Huayu: Director started with art films

time flies.

Li Yishu only stayed in Japan for three days.

In addition to accompanying Izumi Sakai on a stroll, he also visited the Japanese branch of the Art Entertainment Group.

Ichiro Tanaka is still very dedicated. Although the Japanese branch does not produce many films independently, it also actively cooperates with Toho Co., Ltd. Although the investment share is small, most of it generates profits.

In addition, Ichiro Tanaka acquired a comic publishing house in accordance with Li Yishu's previous instructions, adapted "Love Letter" into a comic, and actively invited new cartoonists to submit their works to the publishing house.

In general, the business of Arts Entertainment Group (Japanese branch) is growing continuously. Although it is not as good as the US and Chinese markets, it is also developing steadily.

The main reason is that it has only been two or three years since the bursting of the Japanese economic bubble, and the entire Japanese society is in a period of low consumption desire.

In terms of movies, Lee Yi-su does not force Ichiro Tanaka to achieve great success. He mainly focuses on the Japanese animation and comics market.

Since the bursting of the Japanese economic bubble, Japan has entered an era of low consumption and otakus.

Anime and comics peripherals will greatly increase the market value. At the same time, otakus would rather find these paper wives than those magical female boxers.

The theory of three wallets for women was fine before, but now that the economy is in a downturn, no one wants to be a bootlicker or a sucker.

All I can say is that the Japanese and Korean versions were thirty years ahead of the times.

France.

Cannes.

This is Lee Yi-su’s third visit to Cannes.

Airport exit gate.

Li Yishu walked out with her suitcase and saw Zhang Aijia and Gong Li standing there waiting for her.

Zhang Aijia came over with a smile: "Director Li!"

Li Yishu glanced at Gong Li and saw her smile. Then she said to Director Zhang Aijia, "It's been a long time since we last met. How are you? You've been in Cannes for more than a month. How do you feel?"

Zhang Aijia smiled and said: "When I first came here, I just felt that this place was very suitable for vacation, but in the past few days, filmmakers from all over the world have come here, and I have felt the charm of the international film festival."

"I've watched a lot of foreign movies these days and I feel very inspired. Many of the themes of these movies are not what we would shoot or plan to shoot."

“International film festivals can indeed greatly broaden the thinking of filmmakers.”

Li Yishu nodded in agreement. As the first of the three major film festivals in Europe, Cannes has thousands of filmmakers bringing their films here every year.

The entire Cannes Film Festival is almost a world of movies. You can see many experimental and independent films in any private screening room.

Several people greeted each other.

Afterwards, Li Yishu carried the suitcase, followed the two of them out of the airport, and took a car to the town of Cannes.

In addition to the filmmakers who come to participate in the film festival, there are also countless movie fans and tourists.

Just because Cannes in May is sunny, with blue sky and golden beach, it is so beautiful.

Still an old hotel.

But this time it’s not Brother Chen Kai, but Zhang Yimou.

"Director Zhang!" Li Yishu stretched out her hand and shook hands with Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou said: "Director Li, I'm sorry to bother you this time."

"The people in the company have already told me that they will focus on helping Director Zhang with public relations."

Li Yishu smiled. It wasn't like the other party wouldn't give money, so it wasn't a big deal. This could be considered an attempt.

If it works, then in the future we can try to do public relations and win awards for some Asian films at European film festivals.

As they were chatting, a voice suddenly came from behind, "Director Li!"

Li Yishu looked back and saw Hou Xiaoxian walking towards her with a man and a woman.

The man is very familiar. He is Ajie, the lighter-playing boy in "Crazy Racing" and he often plays gangster roles in Taiwan movies.

The woman is also a familiar face, Harlem’s ex-wife Yi Jing.

"Director Hou, we meet again!"

Li Yishu shook hands with Hou Xiaoxian enthusiastically. He and Hou Xiaoxian were indeed old acquaintances.

We met and got to know each other at the Venice Film Festival since Lee Yi-su’s first film, “That Mountain, That Man, That Dog.”

"Yes, let me introduce them to you. These two are the actor and actress of my new film, Good Men, Good Women. This is Gao Jie and this is Yi Jing."

"Hello Director Li! X2"

"Hello!"

Li Yishu politely shook hands with the two of them.

Hou Xiaoxian smiled and said, "Director Li, it's a pity that you don't have any work to participate in Cannes this year. Otherwise, you, me, and Director Zhang, the three of us could compete on the same stage in Cannes."

"Don't!" Zhang Yimou shook his head and said, "I don't want to go to the film festival with Director Li. The grand prize will be his then."

