Exciting 1979!

Chapter 477 Shining in Cannes, Amin's Mischief

Although Bingbing wasn't there, 28-year-old Isabelle Adjani was equally dazzling; she was also one of the most well-known and talked-about actresses in Europe during that period.

She is a Cannes Film Festival Best Actress winner, a French César Award Best Actress winner, and an Academy Award nominee for Best Actress.

When Wei Ming and Li Baotian walked the red carpet, they were almost ignored. But as soon as Isabelle Adjani came on, the flashbulbs never stopped and kept flashing at her.

At this time, Isabelle Adjani was not dating Jean-Michel Jarre, Wei Ming's old French friend. Her current boyfriend was photographer Bruno Nutin, whose status in the industry was incomparable to hers, and whose appearance was also average. It is clear that Adjani was attracted to his talent.

As soon as Isabelle Adjani entered the room, Wei Ming noticed that older men like Mel Gibson, Robert De Niro, and Takeshi Kitano were all staring intently at her.

Compared to them, Wei Ming, who kept his eyes straight ahead, was practically a gentleman. Melinda, standing to the side, smiled and said, "If you want to look, then look. It is indeed quite good."

Wei Ming: "I think you're just average, not as good-looking as you."

Comrade Melinda Gaskell is also in Cannes; she says she's here for vacation.

The two were separated by distance, and it was rare for Wei Ming to come to Europe and stay for half a month. She certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity; she was already 25 years old, the prime age for childbearing.

Melinda arrived in Cannes last night, only three hours later than Wei Ming and his group. She then moved into Wei Ming's room by claiming that all the hotel rooms were full. Director Bao and Li Baotian could only turn a blind eye and keep their ears open.

The red carpet show continued, and after several older men who went unnoticed, another beautiful flower caught the attention of reporters and men alike: German actress Nastassja Kinski.

Nastassja Kinski's nominated work is "Moonlight Over the Ditch" directed by Jean-Jacques Benedict.

She is the same age as Wei Ming, also 22 years old this year. She started working as a model at the age of 13, lived with the famous director Roman Polanski at the age of 15, and became famous at the age of 18 in Polanski's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles". She then began to enter Hollywood and can be called the European version of Brooke Shields.

Unfortunately, her Polanski will never be able to return to America, but Polanski will soon have a younger girl, Emmanuelle Seigner, born in 66.

When this beautiful woman entered, Wei Ming and Melinda admired her and commented on her in hushed tones. Behind them, Deputy Director Bao and Li Baotian could only watch helplessly because they couldn't understand English. Were these two openly flirting?

Finally, the festival president, director, and jury members appeared and delivered speeches.

Melinda brought Wei Ming a collection of short stories by jury president William Stellen during her trip to Cannes. One of the stories, "The Expedition," is a novel about the Korean War based on his own experiences.

When the war broke out, Stellan was drafted into the Marine Corps, but he left the army in 1952 due to an eye disease and wrote a novel about his experiences at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

This novel offers a glimpse into why the Korean War had such a weak presence in the United States, and the attitudes of American soldiers and some ordinary Americans toward the war.

"Suddenly drawn into a war, a war that was incomprehensible and confusing, a war that could not be won without some tricks... It was a war without slogans, without praise, without heroes, which was unbearable for all the soldiers involved..."

Wei Ming hoped to glean insights into the author's attitude towards China from his work, but after reading it, he still couldn't grasp the point. The novel doesn't depict the Chinese People's Volunteer Army much, and one can only say that there's no obvious hatred towards the Chinese people.

Next, there will be an opening film screening, featuring Andrei Tarkovsky's "Nostalgia," his sixth feature film.

Among today's directors who can be called cinematic masters, 51-year-old Andrei Tarkovsky is relatively young. He is compared to figures like Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, and Stanley Kubrick, who are written in film textbooks and history books.

The fact that this film was chosen as the opening film shows the respect the Cannes Film Festival has for him.

However, Andrei Tarkovsky was not doing well at this time, and he struggled to complete the filming of "Nostalgia" in Italy.

Because his films were always interfered with by the Soviet film bureau—the scripts were not approved, funding was cut, and they were not screened after filming was completed—he was exhausted both physically and mentally. So this time, he simply went abroad to film.

