Huayu: Director started with art films

"Li, you know what, besides "Central Station", my favorite movie is "The Reader" that you and Lin filmed!"

Isabelle Huppert said with a smile.

Li Yishu asked with a smile: "Oh? You like the movie "The Reader" very much?"

"Yes."

Isabelle Huppert nodded and said, "Because the heroine in The Reader and the heroine in my film Cold Rite have one thing in common, that is, they both can't read, and they are both afraid of being exposed for their illiteracy."

Hearing this, Li Yishu became interested. He looked up at the poster, which showed two women's faces, one facing left and one facing right. It was hard to tell what the story was about.

"Okay, Li, I won't delay your movie. Come on, I'll take you inside. You are the director of The Reader. I think you will like this movie. Director Chabrol is a great director with a wild imagination, just like you."

Led by Isabelle Huppert, Li Yishu and Izumi Sakai followed closely and walked into the theater.

At this time, there were already quite a few people sitting in the theater. Looking around, the occupancy rate was about 60%.

This is considered a very high attendance rate. After all, every year at the Venice Film Festival, in addition to the participating works, there are also filmmakers from all over the world who come to the exhibition with their own films, hoping to meet discerning international film producers here to buy their film copyrights.

Among these films, there are many large-scale films, many of which even the Italian national treasure director Tinto would have to admit defeat after watching them.

I can only say that the international film festival is really diverse, with all kinds of films. Hong Kong erotic films and Category III films are just child's play.

After Li Yishu and Izumi Sakai found a seat to sit down, they became audience members and waited quietly for the movie to start.

As the film was shown, Lee Ye-su's first impression of "Cold Festival" was that it was very similar to the film "Parasite" which was later praised to the sky by South Korea.

The heroine of the movie, Sophie, is a poor and ordinary woman. She is also illiterate and works as a maid in a rich family.

One day, she met Jane, who was also from the poor class, in a supermarket. The two quickly became good friends because of the same class. At the same time, Jane had a very bad impression of the host's family.
The subsequent plot is that Sophie takes Jane back to the rich man's house. In the mansion where there are no rich people, the two of them play and joke around, and completely treat this place as their own place.

While the two were chatting, they talked about some crimes they had committed in the past. Although the movie did not directly state that the two were criminals, the director still hinted through almost naked hints that they were both murderers.

Later, because of her illiteracy, she was discovered by the rich man's eldest daughter. Although the eldest daughter did not care and even comforted her, this instead aroused Sophie's rebellious psychology. At the same time, the rich man threatened Sophie with the fact that the eldest daughter was pregnant before marriage. In the end, the eldest daughter was afraid and still told her father about it.

The rich man drove Sophie away directly. When Sophie complained to Jane afterwards, the two of them became murderous and ran back to kill the rich man's entire family...

Izumi Sakai was obviously not used to this kind of movie. She hugged Li Yishu's arms with both hands, bit her lip and said, "Li Jun, this movie is terrible."

Li Yishu patted the back of her hand, said a few words to comfort her, and said with emotion: "Yes, it's terrible!"

Izumi Sakai was scared because of some of the killing scenes in the movie, but Lee Yi-su saw it more clearly. The reason why "Grim Festival" felt very similar to "Parasite" to him was because they both told a common core story, the contrast between the poor and the rich.

But the difference is that the story of "Parasite" is more complicated, the absurdity and comedy of the whole film are stronger, and there are many metaphors.

"Cold Ritual" is more violent and rough, and more thrilling and terrifying.

The former is more about reflecting the current situation of excessive gap between the rich and the poor in Korean society, while the latter is more about criticizing the shortcomings of the poor and the rich.

I have to say that Isabelle Huppert’s acting was really great, and she must have lost a lot of weight for the filming, as her cheeks are a little sunken. There is an obvious difference between her and the glamorous version we just saw.

This look also forms a sharp contrast with the gorgeous and noble appearance of the rich family in the movie.

The director clearly shows the audience that the poor are sarcastic and the rich are flamboyant and hypocritical.

"Clap clap-"

As the movie ended, the scene froze on the heroine Sophie, who was quietly standing on the mountainside looking at Jane who had a car accident below, and applause broke out at the scene.

Li Yishu also stood up and applauded with Izumi Sakai.

After a while, as the audience left one after another, Isabelle Huppert came over with director Claude Chabrol.

Director Chabrol extended his hand politely: "Lee, thank you so much for coming to watch my film!"

"No, Monsieur Chabrol, you should not thank me."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "I should thank you for making such a wonderful film. It gave me a new understanding of human nature and the gap between the rich and the poor. Now I have a wonderful idea in my mind."

The movie "Parasite" is not only suitable for South Korea, but also for many countries and regions.

