YOLO is a 2024 Chinese comedy drama film written and directed by Jia Ling, who wrote it with Sun Jibin, Liu Honglu, Guo Yupeng and Bu Yu. It was produced by Li Ning, Tian Tian, Zhou Xiquing and Zhang Wen. It stars Jia and Lei Jiayin. It’s a remake of 100 Yen Love (2014), and has so far grossed $478.7 million, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2024 so far. The following are 10 of the Internet Movie Database reviews for the film.
why someone would be so malicious about this movie?
jiangrongfang 25 February 2024
I don’t understand why someone would be so malicious about this movie and give it a one-star rating without even watching the full movie. Is it really just because this is a movie directed by a woman, as some viewers in mainland China said? When my parents and I walked out of the movie theater, we both had our own thoughts. Even a chauvinist like my father saw the power of disadvantaged groups in society who long to understand and change themselves. This movie represents the cry of the lower class people in China. It just happened to be filmed by a female director. Of course, this is not necessarily a coincidence.
Too many Chinese men give low marks to this work due to discrimination against women
pimple-91179 29 February 2024
This movie has been intensely debated on Chinese online platforms. It is a remake of the Japanese film “Hundred Yen Love.” The director of YOLO, Ling Jia, a Chinese woman, transitioned from being a comedic actress for more than ten years to become a director and screenwriter. With only two works to her credit, including YOLO, she can still be considered a new director. However, if we take a look at the box office performance of these two works, we might be surprised by this newcomer’s achievement.
“Hi, Mom,” Ling Jia’s first directorial effort, grossed over 5 billion Chinese yuan at the box office, ranking among the top in Chinese film history. Notably, few new directors can achieve such success. The film, adapted from the director’s own experiences, tells a deeply emotional story about Ling Jia and her mother (who passed away when Ling Jia was 19 years old).
As her second film, YOLO, released during the Chinese New Year season on February 10th, also became a box office hit. Many girls were moved to tears by the protagonist Le Ying and were encouraged to find themselves, embrace life, and grow. Despite being Ling Jia’s second film, YOLO has already grossed over 3 billion Chinese yuan in China and is gradually being released overseas.
Ling Jia’s success has sparked jealousy among some Chinese men, who have expressed extreme negativity towards YOLO online. These negative reviews ignore the facts and are often made by people who have never even watched the movie. They claim that it is an over-marketed film about weight loss, disregarding its deeper themes and emotional impact. Not only do they criticize the movie, but they also use unfriendly language against director Ling Jia. This is extremely unfair to both a woman and her work. Admitting someone else’s excellence, especially a woman’s, can be difficult for many Chinese men.
These negative voices do not only come from ordinary male internet users. We have reasons to believe that some industry insiders may also be involved in manipulating the situation, as the negative reviews suddenly increased and intensified at a certain point. Online marketing is often motivated by financial gain, and malicious behavior aimed at damaging a person’s reputation has unfortunately become a common practice.
It is hoped that people with independent thinking can recognize these negative comments and enjoy the movie despite its imperfections. As a creator, having room for improvement is a good thing, isn’t it? After all, every master was once a beginner.
At the same time, I hope that everyone who is imprisoned in their own self-imposed cage can rise up soon, accept themselves, and embrace a new life.
You are always a winner when it comes to becoming a better version of yourself
Annnnnnnnchi 26 February 2024
This movie reflects my personal life journey: always trying to back off, to please others, to say fine, till one day I was literally at the edge of the cliff. And I decided to change.
Even though right now I am not anything close to the most successful, the wealthiest, the most famous human being in the world, but I am proud of myself. I am proud of myself learning to say no, to set boundaries, and to have a goal and be laser-focused on my goal.
And, if you are struggling with the feeling that you’ve tried so hard but nobody appreciates you, I could tell that you are actually a really powerful person as you have so much to give. Just try to focus on yourself and your goal more.
I would recommend it to anybody who is or who was a people-pleaser.
Can be called Chinese Barbie considering it brought out a social experiments to see what CN Ken did
maymsy 28 February 2024
The meaning converyed in this movie + This movie acheived a huge success above others during the chinese spring festival + This movie directed by a female and the only movies directed by a female during spring festival time = Some of the male audiences(Chinese Ken) did after their emotianl hurt: 1. Rating lowest everywhere online like dog peing; 2. Accuse its sucess came for its overly marketing; 3. Blindly propagandizing another movie by a whole male team is a real movie over YOLO. However that movie do maketing too (because of it’s spring festival, no one in movie industry would like to miss it); 4. Trying sooooooo hard to twist the meaning of what the movie really want to express by blindly accusing it’s a movie promoting girls need to be thin and ignoring by purpose how’s the female character mentally change. However, the direct said it’s not a movie about a women losing weight instead of a women refound her enthusiasm of life from boxing. And a muscling body (Boxer body) just a tiny byproduct.