The Soviet Film Bureau retaliated by detaining his underage son, preventing the father and son from seeing each other, and is still obstructing the film's appearance at Cannes. The father and son were not able to meet until Andrei's death.

If you say his films expose the dark side of the Soviet Union, then it's understandable that they were obstructed and interfered with, but that's not the case. Although they are somewhat hypnotic, Wei Ming has watched all of his films in their entirety.

His films are not the kind of genre films with obvious plots, but his cinematic aesthetics are undeniable, truly deserving of the title "poet of film." His exploration of the boundaries of cinematic art has also profoundly influenced directors such as Lars von Trier, Denis Villeneuve, Alejandro González, and Bi Gan.

Even a renowned director like Martin Scorsese, who is already quite successful in the United States, sits meticulously during the official screening of his film, just like a student listening to a lecture.

Martin Scorsese's later film, The Last Temptation of Christ, was inspired by Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev. After Tarkovsky's death, Martin Scorsese also oversaw the restoration and re-release of Tarkovsky's films.

Therefore, a film director's status in the industry largely depends on how many subsequent directors their filmmaking techniques can influence, especially for great directors. This is why André Kurosawa, Akira Kurosawa, and Wong Kar-wai are always at the top of various director rankings, as too many people have benefited from their filmmaking techniques.

Nostalgia is considered one of Andrei Tarkovsky's more accessible works, and it is also one of the best works of his career.

The film's protagonist is named Andrei, and his profession is a poet, which can be seen as a reflection of the director's own situation.

Because there were English subtitles, Wei Ming didn't find it difficult, especially since it wasn't the first time he had watched it.

Lao Bao has a slight advantage over Li Baotian because the few lines of dialogue are in Russian, which someone of Lao Bao's age understands a little bit.

Li Baotian, who neither understands Russian nor speaks English, can only look at the images. But even just looking at the images is a pleasure for him, because they are so beautiful. The images have an oil painting-like texture and a poetic beauty.

And coincidentally, there are also scenes in this movie where rainwater is collected in different containers, but Wei Ming handles it in a more romantic way.

Li Baotian assumed that the judges also couldn't understand the story of "The Shepherd's Class," so he subconsciously compared the visuals of "The Shepherd's Class" with those of "Nostalgia."

Wei Ming and those film school kids also put a lot of effort into the aesthetics of the visuals. "Nostalgia" has the texture of an oil painting, with clever composition. The director is especially good at using mirrors to tell stories.

Wei Ming prefers to use sunlight. In the story of "The Shepherd's Class", the sun is an important narrative prop, and there is also an interlude called "Planting the Sun".

As he was thinking, Li Baotian suddenly lowered his head in embarrassment because the female lead had started to take off her clothes and revealed one side of her snow-white skin.

He glanced at Bao Tongzhi. As expected of the deputy director of the Film Bureau who frequently reviewed foreign films, this level of rigor seemed like a trivial matter to him.

As for Wei Ming, he was even more frank. Let alone just a movie, even if it were a real person, he had seen and tasted it last night.

Although Li Baotian didn't fully understand the story, when the final scene appeared, seeing the protagonist and his dog sitting on the ground with their hometown house set in ancient Roman architecture behind them, blurring the lines between reality and illusion, he could truly feel that "nostalgia" had become a tangible reality.

The film ended with thunderous and prolonged applause. Film enthusiasts and critics were clearly captivated by Andrei's story and visuals. They whispered among themselves, discussing the lingering impact of the film and praising Tarkovsky for living up to his reputation, saying that every film he makes is a masterpiece.

However, Sergei Bondarchuk, the renowned Soviet director and one of the judges, frowned deeply; he had come with a mission.

After the movie, Wei Ming introduced Melinda to Lao Bao and Lao Li. Melinda could speak Chinese, so there were no communication barriers. She even treated the two Chinese people to a French meal.

He couldn't say anything since he'd eaten someone's food. Although it might have a negative impact, Xiao Wei was a single young man, and Melinda was his ex-girlfriend.

During the meal, they also ran into Martin Scorsese, who acted as if he had just met Wei Ming and suddenly shook hands with Wei Ming warmly.

