????THE list of the most popular New Year films this year is expected to be unprecedentedly artsy, with “Life of Pi” the hottest at the box office. ????Rivalling Ang Lee’s adaptation are Feng Xiaogang’s “Back to 1942” and Lu Chuan’s “The Last Supper.” All three films are slow paced and have weighty subject matter. ????As domestic films, “Back to 1942” and “The Last Supper” have certain advantages in the Chinese market, but “Life of Pi” is expected to rank No.1 in ticket receipts. ????“After seeing all three movies, ‘Life of Pi’ is the only one I would go to the cinema to see again. This is one of the highest forms of praise a movie can receive,” a netizen, identified as “Zhuchirenxiaogang,” said on Sina Weibo. ????Studies showed that many cinemagoers went to see the film in IMAX twice. ????Surveys of fans have shown that there are three broad reasons for liking “Life of Pi.” Some like it for its cinematography, some like it for its inspiring message about self-worth and faith, while others like it for its characterization and acting. ????“Back to 1942” is the most divisive. Many cinemagoers who have gone to the cinema to see the movie have changed their minds at the last minute and seen “Life of Pi” instead. ????“I planned to bring my son to watch ‘Back to 1942’ because I wanted him to learn some harsh lessons about the hardships our ancestors faced. But upon arrival, I decided that I just wanted him to have a happy memory of being taken to the cinema by his father, so we saw ‘Life of Pi’ instead,” an unidentified parent said on his microblog. ????As director Lu’s first big historical epic, “The Last Supper” could yet be a flop. Despite the lavish production, star-studded cast, and expensive marketing campaign, audiences have been largely underwhelmed. “The first word spoken in the movie is ‘nightmare’ and the last is ‘it’s all over.’ Those were about the only things they got right,” one netizen said. ????Audiences said the three films were all fair reflections of the talent of the directors. ????“Although ‘Life of Pi’ was adapted from a novel, Lee added his own signature to the movie while being faithful to the novel. The other two fail by trying too hard to be profound,” one commenter wrote. ????Some movie experts said that a director needs time to get it right. Lee has already passed beyond that phase and can connect with audiences effortlessly, but Feng and Lu still have some way to go. ????(Wang Yuanyuan) Life of Pi ????Yann Martel’s ponderous adventure novel gets the big-screen treatment with this Fox 2000 adaptation helmed by director Ang Lee. The coming-of-age story surrounds the son of a zookeeper who survives a shipwreck by stowing away on a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger by the name of Richard Parker. Suraj Sharma heads the cast as the young boy, with Gérard Depardieu, Adil Hussain, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, and Bollywood actress Tabu also starring. ????Back to 1942 ????A North Henan landlord Fan (Zhang Guoli) in China embarks on a pilgrimage to Shaanxi Province during the 1942 famine, struggling to survive as war with Japan looms on the horizon. Along the way, encounters with an American journalist (Adrien Brody) and a priest (Zhang Hanyu) who has lost his faith reveal the true depths of despair that grips the country. Meanwhile, the Japanese Government attempts to turn the Chinese people away from their government by offering them sustenance, while the Chinese Government finds itself forced to choose between feeding its troops and the masses. ????The Last Supper ????Featuring the rise of the Han Dynasty’s first emperor, the film depicts the famous epic story of the conflict between two warlords: Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, friends who turned into enemies in their quest for power. The movie features Liu Ye, Daniel Wu and Zhang Zhen. | 