Li Yishu was a little surprised that Zhang Yimou, such a conservative person, would actually make such a joke.

On second thought, maybe he was not joking. Zhang Yimou really thought he was good at public relations for film festivals!
Hou Xiaoxian nodded and said, "That's right, Director Zhang is right. Director Li, next time you want to attend a film festival, you must let us know in advance so that we can switch to another film festival."

"Ha ha!"

Li Yishu smiled cheerfully and said, "Okay, I'll remember that. I have two films on hand that will be exhibited at the Venice Film Festival in September and the Locarno Film Festival in August this year."

“Then why not Cannes?”

Hou Xiaoxian was very surprised. Of the two films, it would be better to submit one to Cannes than to participate in the increasingly declining Locarno Film Festival, right?
Li Yishu smiled and said, "I have participated in Cannes twice, and I have won all the awards I deserve. I will talk about it again when I have the chance. Besides, among the European film festivals, except for Berlin, Cannes, and Venice, the only one I haven't won an award at is the Locarno International Film Festival."

According to Europeans, the four major film festivals include the Locarno Film Festival.

It’s just that the Locarno Film Festival is not well-known in China and has a mediocre influence in Asia, so we have always had the three major festivals here, not the four major ones.

Hearing this, Hou Xiaoxian curled the corners of his mouth.

Gong Li couldn't help laughing out loud. Li Yishu is the winner of the Cannes Palme d'Or and the Cannes Best Director Award.

Gao Jie and Yi Jing, who were still newcomers to Cannes, remembered when they heard Li Yishu say this that the young director Li Yishu was not only the winner of the Palme d'Or, but also the winner of the Best Director Award.

In a sense, the director has won all the awards he deserves.

Zhang Yimou frowned and said, "It seems that no one in China has ever won the Golden Leopard Award at the Locarno Film Festival?"

Li Yishu said, "Yes, no domestic filmmaker has won the Golden Leopard Award yet, but many have won the Silver Leopard Award, including director Chen Kai, director Edward Yang from Taiwan, and last year's film "Er Mao" directed by Zhou Xiaowen, who won the Special Jury Award, the FIPRESCI Award, the Humanitarian Spirit Award, and the Youth Jury First Prize!"

In fact, there is another film that Li Yishu did not mention, which is The True Story of Ah Q, directed by Hong Kong director Yuan Yangan in 1958, which won the Best Actor Award. Zhang Yimou said: "It seems that Director Li is very knowledgeable about the Locarno International Film Festival."

Among these movies, except for Chen Kaige's "Yellow Earth", in which he participated in the photography and went to the theater together, he didn't know any of the later movies.

"It's not research, but if you want to sign up, you have to learn more about it."

Li Yishu smiled and looked at her watch. It was already past three in the afternoon. She said, "Director Zhang, Director Hou, I just got off the plane and haven't returned to my room to rest yet. How about we have dinner and chat together in the evening after I have rested in my room?"

"no problem!"

After they made an appointment to have dinner together in the hotel restaurant in the evening, Li Yishu carried her suitcase and walked upstairs to her room, followed closely by Gong Li.

inside the room.

Gong Li is very lively and insists on taking Li Yishu to take a bath.

Just wash it!

After washing, Li Yishu began to work like an old farmer, cultivating this thick land, and finally spraying smelly pesticides to moisten the earth.

After relaxing, Gong Li asked, "Do you think Director Zhang's film has a high chance of winning an award?"

"There will definitely be an award, but whether it will be the Palme d'Or or something else, that's hard to say."

"Hasn't it been public relations? Why is there still no solution?"

"Sister Gong Li, it doesn't mean that you will definitely win the award if you do PR, but it can definitely be effective."

Li Yishu laughed and said, "Didn't our movie Farewell My Concubine two years ago have no PR, but still won an award? You can only say that fate determines success."

Gong Li hugged his arm and asked, "There is no outsider here. Tell me, is it possible to win the Palme d'Or?"

Li Yishu thought for a moment and said, "The probability of winning the award is very small."

"I've seen the shortlist for this year's competition, there are 25 films in total, excluding Sylvia Chang's The Little Fisherman, there are still 24. I haven't seen the other films, but Director Zhang's film was too subjective and the story wasn't well told, so I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to win the Palme d'Or."

There is definitely no problem with the texture of the movie "Raise the Red Lantern". Zhang Yimou's judgment of the color of the movie is rare in China.

But like most fifth-generation directors, he sometimes finds it difficult to tell a good movie story without a good screenwriter.

This can be seen from the movies he shot later.

