The King of Directors 2000

At 2013pm on September 9, 27, "Three Billboards", which stole the show at the Venice Film Festival and was praised by many film critics, helped Maggie Cheung win the Best Actress and helped Lee Sung-Yao win the Best Director, was officially released in the Mainland. Released in Hong Kong Island, Wanwan, and Southeast Asia.

The promotion period for this movie was very short. Lee Sheng-yew did not do much promotion. Mainly, Maggie Cheung and Simon Yam went to various programs and went to movie theaters to promote the movie.

At the beginning, everyone didn't notice this phenomenon. Later, everyone realized that Li Shengyao didn't seem to care much.

Is it because you are afraid of being embarrassed?

A reporter went to interview Lee Sung-yew, and Director Lee responded directly that he has been busy recently and has no time to promote movies.

As for whether it would be embarrassing to have a low box office, Lee Sheng Yew said that the cost of this movie is not high, and the early advertising sponsorship has already made a profit. No matter how high the box office is, the movie will still make money.

There is no shame in the low box office, it can only be said that it is inconsistent with the current audience preferences.

He said that no matter what the box office was, he would accept it and thanked all the staff for their efforts.

After an official speech, although it was not stated clearly, Li Shengyao's meaning was still very clear.

The movie might not do well at the box office, and Director Li had given up long ago.

The vast majority of the media did not pay much attention to this point. A few media took advantage of it and wrote several articles that criticized Li Shengyao.

These articles did not create a big stir.

This year, Chinese-language films had little success at the Berlin Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival.

At the just-concluded Venice Film Festival, "Three Billboards" was impressive enough. At this time, public opinion is biased towards Lee Sheng-yew.

And the higher authorities are also optimistic about Lee Sheng-yao.

Therefore, most of the media are praising him. Lee Sung-yao's humble words still attracted many media interpretations and praises.

In addition, "Three Billboards" still has a 30% filming schedule on the first day.

Although Lee Sheng-yew doesn't promote it much, many people still know about this movie.

Among those who pay attention to movies are Lao Mouzi and Zhang Mo.

When Lee Sung-yao was preparing "Parasite" and "1937", Zhang Mo followed him and worked as an assistant director on the set.

Later, when Lao Mouzi was preparing for a new movie, she stopped studying with the crew. She did not study on the crew of "Dalian by the Sea" and "Three Billboards."

She was quite concerned about this matter.

She feels that Li Shengyao's crew operates more scientifically and efficiently, and she can learn more by following him.

Moreover, young people such as Dapeng, Bi Gan, and Wen Muye often followed Li Shengyao, and they were like-minded people.

It won't be like the crew of Lao Mouzi, where several assistant directors are uncles.

I was paying attention to "Dalian by the Sea" and "Three Billboards", so I wanted to come and watch the premiere.

Lao Mouzi also wanted to go watch a movie. He wanted to see whether "Three Billboards" was any good.

Lee Sheung Yew has never made a secret of it. Many reporters interviewed him and said that he was the number one director in China, but Lee Sheng Yew always responded that he did not do a good enough job.

Then it will be said that Lao Mouzi has two Golden Lion Awards, a Golden Bear Award, and then a Silver Bear Award, a Silver Lion Award, and a Cannes Grand Jury Prize.

Six classic works, the best in the Chinese film and television industry.

What Li Shengyao means is that compared to the grand prize, he is not as good as Lao Mouzi. Perhaps he will be satisfied when he surpasses Lao Mouzi.

This is not about treating Lao Mouzi as an enemy, but as a target.

Lao Mouzi is not a narrow-minded person, so he will naturally not be angry, but he still has some comparisons in his heart.

He has been paying attention to Li Shengyao and wanted to see if Li Shengyao's strength has improved.

I was even more interested in "Three Billboards".

Under such circumstances, on the first day of the release of "Three Billboards", father and daughter Lao Mouzi and Zhang Mo bought tickets to watch this film, which had a great reputation at the Venice Film Festival.

"This time Director Li made "Three Billboards" in a hurry. It was just finished and it participated in the Venice Film Festival in less than half a month. Dad, what do you think of Director Li's performance this time?"

Lao Mouzi shook his head, "I don't know, let's take a look."

Both father and daughter wore caps and masks, making it difficult for others to recognize them in the dark cinema.

