人再囧途之泰囧 / Lost in Thailand
Tuesday, April 1st, 2:00pm, UNC Charlotte main campus, Student Union Theater, studentunion.uncc.edu
Director Zheng Xu, 2012/105 min
Introduction by Jonathan Crane, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, UNC CHarlotte
Smashing every box office record to date, LOST IN THAILAND is the highest-grossing film in China’s history.
Two rival businessmen (Xu Zheng and Huang Bo) must track down their boss at a Buddhist temple to secure a patent on a revolutionary new fuel additive. Xu catches the first plane to Bangkok, where his plans are delayed by the happy-go-lucky Wang (Wang Baoqiang), an unexpected travel companion who will open his eyes to life’s true priorities
Reviews:
Variety wrote that the film is “lightweight entertainment” and “is no masterpiece, but has proven a refreshing antidote to the year-end glut of blockbusters” and it is “unexpectedly well honed for a debut feature.”-Lee, Maggie. Variety.
Derek Elley of Film Business Asia gave the film an 8 out 10, and states “The chemistry between leads Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang that made Lost on Journey (2010) one of the most delightful sleeper hits of its year survives happily intact in Lost in Thailand“, and “Thailand is in every way a much more commercial package. There’s less depth to the new characters, the humour is more overstated and less grounded in reality, and overall the movie packs less of an emotional punch in its latter stages; but it’s more slickly tooled and less digressive in its construction, halting on its path only briefly to review the plot and the central relationship.” -Elley, Derek. Film Business Asia.
According to Wall Street Journal, “The film’s success has shaken up the landscape of the movie industry in China, where big-budget historical epics and martial-arts and action films often dominate the box office.”- Dean Napolitano, Wall Street Journal.
The film is sponsored by the UNC Charlotte Chinese Club thanks to a SGA grant. “Funded in part by the Student Government Association with your student activity fees! SGA & SAFC do not necessarily endorse the beliefs or actions of this organization.”