“I just learned from a friend that last year’s short film ‘The Witness’ was your work. It’s an undisputed masterpiece that has inspired many Hollywood directors,” Martin said.

He always thought Wei Ming was a complete newcomer to the film industry, but he never expected that the very popular short film last year was his work.

Martin had previously thought Wei Ming was too young, and that the organizing committee must have chosen his film because of his literary achievements and influence. Now it seems that his new film must have its merits, which makes him even more excited for "The Shepherd's Spring".

The film schedule has now been released.

More than 20 films from the main competition will be screened two to three times over the next 12 days.

The premiere of "The Shepherd's Class" will be later, so Wei Ming can go support Martin's new film first.

However, if Martin's "The King of Comedy" and Isabelle Adjani's "A Dead Summer" were released at the same time, Wei Ming would definitely choose the latter.

After a busy day, Wei Ming and Melinda returned to the hotel, and just as they lay down, Li Baotian knocked on the door again.

"Director Bao said that colleagues from Xinhua News Agency's French branch will be coming to take photos and conduct interviews for us tomorrow, so please be mindful of your appearance tomorrow."

Wei Ming said he understood and would definitely not let Melinda plant hickeys on him.

"I thought there wouldn't be any media outlets from our own country this time," Wei Ming said with a smile, because he hadn't seen much news about those films being shortlisted for the three major European films in China before.

At this moment, Director Bao from next door opened the door and showed himself: "We used to do this too, with procedures like taking photos and conducting interviews. But we didn't win any awards, so we didn't promote it much. Although participation is important, the result is also very important."

Besides the Xinhua News Agency staff, many Japanese media outlets also came because two Japanese films were nominated for the main competition. Although they did not interview Wei Ming directly, they did take photos of him walking the red carpet and faxed them back on the day of the opening ceremony.

Hong Kong's Ming Pao learned through Japanese media reports that director Wei Ming's feature film debut, "The Shepherd's Spring," had been selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Although it was a bit late, Jin Yong still decisively sent reporters to Cannes to get firsthand news.

Gong Xue and Zhou Huimin in Hong Kong had already learned of this news a few days earlier, as Wei Ming mentioned in his letter that he was going to France for a period of time.

Gong Xue could only offer his best wishes to Xiao Wei, hoping he could win an award this time. Regardless of the size of the award, it would be a major breakthrough for Chinese live-action films.

Zhou Huimin, however, was bolder. She wasn't sure if Wei Ming would be able to detour to Hong Kong to see her when he returned from France, since mainlanders often had to follow the organization's arrangements. So rather than waiting passively, she decided to take the initiative, especially since the weekend was fast approaching.

"Sister Ni, how about we go on a vacation this weekend?"

Linni: "Where to? Singapore? Malaysia? Thailand?"

“It’s too close. How about we go to France? The Cannes Film Festival is happening right now!” After Zhou Huimin made this suggestion, Lin Ni immediately thought it was feasible.

However, this suggestion was not approved by Zhou's mother because Europe was too far away, and it was France, where they spoke French, and the two could not communicate in the same language.

"Are you so sure that all the French are good people? Even if they are, they would probably have malicious intentions if they saw two weak women like you. So I reject your argument."

Vivian Chow said in a coquettish tone, "Mom, if you're worried about the two of us, then come with us!"

"The weekend is only two days, and if you include Friday, it's only two days and three nights. A round trip will take up all that time. Is it worth it just to meet you and exchange a few words? I'm not going."

Zhou Ma isn't going, but someone else wants to go.

Wei Lingling said, "How about I take them with me? I'm going to Paris to discuss European business, and I also want to see my nephew."

With Wei Lingling following along, Zhou Ma was completely relieved. She had lived abroad for so many years, traveling to Asia, Africa, Europe, and America, so she was sure nothing would go wrong.

So on Friday afternoon, Zhou Huimin was dismissed from school early, with several sheet music in her schoolbag. She was picked up by Lin Ni and her daughter and taken to the airport to go abroad!
This is her first time leaving Asia and her second time leaving China.

~
Wei Ming was unaware of the danger approaching. He and Melinda were inseparable, always appearing together at every movie premiere.