At this moment, someone was discussing behind him, "Lee Sheng-yew is really fierce. I heard that "Roma Ring Road" is a documentary, and its level is just that. The best film at the festival, I plan to keep this award for myself this year, so the best film this year will be "Three Billboards"."

"Really? Those Italians are really disgusting. They have a clear home field advantage."

"There's no other way, I need results."

"Lee Sing-yew is just unlucky. Otherwise, if he had won a Golden Lion Award, he would have surpassed Lao Mouzi."

"No more than Lao Mouzi's grand prize."

"Really? It's only a matter of time. How old is Li Shengyao? In a dozen years, he will be the number one director in China."

"It's hard to say. Directors all have their creative peaks. Just like Lao Mouzi and Kai Zi, they were so good when they were young and the movies they made were full of spirit, but then they stopped working. If Lee Sheng Yew can keep it up, then that's no problem. If he can't If you keep it, it will be difficult.”

Hearing this, Zhang Mo secretly glanced at Lao Mouzi and saw him looking straight at the big screen. She knew that Lao Mouzi had actually heard the conversation behind it, but he didn't have any expression on his face, so she didn't bother to say anything more.

Lao Mouzi did hear the comments from the audience in the back row.

Although he didn't care that Li Shengyao wanted to catch up with him in terms of honor, he was still a man, and he still had some pride in his heart.

The movie he is preparing now is called "Return", which is adapted from Yan Geqin's novel. He personally likes this story very much.

Chen Daoming and Gong Li are invited to be the male and female protagonists, and the film will participate in next year's Cannes Film Festival.

I heard that "La La Land" currently being prepared by Lee Sing-yew will also participate in next year's Cannes Film Festival, so let's compare it and wait and see.

Of course, Lao Mouzi has a reserved personality and is not a person who likes verbal disputes.

I had some calculations in my heart but didn't say it out loud.

At this moment, the big screen lit up and "Three Billboards" officially began.

Lao Mouzi sat up slightly. He wanted to see how far Li Shengyao had reached.

"Parasite" can be said to be a comprehensive movie, very complete in all aspects, and there is almost nothing to criticize about this movie.

But making such a complete, textbook-like movie is very expensive for the director.

Many directors can only make one or two such films in their lifetime.

It's not that the stories of the movies they shot later were not good, but that the energy, inspiration, thinking, and aesthetics have declined, and they can't make such outstanding movies.

"Parasite" is brilliant.

If "Three Billboards" can consistently reach the level of "Parasite", that would be amazing.

If we make a few more similar movies, maybe we can win awards.

The entire theater was a bit quiet.

On the big screen, Zhang Manyu and William Chan were riding home together. When they saw three vacant billboards, Zhang Manyu's eyes moved slightly.

The shot flashed by, but the richness of Zhang Manyu's facial expressions, which is rare in the world of cinema, still allowed the audience to see her inner changes. Lao Mouzi nodded secretly.

He had cooperated with Zhang Manyu, and later he wanted to cooperate with Zhang Manyu, but unfortunately Zhang Manyu rejected them.

This time she starred in "Three Billboards". Judging from the scene just now, Maggie Cheung is still young. No wonder she can be a stable winner at the Venice Film Festival. There is nothing to say about her acting skills.

Then Zhang Manyu came to the small town billboard company, said that he wanted to rent billboards, and then slapped the advertising words on the table.

The next plot depicts a mother who lost her daughter. She looks very pitiful.

It has been several years since her daughter was murdered, and her life was completely ruined, but now the police department still does nothing, and her daughter's case is even forgotten.

She resisted slightly and wanted to alert the police station, but she was targeted by the town residents and the police.

The heroine at this time is very pitiful and weak in the eyes of the audience.

Just when everyone was looking forward to the effect of these three billboards, the police chief found the heroine. He negotiated with the heroine. The two faced tit-for-tat, and suddenly the police chief spurted out a pool of blood.

It turned out that he was terminally ill and could live for at most half a year.

It turns out that they have been working very hard to solve the case, but they just can't.

At this time, the heroine is still aggressive, the heroine has become a strong person, and the police chief has become a weak person.

The character's momentum changes position offensively and defensively.

This setting can be said to be full of tension and very exciting.

Lao Mouzi looked at it and couldn't help but nod.

When he was young, he often participated in script writing, but after the millennium, he almost stopped doing such things.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to, it’s that he is too determined to do it.

My brain didn't work that fast and the stories I wrote weren't that good, so I had no choice but to give up on screenwriting.

