Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz

Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz (Chinese: 纯洁心灵·逐梦演艺圈), often shortened to Pure Hearts (纯洁心灵), is a 2017 Chinese film directed and produced by Bi Zhifei. The plot focuses on a teacher at an acting school trying to make a movie with his students and the difficulties that result from the dark side of the film industry and their personal struggles during production. Due to its troubled production, which involved accusations of overworking and mistreatment by Bi and claims that it took 12 years to make, and low ratings of the film itself after release despite praise by industry and government figures beforehand, it has been considered one of the worst Chinese films ever made, being panned for its acting, screenplay, direction, narrative structure, characters, themes, editing, and its theme song.[3][4] In response, Bi accused Douban of discrimination against domestic films and even submitted the film to the Cannes Film Festival.[5][6]

Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz
Poster depicting cast in front of a sports car and airplane
Poster for the film
Traditional Chinese純潔心靈·逐夢演藝圈
Simplified Chinese纯洁心灵·逐梦演艺圈
Literal meaningPure Hearts: Chasing Showbiz Dreams
Hanyu PinyinChúnjié xīnlíng: zhú mèng yǎnyì quān
Directed byBi Zhifei
Written byBi Zhifei
Produced byBi Zhifei
Ivy Yang
Starring
  • Bi Zhifei
  • Li Yanman
  • Xin Zuoyu
  • Zhu Yiwen
CinematographySun Ligang
Edited byBi Zhifei
Music byBi Zhifei (theme)
Release date
  • July 22, 2017 (2017-07-22)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin
BudgetCN¥25 million[1]
Box officeCN¥2,321,000[2]

Plot

An acting teacher and his students face various challenges in their career and personal lives.

Production

Bi Zhifei rose money for the film through crowdfunding as well as funding from his father-in-law and friends. During filming, he exercised complete creative control and took on many roles, leading to conflicts with crew members over working conditions and the film's direction. SNH48 was signed on to produce a song and music video for the film at a cost of CN¥2.8 million; however, he wanted the group Sunshine to record another version after noticing their internet fame, causing SNH48's agency to protest.[1]

References
  1. Yuan, Wenhuan 袁文幻; Gu, Yue 顾岳. "史上最低评分，我不服" [Worst score ever - "I'm not defeated"]. China Youth Daily (in Chinese). p. 10. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  2. "纯洁心灵之逐梦演艺圈票房" [Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz Box Office]. Film Box Office Database (电影票房数据库) (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  3. Lin, Qiqing (31 May 2018). "China's Disaster Artist Lashes Out Over Bad Reviews". Sixth Tone. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  4. "十二年心血，影評得兩分" [Twelve years of hard work for a 2/10 film review]. Initium Media. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  5. Feng, Jiayun (31 May 2018). "Director stubbornly defends the worst film on earth". SupChina. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  6. "Headlines from China: Disney's Live Action 'Mulan' Pushed to 2020". chinafilminsider.com. Retrieved 17 March 2021.


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