Now that you’ve already bought the movie “New World”, why not buy a few more Korean films!

"Haha, it's my honor to bring you inspiration."

Director Chabrol laughed. He didn't think Li Yishu was telling the truth. He just thought that the other party said that to give him face.

Huppert said with a smile: "I think it's better for the two great directors to stop praising each other. I would rather you comment on my acting skills."

Director Chabrol gave a thumbs up and said, "Your acting is excellent. I am very glad to have you play the leading role."

"Director Chabrol is right, Isabelle Huppert, your acting is very good. If I hadn't known you were the female lead, I would have found it hard to imagine that you would play the sarcastic and mean female lead in the movie."

Li Yishu agreed with what Chabrol said and nodded: "I believe that the judges of the Venice Film Festival will definitely see your superb acting skills. This year's Best Actress should be awarded to you!"

Upon hearing this, Isabelle Huppert smiled from ear to ear: "I hope to win this award, but it still depends on the jury's opinion."

Several people were talking and laughing. Seeing that Izumi Sakai was smiling and silent the whole time, Li Yishu said, "Director Chabrol, Ms. Huppert, I have to go see other movies. We'll talk again when we have a chance."

Huppert smiled and said, "No problem, Li. I'm done with my work here. I'll go to your theater later to watch your masterpiece. I think it will be another wonderful film."

Chabrol nodded and said he would go to see it too.

Li Yishu naturally welcomed them with a smile.

After leaving the theater, Li Yishu put his arm around Sakai Izumi's waist and asked, "Did you feel bored just now?"

"No, it's quite interesting. I'm really happy to hear them praising Li Jun."

Speaking of this, Izumi Sakai smiled brightly. She was very proud that others praised Li Yishu, because this made her happier than praising her.

"You, you..."

Seeing the well-behaved and sensible Izumi Sakai, Li Yishu ruffled her hair and said with a smile, "Let's go. It's still early. I'll take you to find another interesting movie. The themes of the participating films are a bit too heavy."

Among the films participating in the film festival, there are very few films with happy endings. Most of them are either about human nature, violence, crime, etc.

Izumi Sakai obviously doesn't like this type of film, so Lee Yi-su naturally won't take her to watch more. Instead, she walked out of the exhibition area of ​​the participating films and went to the area of ​​the participating films to see if there were any comedies or romance films.

Soon, Li Yishu found an American comedy film called "It Takes Two", which means good things come in pairs, or a match made in heaven!
"Let's go watch this one, it should be interesting."

Li Yishu took Izumi Sakai's hand, bought the movie tickets and walked in.

The movie had been showing for more than ten minutes at this point. After the two came in, they found a seat at the edge and sat down to start watching.

A pair of twins were separated from each other for various reasons. One grew up in an orphanage, and the other followed her wealthy mother. Eventually, the two children met at a summer camp and began to exchange identities to experience different lives. Comedy films naturally have a happy ending. In the end, the two sisters discovered that they were sisters, and they also successfully reunited their parents who had been separated for many years.

It was a very interesting film. Izumi Sakai couldn't stop laughing while watching it. Seeing that she was happy, Lee Yi-su naturally smiled too.

time flies.

In the blink of an eye, it was September 9th.

After confirming that she had no hope of winning the Golden Lion Award, Lee Yi-su completely let herself go these days.

The exhibition hall was left to Takeshi Kitano and his company assistant, while he took Izumi Sakai to have a good time in Venice for a few days.

Later, he took her to Milan and started shopping. She also watched an AC Milan training match.

This continued until September 9, when the closing ceremony of the 9nd Venice International Film Festival kicked off.

This year's Venice red carpet is still star-studded. In addition to the actors and actresses from the participating crews, there are also many well-known actresses from various European countries.

Li Yishu met Sophie Marceau again, and the two chatted with a smile about the Shanghai Film Festival in October. The other party said that she would definitely go there in person to attend.

"Lee, this way, look here."

"Sophie, Sophie, this way!"

"..."

The flash lights of reporters on both sides of the red carpet flashed one after another. Lee Yi-su walked alone at the front of the crew. After stopping to take a few photos, she strode towards the venue.

Originally, he wanted to take Izumi Sakai to walk the red carpet with him, but the girl was shy and thought that since she was not starring in a movie, she could not do such a thing as walking on the red carpet, so in the end she just agreed to appear on the red carpet with a group of people from the crew.

Around 7pm.

As the music sounded in the center of the venue, the award ceremony officially began and the two hosts came on stage and began their opening remarks.

Similar to previous years, they first reviewed last year's awards ceremony and mentioned the outstanding films nominated this year. Two of the hosts mentioned Lee Yi-su's name several times.

