What two films reveal about China
A low-budget movie about a sensitive social theme outshines a state-approved spectacular
“I CAN’T believe the censors let this one slide”, remarks an online commentator on Zhihu, a question-and-answer forum. He was referring to “Dying to Survive”, a dark comedy released on July 5th which is on track to become one of China’s highest-grossing productions of all time. The film, which raked in a record $200m in its opening weekend on a budget of just $15m, is based on the true story of Lu Yong. Mr Lu was arrested in 2013 for peddling knock-off cancer drugs imported illegally from India (the actor playing him is pictured, wearing sunglasses, along with two others in roles as smugglers-cum-patients).
This month will also be noted in Chinese cinematic history for a different reason. On July 15th “Asura”, the most expensive film ever made in China at $113m, was pulled from cinemas just three days after its launch owing to dismal box-office takings. The fantasy film had collected a humiliating $7m.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Mark-up madness"
From the July 21st 2018 edition
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