Late that night, Ruan Tian woke up feeling thirsty. She went to the kitchen and drank a large glass of cold water, quenching her thirst and also sobering her mind.
She noticed that her cell phone was shining with unread notifications.
Ruan Tian looked at it dazedly for a moment before suddenly remembering that the film she had starred in had actually been released the day before.
She swiped her finger across the screen and instantly saw that there were dozens of unread messages in WeChat.
As she looked through them one by one, she found that they mostly all seemed to be messages celebrating and congratulating her on the good results of her film.
Ruan Tian had spent the whole evening with the Qin family, so she hadnât had any time to go online and see how the netizens were reacting to the film. She had only known that the box office results of the first day were quite mediocre.
The kind of mediocre that meant the film had no chances of being a big hit.
However, all of a sudden she was receiving lots of messages. A certain director who she had worked with before but who hadnât contacted for a long time had sent her a message: ăThe acting was really good, and the filmâs story and moral were also very good. I have to say, you are an excellent film actor. ă
Ruan Tian was a bit shocked to suddenly receive such high praise out of nowhere.
From there, âMotes of Dustâ became a rare movie that didnât sell very well on its first day, but then performed much better at the box office starting from the second day.
Put simply, it was the result of excellent word-of-mouth from the audience.
However, certain people had eyes that reddened with anger when they saw this sudden shift.
Silently, internet water armies were dispatched one after another to make all sorts of posts ridiculing Ruan Tian deep into the night.
One started a thread:ăSince I donât understand, Iâll just ask. Does this mean Ruan Tianâs backers have already reserved the seat of Movie Queen for her? ă
Unfortunately for this person, Ruan Tian actually happened to see this post, and she was also bored enough to reply anonymously: ăThank you for your well wishes.ă
Then she was blocked by the OP of the thread.
Ruan Tian chuckled. It could be seen that this OP was quite stingy. Didnât even let people disagree with him before blocking ah.
Only sarcastic remarks were left in the thread, things like: âDoes Ruan Tian really think her acting is worthy of a Movie Queen?â, âShe really can dreamâ, âThis is ridiculous, thereâs no wayâ and so onâŠ
âŠ
With the sudden counterattack of âMotes of Dustâ, the netizens were quickly embroiled in all sorts of discussions. Topics like human nature, campus violence, and whether the heroine from the film was justified in retaliating or not quickly fermented and triggered a wave of enthusiastic debate online.
However, everyone more or less agreed that the film was of very high quality, thoroughly earning its name as an unexpected dark horse in the usually dull month of September, made even more impressive by the fact that it relied only on a second-tier actress and a fresh new actor to make its breakthrough.
By the second day, earnings at the box office had doubled compared to the first day and directly shot up and over 100 million yuan on a single day.
Because of all the discussion the film generated, the film began to soar and quickly reversed its losing trend at the box office.
âJiang Wanâ was the most discussed character, and most people agreed that her transformation from victim to abuser was both hateful and pitiful.
Many people also felt that Ruan Tianâs acting skills were quite impressive and completely different from what one might expect from a fledgling in the industry who had only been acting for less than three years. Her performance was extremely intense and, at the same time, she deliberately hadnât made use of the skills a person might learn in acting school, instead, her performance was in a style where she completely immersed herself in the character.
From her characterâs initial cowardice, to her forbearance, and then to the gloom after her heart turned dark, every expression was just right.
And then there was the finale, where her characterâs numbness seemed to consume her and she began to crazily vent her emotions by cutting down everyone who had wronged her.
It was a clear progression from a despair that dyed her world black to a despair that dyed the world around her red.
Then, in the final scene of the movie, she held her brotherâs lifeless body in her arms and her facade of numbness finally cracked as her eyes reddened slightly and tears fell down silently.
Then, the camera pulled out, farther and farther away, and the credits rolled.
A certain film reviewer:
@TrashFilmReviews: ăUnder the strong recommendations of various friends, I went to see âMotes of Dustâ. I thought Director Chengâs most recent film would follow his usual healing style but, unexpectedly, his newest work is quite melancholic. Before I entered the theater, I wasnât familiar with the two lead actors at all. I had heard Ruan Tianâs name, but I had never seen her act in anything before. And, while much of the praise for the film online is aimed at the director and screenwriter, I personally feel that Ruan Tian is also seriously deserving of praise. Her performance in the film is really amazing, from the scenes where she quietly endures all the way to the scene where she finally explodes, itâs all quite amazing. I recommend for everyone to go and see this movie in theaters, itâs worth the ticket price! ă