No Sex in this City: The Atlantic Magazine Trashes 'Tiny Times'

Rarely do Chinese state media and Western liberal pundits see eye to eye when it comes to Chinese social issues, but it seems they agree on Tiny Times, the new Sex in the City-esque film from director Guo Jingming: they do not heart it.

That bastion of cinematic criticism, The Atlantic felt it necessary to weigh in on the film with this bit of catty critical gold:

Tiny Times is not a women's film, though it does feature female characters, draped from head to toe in designer clothes and easily mesmerized by the presence of supposedly visually stunning males -- not the usual, muscle-bound Hollywood types, but Asian boys of androgynous demeanor with compact frames, exquisite facial contours and the look of perpetual youth.

People's Daily blew a similar gasket:

Today, if what is heard and seen are [films like] Tiny Times -- whether it’s because there’s profit to be made at the box office, and there’s an unconditional indolence among the audience leading to the emergence of Tiny Times 2 and Tiny Times 3 -- the capitalistic maneuvers of an individual or a small group might have succeeded, but the humanistic development and communication of an era will have spun out of control.

The film is directed by online novelist Guo Jingming, a man with a genuine Napoleon complex: he stands all of 1.47 meters tall. Guo has been unapologetic for his portrayal of today's Shanghai youth, suggesting the portrayal is representative.

Audiences, as usual, couldn't care less what either side think. The film punched Man of Steel right in the box office face, setting a record for a Chinese-language 2D movie's opening day.

We think they're missing the point. The film doesn't look like Sex in the City, it looks like Heathers. Why does everything always have to be compared to Sex in the City? Have a taste of the trailer below.

Photo: Le Vision Pictures