"Grandma's Bridge" is adapted from Li Xiao's novel "House Rules". Li Yishu has not read the original novel, but if you only watch the movie, the plot is too thin and it is a bit different from his films in the past few years.

But there will be no problem in winning the award. Just based on Zhang Yimou's three words, the Cannes organizers will have to give him an award no matter what.

Gong Li said: "Well, it seems that Director Zhang is further away from winning the Cannes Palme d'Or and completing the three-gold Grand Slam."

"It's not far, it's impossible."

Li Yishu laughed and said, "Did you forget what I told you last year? At Cannes last year, Director Zhang's "To Live" had great hopes of winning the Palme d'Or, but in the end it only won the Jury Prize, the Best Actor Award, and a useless Humanitarian Award."

He really feels that "To Live" is Zhang Yimou's most promising film from the past to the future to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

But unfortunately, the European Film Festival obviously does not want to produce another Asian "Triple Gold" director who is also Chinese.

In his previous life, Zhang Yimou failed to win the last Palme d’Or because he did not know how to use tricks.

In this life, Li Yishu relied on her relationship with Xu Suo and spent several million dollars to let Morgan Freeman shoot a movie called "12 Years a Slave", which has not yet been completed. She successfully won the Golden Bear Award at last year's Berlin Film Festival.

All I can say is that there is a very high probability that Zhang Yimou will never win the Palme d'Or again in the future.

Li Yishu will also replace Chen Kaige and become the only Chinese winner of the Palme d'Or in the next few decades.

"You did say that, but it still feels like a shame."

Gong Li said: "I originally thought that Director Zhang was so persistent that there might still be hope, but after hearing what you said, I'm afraid he will never win the Palme d'Or in the future."

"It's not that I'm afraid, but there's a 90% chance that I won't get it."

Li Yishu shook her head: "He may be able to win the Berlin Golden Bear and the Venice Golden Lion, but he will never win the Cannes Palme d'Or."

"That's boring. I also want to win the Best Actress award at the three major film festivals, but after hearing what you said, I won't have that chance in the future."

"Who knows what will happen in the future? Take your time. By the way, how is the filming of "The Empress Dowager of Liao" going?"

"It's pretty good. We just started filming in early May. We shot a few scenes in the Shenyang Palace. It was quite interesting."

Gong Li likes the role of Empress Xiao Yanyan very much, and the script does not belittle the Empress Dowager of Liao, but rather praises the life of this legendary woman.

Putting aside the conflicts between the Song and Liao dynasties, from the perspective of modern people alone, Xiao Yanyan was indeed a very remarkable person.

She was given the task in times of crisis and took charge of the government, but she was able to retreat at the right time and was willing to be the empress dowager in the harem.

Much stronger than Lu Zhi, Wu Zetian and Liu E.

Li Yishu said: "The crew will start filming in June, and around early July, we will start filming the grassland scenes. At that time, I will communicate with the crew of "The Empress Dowager of Liao" and go to Inner Mongolia to film the war scenes together."

Gong Li said excitedly: "Yeah, come to think of it, I haven't filmed an ancient war scene yet. I remember that in the script, I have to command the army. Will there be a lot of horses?"

"Haha, you'll know when you go to the Inner Mongolia Horse Farm. The crew has sent over 10,000 horses."

"Tens of thousands of horses? How much would that cost?"

"It doesn't cost much. We just have to negotiate with the herdsmen in Inner Mongolia and they will provide the manpower and resources."

"..."

At seven o'clock in the evening.

hotel restaurant.

The main creators of both Zhang Yimou and Hou Xiaoxian's crews have arrived, and Li Yishu is a free agent.

He came here just to attend the closing ceremony of the film festival the day after tomorrow, and then flew back to China that night to participate in the final preparations for the filming of "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms".

The two crews + Lee Yi-su had a pretty enjoyable meal. Everyone was on different tracks, so although there was competition, it was not a big deal.

The next morning, Li Yishu followed Zhang Aijia and Liu Ruoying, acting as a movie fan and spectator, and walked through the major screening halls in Cannes with a certificate given by the organizer.

Sylvia Chang is self-aware. Her movie was nominated with the help of Li Yishu, so her chances of winning are close to zero.

Of course there is no need to be so attentive.

Liu Ruoying did have some ideas, but she had no idea that the film was nominated thanks to the help of Li Yishu. Not to mention the Best Actress, it was impossible for her to even win a small award.

As she walked, Li Yishu was suddenly attracted by a poster pasted on the door of the cinema.

The name of the movie is "Young Angry Girl" and there are a few English words next to it.

"24-hour real-life movie?!" (End of this chapter)