Famous! Ch.217

Chapter 217: Something Was Very Off

[When I walked into the cinema and experienced real imprisonment play, I finally understood what it meant to have my soul leave my body.]

[Hahahaha, this is truly an unforgettable friendship for life! That’s an absolute fact. Ma Yanwen and his friend—who dares to say their friendship isn’t real?!]

[At first, I thought the protagonist played by Lu Xu was too ordinary, and the daily life elements took up too much screen time. But by the end—I could only worship.]

[Worship +1. I was completely won over by the script’s direction. Now, I even have the urge to go back and watch it again.]

[Watch it again +1.]

Although the comment section of Clay Man was filled with question marks and exclamation marks, whenever a newcomer asked whether the movie was worth watching, the responses were always enthusiastic recommendations.

A few hours later, the replies were once again flooded with question marks and exclamation marks.

[This is just too evil.]

[I fell for it myself—how could I let others avoid the same trap? That wouldn’t sit right with me.]

[I was so naive. I went in expecting an unforgettable friendship, but I was too foolish. How could ‘unforgettable friendship’ ever be associated with the words ‘bond*ge’ and ‘imprisonment’?]

[…Emmmm, to be honest, I actually came for the bond*ge and imprisonment. The friendship part? I didn’t care at all.]

Most fans had gone into Clay Man expecting a heartwarming story. For them, the opening scene of Ma Yanwen being imprisoned hit like a bolt of lightning.

[Who else didn’t even recognize that Ma Yanwen was actually played by Lu Xu?]

[I didn’t either…]

[I watched Code A77 three whole times and thought Ma Yanwen was just an ordinary middle-aged urban man—a bit cowardly, a bit timid, and probably not leading an exciting night life. I assumed Lu Xu would be playing a literary character aimed at winning awards this time. But… seriously, Clay Man at first felt so dull it almost put me to sleep. The deeper I got into it, though, the more shocking it became. Looking back at the earlier scenes after reaching the later parts of the film, I realized Mu Lang’s cinematography was truly on another level.]

[+1 +1. The shock of the plot twist is beyond words. The production team barely even set it up, letting the audience take the full impact head-on.]

[There was setup—it was just buried too deep for most people to notice.]

In the comment section of Clay Man’s official social media, fans were having a field day discussing the film. However, no one spoiled the details. Most people only mentioned that the movie had a major twist, leaving those who hadn’t seen it clueless about what actually happened.

But if anyone asked, the responses were always:

[It’s really moving—I’ve never seen a friendship story this powerful.]

[You’ll regret it if you don’t watch it. I cried buckets.]

#BucketsCan’tHoldMyTears#

#KnowingThey’reLyingButStillFallingForIt#

Among all the movies released in May, none had a more active comment section than Clay Man.

By the end of its first full day in theaters, #ClayManScam had successfully climbed to the top of the trending charts.

Scam movies were nothing new, and their numbers seemed to grow every year. Uninformed audiences assumed Clay Man was a massive letdown compared to expectations. But once they clicked on the trending tag, all they found was a horde of people screaming about how the trailer had tricked them—yet still screaming about wanting to watch it again.

[So… is it good or not?]

[It’s got imprisonment and bond*ge play—how could it not be?]

Two other films released alongside Clay Man had significantly higher budgets and more screen allocations. However, since this release window lacked any blockbuster-level visual effects or grand-scale storytelling, the first-day box office tally showed Clay Man firmly securing the number one spot.

Of course, no one was surprised by this result. For Lu Xu, this was just business as usual.

The real key, however, wasn’t just the impressive 180 million yuan opening-day box office—it was the way Clay Man was dominating discussions at an almost uncontrollable pace.

While other films fought tooth and nail for visibility with aggressive marketing campaigns, Clay Man’s simple tagline—”A Friendship You’ll Never Forget”—seemed almost understated.

And yet, the word friendship inexplicably exploded.

That day, if you searched for “friendship” in real-time trends, 80% of the discussions were about Clay Man.

If you searched for “good movie” or “plot twist,” again, 80% of the results were related to Clay Man.

It was impossible not to be curious about it.

Friendship was an extremely common theme in film. Every year, the industry churned out numerous works centered around it, even those incorporating betrayal as a key element. Such stories weren’t exactly rare.

Based on audience reactions, Clay Man seemed to involve betrayal as well.

But… if it were simply a story about betrayal, would it really be causing such a massive stir?

What kind of film was Clay Man, exactly?

Both moviegoers and industry insiders were dying to find out.

Discussions surrounding the film were relentless—some called it deeply moving, some said it sent a chill down their spine, and others claimed it created an overwhelming sense of suffocation in the theater. Some even described it as dark and utterly despairing.

The claim that Clay Man was “deeply moving” was clearly a scam. However, one thing was certain—it wasn’t just some plain, forgettable film. The story had to be something truly unique.

With that thought in mind, the film critic behind Movie Diary impulsively bought a ticket. Now, he was already seated in the theater.

This wasn’t even the first movie he had watched during this release window. Before Clay Man, he had seen two other films—one focused on the romantic lives of urban men and women, while the other depicted the changing seasons in a cozy courtyard. After the industry’s painful lessons from Qi Di’s Song of Tears, filmmakers had learned to steer family dramas away from excessive melancholy, favoring warmth instead.

But Movie Diary couldn’t ignore the flood of recommendations in his comment section. People were practically begging him to review Clay Man.

His account had been around for years, and, to be honest, he had never seen a movie get such a bizarre mix of buzzwords in its recommendations.

