the official to cover his expensive designer watch on his wrist when taking photos, saw the audience burst into laughter as the truth-revealing punch lines and sharp dialogue kept viewers hooked on the story.
Feng also uses the film to mock himself. In the second story, a multi-award-winning director who is famed for his vulgarity, suddenly wants to abandon what he was good at and decides to clean up his act. Despite his good deeds, the director is abandoned by his audience, who no longer see him as "down to earth" and decide that he is no longer fit to make comedy.
Audiences couldn't help but laugh as they realized that this is a reflection of Feng's own experiences. Famous for making comedies, Feng decided to make movies with serious themes. The war film Assembly (2007), disaster film Aftershock (2010) and Back to 1942, were all adapted from novels that were based on true and tragic events in Chinese history.
Each of his comedy films became firm favorites with cinemagoers and critics alike. However, since his change in subject matter has not been met with high ratings, some went on to become great successes, whilst a few were critically panned, especially last year's Back to 1942.
It has long been a dream of Feng's to direct a film that touches on the subject of the devastating famine of 1942. However, in contrast with its high expectations, the film failed to create a box-office miracle. Some pointed out that Feng was not good at making such historical movies.
In previous promotions Feng revealed that he already had no movie dreams to accomplish after Back to 1942. He made this movie to return a favor to Wang Zhongjun, the CEO of H.Brothers, since Wang had supported and invested so much into Back to 1942.
However, audiences are still wishing that Feng's new feature could fulfill their cinematic dreams.
"1997 had passed, I miss it."
This is the ending line in Dream Factory (1997), Feng's first successful movie that cemented his popularity.
In the end of Personal Tailor, Feng revealed that he planned to use the line "2013 has passed, I'm afraid of that," to echo his first feature. Since he felt that the theme of fright is not suitable for those that look forward to celebrating the new year, he decided to drop it.
However, that means to some extent, Feng is paying a tribute to Dream Factory. Among all the critical voices, the loudest is the film's similarity with his first feature. The film also featured four characters who deal with the dreams of others.
"It is paying tribute to audience who love Dream Factory rather than paying tribute to the movie itself," said Bai Baihe, the leading actress in the film.
"I think this is a movie that the director tailored for audience who love his film," she added.
Despite the rumor mill going into overdrive over the film's criticism, many came to Feng's defense. A reporter of Beijing Youth Daily, Li Xingwen, posted on his Sina Weibo account on Saturday: "Feng still got at least 80 percent of his skills in Dream Factory, but audiences nowadays come with requirements that are eight times higher."
Wang said he was totally confident with Feng's comedies when answering what his expectations were about the film's success at the box office.
As the comments about his movie spreads, Feng said, "Thanks those who criticize, mock or praise the film, it adds controversy to the movie. I welcome everyone's praise as well as mockery."