Lee Sheng-yew writes his own scripts for all his movies.

Just for this scene, Lao Mouzi has to give Li Shengyao a thumbs up, the setting is really awesome.

He subconsciously said to Zhang Mo: "Study hard, this kind of plot will be exciting."

Zhang Mo curled his lips.

Why don't you learn it yourself? Why do you ask me to learn it?

Is this something you can learn if you want to?

There are so many students in the directing department, how many people in the world can write such a script.

The movie continues.

The heroine is so strong, but the police chief is in a weak position.

And when the town residents learned about the police chief's illness, more and more people rejected the heroine.

Someone threw glass at her house late at night, and someone threw rotten eggs at her while she was buying groceries.

What makes the heroine almost collapse is that she has no money and the lease of the billboard is coming soon.

Just when the heroine was anxious about money, a fire broke out and burned three billboards.

When the fire burned, the heroine and her son went to put out the fire.

In front of the raging fire, the heroine is as weak as an ant.

At this time, the momentum between the characters changed again.

The heroine is in a weak position, and it is not only the police chief who is fighting against her, but also the residents of the town.

This is cinematic tension.

As the plot develops, the strength and weakness constantly change, leaving the audience in doubt and causing emotional fluctuations.

When Lao Mouzi saw this, he couldn't help but said: "The plot setting is really good. If the movie maintains this level from now on, it would be a pity not to win the best movie."

Zhang Mo was stunned when he heard this. She was not good enough. She just thought this part was wonderful, but she didn't feel anything else.

The movie continues. In the subsequent plot, the situation of the heroine is similar to that in the previous one. They are constantly changing, sometimes in a weak position, sometimes in a strong position.

The summary is that it is full of tension.

It's definitely not the kind of plot where the grandson is beaten to death and the grandfather runs out to take revenge.

Instead, based on the character's personality, it is promoted step by step, and the contradictions gradually accumulate, eventually pushing the plot to a climax, allowing the audience to take a refreshing spiritual journey along with the plot.

In the end, the police chief committed suicide, and the heroine and the police chief's follower had an intersection, and there was a process from confrontation to understanding.

After experiencing so many things, the heroine became more understanding of the difficulties faced by the police.

The police in the small town also understand the heroine's mentality better.

They did not find the murderer in the end, but this incident did not defeat them. They still insisted on their belief that they would find the real murderer.

At the end of the movie, although the real murderer was not found, overall, if you look at it from the perspective of the heroine, the heroine of this movie has grown up and it is very satisfying.

The audience at the scene felt unfinished after watching it. When the theater lights came on, everyone came to their senses and applauded one after another.

Zhang Mo clapped his hands and asked Lao Mouzi in a low voice, "Dad, what do you think?"

Lao Mouzi thought for a while and then said: "A very good movie. I think Lee Sheng-yao's current production level has reached its peak. "Three Billboards" and "Parasite" are both very complete and very precise. , there is almost nothing to find fault with.”

He paused and then said: "What will restrict Lee Sheng-yao in the future is not how to tell a good story, but the research and innovation of film techniques."

Many directors are very good, but they cannot continue to win awards. It is not that their works are not good, but that their works have not made breakthroughs.

The judges are not fools. They prefer directors who have obvious breakthroughs.

This is actually similar to other industries. In the NBA's best player selection, there are very few people who win consecutive best players, because you need to be better year by year. This season, you average 30 points per game, and next season you have to average 30 points per game. Eleven points.

Lao Mouzi feels that judging from "Parasite" and "Three Billboards", Li Shengyao's films have almost no shortcomings and have reached the top level. Whether he can win awards in the future will depend on whether he makes a breakthrough.

He suddenly thought of "La La Land" that Lee Sheng-yew was preparing and "Dalian by the Sea" that had already been produced.

If "Dalian by the Sea" and "Three Billboards" were on the same level, then it would be impossible to win the Best Picture award.

Because compared with "Parasite", Lee Sung-yao's feature films have not shown significant improvement, the judges will not support them.

But "La La Land" is a musical, which seems to be in another realm.

Could it be that Lee Sheng-yew discovered this and chose to make "La La Land" to seek a breakthrough.

Thinking of this, Lao Mouzi couldn't help but feel nervous.

Next year "The Return" will participate in the Cannes Film Festival together with "La La Land". Is "The Return" really good enough?

(End of this chapter)