Xú Zhēng’s Retrograde Life： From the Peak to the Bottom, What’s the Future？

In this dazzling entertainment circle, Xú Zhēng, as a shining star, once had an unforgettable glory. However, the recent release of "Retrograde Life" plunged him into an unprecedented trough, which not only made fans feel sorry, but also caused people to think deeply: What is the future of Xú Zhēng?

Recalling Xú Zhēng’s debut, his early fame can be described as a legend. His role as "Pig Eight Rings" in the TV series "Pig Eight Rings in Bright Spring" won the audience’s love with its simple and lovely image and quickly became the focus of attention. Later, he successfully transformed from the TV circle into the film industry. With a series of films such as A Man on the Road, A Thai Embarrassment and A Hong Kong Embarrassment, he is not only the "king of comedy" in the eyes of fans, but also has made great achievements at the box office.

The success of these works not only shows Xú Zhēng’s outstanding talent as a director, but also enables him to establish his own brand in the Chinese film market. Dying to Survive, in particular, whose profound social issues and touching stories made this film sweep the box office and awards. However, just when everyone thought that Xú Zhēng would continue to usher in glory, Lost in Russia and the recent "Retrograde Life" made him encounter unexpected storms.

Although Lost in Russia chose online free screening during the epidemic, which was warmly welcomed by the audience, it was strongly opposed by the cinema, which caused widespread controversy at that time. But Xú Zhēng obviously didn’t think at that time, the final result was that his brand was damaged, and the consequences of this injury were particularly obvious in "Retrograde Life".

The failure of this "Retrograde Life" can be attributed to several aspects. First of all, the choice of film theme seems to make the audience feel tired. It is not the first time that the story of middle-aged crisis has appeared in Xú Zhēng’s works, and the audience’s interest in this subject has gradually declined. Although the role setting in the film has distinct characteristics, it lacks a true reflection of riff-raff, which makes the audience feel an empathy distance.

Secondly, the plot performance of the film is relatively dull. The film revolves around the economic difficulties of several families, but because the role is out of touch with the audience’s life, the ups and downs of their fate have little to do with the reality of the audience’s life, which makes it difficult for people to resonate deeply. At this time, the audience is more eager for a film that can truly reflect social phenomena and inner struggles, rather than a story that is divorced from daily life.

In addition, the promotion of movies is also insufficient. In the era of network information explosion, how to make new films stand out and attract the audience’s attention has become an important challenge. However, the propaganda of "Life in Retrograde" seems to fail to make the audience feel the charm of the film, and there is no clear selling point, which makes many potential audiences fail to understand the uniqueness of the film.

In the face of today’s dilemma, Xú Zhēng needs to carefully examine his own creative direction. Today’s audience is increasingly pursuing the realism and resonance of stories, so Xú Zhēng may need to try more diversified themes and styles. After all, daring to innovate and explore is a compulsory course for every excellent creator, and if we can combine the current social situation with the audience’s voice, we may be able to inject new vitality into our works.

At the same time, Xú Zhēng should also pay more attention to the quality of film production. From the polishing of the script to the choice of actors, to every detail of shooting, we must achieve the ultimate. This obsession with quality will eventually be reflected in the audience’s recognition and box office, in order to create more three-dimensional and profound works, and then harvest the double harvest of word-of-mouth and box office. Only in this way can we reproduce the glory of the past.

Perhaps, Xú Zhēng can also establish closer ties with the audience. He can listen to the audience’s needs through social media and have more interaction with fans. Understand their expectations of the story, design works that are more in line with the current consumer psychology, and enhance the attractiveness of the works. This kind of interaction can not only enhance the audience’s sense of participation, but also help Xú Zhēng find the correct direction for future development through exploration.

We still have hope for the future of Xú Zhēng. Whether he continues to dig deep into the field of comedy or boldly explores new story types, he may return to the audience’s field of vision with a brand-new look. As many successful creators have shown, only by learning from failures and constantly challenging themselves can we go further and further on the road of art. Just like the ever-changing entertainment circle, there will always be surprises accompanied by everyone who works hard to move forward.