I don’t want spoil so I won’t say any more detailed story here.
But telling the truth, the editing and story telling skill are remaininng room to grow but the combination of the real meaning of this movie want to express and the chinese male audience’s action, like a social experiment, is reallt a fun thing after the last time I saw Barbie.
It’s worth for you if you like to find out in this movie how’s the progress of feminism consciousness made in Mainland of China at this time.
Considering by these, I’d rate 10 to recommend ppl to watch a movie that hurted Chinese Ken’s feeling.
Not a bad movie, angry men make it better so 10/10
jessiely-96732 2 March 2024
A movie full with delicate portray of emotions, it is quite touching and encouraging.
I’m not saying it is perfect but it is a good feminist movie, telling a story from a completely women’s perspective and describing how she break her 10 year low ebb and painful life and become a better person.
The actress herself lost a solid 100lbs makes it perhaps the biggest stunt, but the movie is definitely more than just losing weight. The core is about self-reconciliation. I highly recommend watching it.
Other side is, it is just a movie made by a female director and got some success in China, so I personally don’t understand why some Chinese men got so mad that they even come here to write bad review in a group together – the poor wording that is obviously from Chinese-English online translation has made everything even funnier.
I mean, why, what’s the point guys.
This is just fun to watch, I never knew these men can be this triggered, maybe this proves YOLO’s incisiveness from some point: our Chinese Ken has just been enraged because the success is not men and horses from their mojo dojo casa house🤣
xray-61845 28 February 2024
It’s a good movie. Many men gave the film bad reviews because they felt their status was violated by the women they exploited. They are distorting the truth, which is despicable. They didn’t even see the movie, but they gave it a bad review, don’t believe them, they are full of lies.
This is a very good movie, telling people that everyone can become a better self as long as they take action. Not the best,but the better. This film is suitable for people of every age and in any situation to watch, hoping that every audience can find a better version of themselves.
The Japanese version of the movie 100 Yuan love and the American version of the million dollar baby are both very good movies, but Re la gun tang is more suitable for China’s national conditions. You can watch it together if you’re interested.
nih-88087 18 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The advertisement for this movie touched me, but I felt disappointed with the characters after I saw the movie, and it was more suitable for the director Ling Jia to write a book than making a movie.
It described a woman who was hurt by her environment, including family/friends/work. And then she decided to be brave, although one time.
Maybe I bowed the idea of seeing the change in Ling Jia, so I did not find the current difficulty during the story.
The most touching character of the movie was her sister felt astonished by her sister being assisted to finish the competition.
At least, the decision she made was really rare in our century.
sunflowerluan 9 March 2024
This is easily the standout movie for me that I’ve seen in the last 12 months that breaks the typical tropes and storylines of most movies. Jia Ling’s blends comedy and emotion that will have you laughing and then crying. A fantastic movie that everyone should see. While the film is an adaptation, you can feel the director’s own pain and struggles through the characterisation of Leying. A review about this movie would also not be complete without mentioning the mind blowing dedication and transformation that Jia Ling personally went through in a year to make her directorial vision into reality. While it is not uncommon to see big name Hollywood actors changing their physical appearance for a role, none of those transformations can match what she went through.
Awesome movie…the underlying message is inspirational
sayoni-65898 7 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I feel that the underlying message of this movie is very inspiring…and not at all revolve about body image/body shaming or something like that…it’s a beautiful story about how an introvert girl found meaning in her dull life through discovering her liking for boxing..her body transformation was the part of the process…she worked insanely hard to achieve her goals and finally achieved it (though on her own ways)..the ending was so realistic..she was not the winner of the boxing match that she played against the professional fighter, but a winner in conquering her insecurities………….
10/10
How many apples do you give to your friends?
jamharker 15 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
She set sail again at the bottom of the valley, like a transparent Buddha. The scene of the building was very shocking. As she went up the stairs, it rained heavily outside the building, and the corridor lights came on in turn. She returned to the small house where she lived alone. Suddenly, the window opened, and I seemed to be able to feel the cold wind sweeping away her body temperature. But everything was mysterious. The camera only watched from a distance. Le Ying’s expression, manner, and psychology could not be touched until her suicide was finally revealed, and I could understand her pain. Very interesting design, the third person view does not weaken the sense of story of the camera, but makes everything possible. Great movie, I rarely feel satisfied in the cinema, but this one made me enjoy it.
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