This made Izumi Sakai listen with great interest, and the main creative staff of the Japanese crew, including Takeshi Kitano, all showed expressions of pride.

The sensation caused by the four-gold Grand Slam is actually not as great as the three-gold Grand Slam after Lee Yi-seok won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival two years ago.

After all, in order to enter the Chinese market, Warner Bros. specifically asked Time magazine, a subsidiary of the same group, to carry out a deification plan for Li Yishu.

At that time, Time Warner Group was a behemoth that integrated film, media, news, and television, and was much larger than Murdoch's News Corporation.

The full coverage of Lee Ye-seo, the triple-Award Grand Slam director, can easily be imagined to have caused a huge sensation.

After the opening remarks, as usual, the first award presented was the Venice non-main competition unit award, namely the New Film Award.

It lasted for about half an hour and soon we arrived at the main competition unit.

Izumi Sakai held Li Yishu's hand and asked, "Li Jun, can you win the Golden Lion Award?"

"I'm afraid I have no hope of winning the Golden Lion, but I can look forward to winning the Best Director award."

Li Yishu smiled. Last night, he not only received a call from the organizer inviting him to attend the award ceremony, but also received a call from Chairman Abraham.

Although the other party did not explicitly state that Lee Yi-su would definitely win the Best Director award, their words and deeds hinted at this fact.

Considering Abraham's hint and the public relations arranged by Lee Yi-su during this period, it seems that winning the Best Director Award should be a foregone conclusion.

After the previous small awards were over, it was soon the turn of the International Society of Film Critics Award.

Abraham took the stage again and said with a smile: "Four years ago at the Venice Film Festival, I presented this award to a young director at the scene..."

Before she finished speaking, someone at the scene had already guessed the identity of the winner, and the camera lens focused on Li Yishu's face.

Abraham did not keep the secret any longer and shouted, "That's right, let us congratulate the winner of the International Film Critics Association Award, the artist Li from China!"

Applause broke out instantly at the scene. Lee Yi-shu, who had just completed the four-gold Grand Slam achievement not long ago, has become the subject of many media reports. Even if some people have never seen him, they are now curious about this great director from China.

When Lee Yi-su stepped onto the stage to receive the award, many people were surprised at his youthful appearance.

"Thank you, thank you to the organizers of the film festival, thank you to the International Association of Film Critics, and the chairman of the Film Critics Week..."

Li Yishu pretended to be excited and held the trophy tightly. After expressing her gratitude, she gave Abraham a warm hug and then turned around and walked off the stage.

"Wow!" Izumi Sakai held the trophy and said excitedly, "Mr. Li, you won the prize!"

Li Yishu smiled and said, "It's just a small prize."

Izumi Sakai clenched his fists and encouraged, "Mr. Li, I believe you will definitely win the grand prize later."

Hearing this, Li Yishu smiled but said nothing. As he had expected this, he was actually very calm.

Along with the awards for Best Actor and Best Actress, this year's Actress Award had two winners, Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire, both of whom are the two female protagonists of "The Grim Reaper".

Isabelle Huppert was very excited after she came on stage. After thanking the audience, she smiled in the direction of Lee Yi-su and said, "Thank you, Lee. You said my acting skills are good enough to win the Best Actress Award. I think I succeeded!"

Li Yishu smiled and clapped. Sakai Izumi was also surprised. She was at the scene at the time and didn't expect that Li Jun's words would come true.

"The winner of the Best Director Award is..."

As the award presenter on the stage kept everyone in suspense, she smiled and said, "Congratulations, Li, for winning the Best Director Award for "Fireworks"!"

"Wow!!"

Izumi Sakai shouted excitedly: "Mr. Li, you won the award. You won the Best Director Award."

"Yes, I won the award." Li Yishu stood up and hugged her with a smile, and then shook hands with Kitano Takeshi who was equally excited.

After going on stage, Li Yishu thanked the organizers, the crew, etc. as usual, and then said: "In September 1991, a young man from China won the first trophy in his life here, the Venice Golden Lion Award. Yes, that person was me!"

There was a lot of laughter at the scene.

"Four years have passed, and today I am standing on this stage again. I am very grateful to the organizers of Venice for awarding me the Golden Lion Award. Today, I am also grateful to the organizers and judges of the film festival for awarding me the Best Director Award..."

At this point, Lee Yi-su held up the trophy and said, "I still remember what I said back then. Now I want to give it to all the filmmakers from all over the world present here. Believe in yourself, and follow your dreams and live up to your youth!"

The Best Director Award has already been won in Cannes and Venice.

Berlin……

Then wait two years and make a movie called "Parasite" by then. (End of this chapter)