The Projector | When marketing campaigns go wrong: how China’s ‘creative’ film promotions can backfire

The equivalent of “24 rides on a roller coaster”, “12 free-falls on a drop tower” or “10 shots of espresso” is how publicists have been marketing The Shadow Play (2018). On the film’s official Weibo account, “brave” cinema-goers are encouraged to “challenge the physical limits of the film-going experience” by picking seats in the first three rows.

Such publicity is par for the course for a major action blockbuster. Only The Shadow Playis not one. Art-house auteur Lou Ye’s latest outing – with its poetic Chinese title translating as “In the wind lies a cloud made up of rain” – is an atmos­pheric neo-noir revolving around a young detective’s investigationinto the death of a high-ranking urban redevelopment official after a night of rioting in Guangzhou.

Perhaps it is because of scenes such as the opening sequence, in which the violent protests are shown through pro­tracted shots filmed with handheld cam­eras, that audiences are being asked to sit closer to the screen;“closer to reality”.

The Shadow Play seeks to probe China’s dash towards greed-driven capitalism over the past three decades and the social disparity born out of that. At first, the film’s political allu­sions seemto be at odds with the publi­city stunts. Then again, Lou might need all the distractions he can muster to usher his politically charged story into mainland multiplexes. In interviews, he has said that he has had to edit more than 100 versions over the past three years to win approval from censors.

But there may be a more prosaic explana­tion for the flashy promotional campaign: the fear of flopping. For all the talk about a growing demand among Chinese audiences for more diverse content, domestic art-house films have been hit and miss. For instance, takings for Bai Xue’s critically acclaimed debut feature, The Crossing, which opened on March 15, stalled at a disappointing 9.8 million yuan (US$1.5 million).