Friendship, imprisonment, ordinary, teacher, bond*ge, malice… The last time he had seen such a wild combination of themes was in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels.

And yet, Clay Man wasn’t a historical drama. It barely even had any characters. Based on the official synopsis, there were only a handful of significant roles.

He had to admit—between the supposed “scam” and the peculiar mix of themes, his curiosity was thoroughly piqued. More importantly, though fans flooded the internet with complaints about Clay Man, not a single one outright called it a bad movie.

Movie Diary had watched quite a few of Lu Xu’s films before. In his impression, Lu Xu had never starred in anything outright terrible. He was the kind of actor with standards—someone who didn’t just accept any script thrown his way.

Still, the sheer number of people in the theater stunned him.

As far as he knew, Clay Man had a modest budget of only a few tens of millions. It had no grand set pieces, no dazzling special effects, and its subject matter wasn’t the type to attract massive crowds.

And yet, here they were.

But what Movie Diary saw with his own eyes was a fully packed theater as the movie began.

Lu Xu’s character, Ma Yanwen, was an utterly unremarkable university professor.

Movie Diary’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Right from the start, Lu Xu had completely stripped away his usual “handsome” persona. Ma Yanwen was plain, timid, talkative, and full of complaints—the kind of person who would disappear into a crowd without a trace. Lu Xu had fully embodied this role.

Ma Yanwen began the movie imprisoned, and Movie Diary immediately recognized this as the so-called “bond*ge and imprisonment play” that had lured audiences in. Who could deny that this wasn’t exactly that? The marketing hadn’t been misleading at all.

At first, Movie Diary felt a bit lost. Ma Yanwen’s personality and mundane life made it clear that he had no connection to any kind of grand, dramatic fate.

Had they kidnapped the wrong person?

Or was this a suspense film where Ma Yanwen was actually pretending, secretly the mastermind behind some massive conspiracy?

Movie Diary knew a twist was coming, so he forced himself to be patient and kept watching.

The early part of the film was uneventful. Ma Yanwen, though weak and ordinary, was ultimately a good person. He had done some kind things, even if the world didn’t always understand him. But Movie Diary was sure there had to be hidden clues in these scenes—Mu Lang’s cinematography this time felt different from his usual style.

On screen, Ma Yanwen kept rambling, kept complaining. By this point, Movie Diary had completely forgotten that this was Lu Xu acting. Instead, he found himself genuinely starting to dislike the character.

It couldn’t be helped—Ma Yanwen was just too annoying.

“Is he really the same person as the one he claims to be?”

That thought quietly surfaced in Movie Diary’s mind.

And in the very moment that thought flashed through his mind, the story on the screen finally took a turn—

Under the lure and manipulation of a mysterious, unknown voice, Ma Yanwen at last revealed his true self.

Movie Diary felt that mere words were too inadequate to describe this scene.

Mu Lang’s chosen method of storytelling was a direct juxtaposition of the first half of the film against the second half.

The people and events in both parts were exactly the same. Even in the flashbacks, the characters wore identical smiles with the same curvature. The only difference was that the protagonist’s identity had changed.

In the first half, it was Ma Yanwen. In the second half, it was his friend.

Their clothing, posture, and expressions eerily overlapped, sending an inexplicable chill through the darkened theater.

In his own recollections, Ma Yanwen had erased his friend’s existence. He had claimed all of his friend’s kindness toward him as his own, while pushing all the baseness, malice, and jealousy within himself onto the other man.

He had even chosen to ignore his friend’s death.

This, despite the fact that his friend had offered him the purest form of friendship—without asking for anything in return.

As a film critic, analyzing movies and dissecting characters was Movie Diary’s forte. The film had not yet ended, but he already understood—Ma Yanwen was a character brimming with layers worth exploring.

Was he a villain?

He didn’t quite fit the conventional mold of one. He was limited in ability, incompetent in many ways. But this darkness—this ordinary, gutter-dwelling, rat-like kind of malice—was far more chilling than any grand villainy.

Ma Yanwen was truly like a clay figurine. He seemed pliable, something anyone could mold and reshape.

And yet, in the places unseen by others, he had already put on another face.

Mu Liang used the camera to expose Ma Yanwen’s inner world to the fullest extent—

In the first set of flashbacks, the camera’s focus was on Ma Yanwen. In the second, it was on his friend. At first glance, both sequences were identical. But upon closer inspection, the second scene carried an unsettling sense of being watched.

That gaze—silent, heavy—made the audience deeply uncomfortable.

There was another detail that Movie Diary couldn’t shake—

From the beginning to the end of Clay Man’s nearly two-hour runtime, the friend never had a name.

He was just “the friend.” Nameless.

As if everything he had done had been erased in Ma Yanwen’s recollections, as if he had never truly existed at all.

It was clear that this was intentional on Mu Lang’s part.

And that realization only deepened Movie Diary’s unease.

Once a person dies, their existence can be erased, twisted, rewritten however someone else sees fit.

The friend’s death had allowed Ma Yanwen’s malice to grow unchecked.

This was undoubtedly a film that left a deep impression. Among the three films released in this cycle, Clay Man was the only one that had truly shaken Movie Diary.

Before diving into a full-length review, Movie Diary posted a small recommendation on his social media:

“A deeply moving film about friendship, the many faces of an ordinary man, imprisonment, bond*ge, group favorite… whatever play you’re looking for, this film has it all.”

His followers: “……”

Something was off.

Something was very off.

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