Director Bao and Lao Li didn't want to be third wheels, so they would always split up and act separately from them. Because of the language barrier, they would always search aimlessly for a long time before finally finding the right place.

Yesterday they had already seen Isabelle Adjani's "A Dead Summer" (also known as "The Summer of Murder"). The sight of the European goddess's body being stripped naked and freely viewed made Li Baotian feel somewhat unreal. He was starting to think about going home; he only felt at ease when he was with his wife at home.

Today they are going to watch a Japanese film called "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," which tells the story of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp located on the island of Java in the South Pacific during World War II in 1942.

In the past few days, Wei Ming had already become quite familiar with Takeshi Kitano, one of the film's lead actors.

Takeshi Kitano was pleasantly surprised to learn that Wei Ming, a renowned Chinese writer, was knowledgeable in manzai (stand-up comedy). As a manzai actor, Kitano had been in the business for ten years, but had only just begun acting in films and had no intention of directing.

Although he was just starting out in film, Takeshi Kitano gave an outstanding performance in this movie, before he developed facial paralysis.

This film is not only an anti-war movie about a prisoner-of-war camp, but also a film with a gay theme. The two male protagonists in the film, who have a homoerotic relationship, are David Bowie from the UK and Ryuichi Sakamoto from Japan.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a musician by training, and he also composed the world-renowned soundtrack "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" specifically for this film. In the future, he will be best known as a master of film scores.

David Bowie was a rock star, famous in Europe and America. It is also worth mentioning that his son, Duncan Jones, is a director. His famous works include "Source Code" and the movie version of "Warcraft".

David Bowie later married Iman Bowie, a Black supermodel known as the most beautiful Black woman, and both were in their second marriages.

Although they probably still wouldn't understand it, Li Baotian and Bao Tongzhi still came to the premiere of the film, wanting to see how the Japanese filmed World War II.

Li Baotian hoped there wouldn't be any embarrassing scenes of women taking off their clothes and exposing their breasts today, but he was probably overthinking it. This is a play about prisoners of war, and there are no women at all.

However, as he looked at him, he felt something was off. Why was there something strange about the way the handsome Japanese officer was looking at the blond British prisoner with his striking features?
He and Deputy Director Bao exchanged a glance, both of them noticing the ambiguous relationship between the two.

As expected, the two main actors kissed at the end. If it weren't for the great background music, Li Baotian would have wanted to leave early.

The soundtrack for "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" is indeed a timeless classic. Ryuichi Sakamoto spent three months traveling to many places in Southeast Asia to complete it.

However, Li Baotian felt that the soundtrack in "The Shepherd's Spring" was equally impressive. Director Wei Ming and teacher Hu Weili, one leading the Western music and the other the traditional instruments, contributed more than a dozen classic pieces of music, which were incredibly enjoyable to listen to.

After watching "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," we'll take a short break before the next show in this hall is "The Ballad of Narayama" by Shohei Imamura.

The cast of this film was far inferior to that of "Mr. Lawrence," and at this time, Shohei Imamura's international influence was far less than that of Nagisa Oshima, who had already won the Best Director award at Cannes.

There are no international stars in the cast of "The Ballad of Narayama", and it is a remake. There was already a "Ballad of Narayama" in the 50s.

However, after watching the entire film, Wei Ming, Melinda, Bao Tongzhi, Li Baotian, and all the judges and audience members present were utterly shocked.

It's not a question of good or bad; it's that kind of, how should I put it, how could there be such a daring director? This is something no human could possibly make!?
No wonder Shohei Imamura dared to criticize his teacher Yasujiro Ozu for only making "official" Japanese films, while he wanted to portray the "real" Japan, an ugly and vulgar Japan that had shed the fig leaf of civilized society.

This work, "The Ballad of Narayama," is a perfect embodiment of his creative philosophy.

This movie features scenes of patricide, animal cruelty, infanticide, burying an entire family alive, and a widow sleeping in an entire village—scenes that challenge the audience's moral bottom line and leave viewers clenching their teeth and holding their arms tightly.

However, by the end, although the director filmed the entire film with a calm and restrained style, without influencing the audience with his own views, one could still see his compassion and empathy.

After watching it, Wei Ming had only one thought: it would be an injustice if this film didn't win an award.

To reiterate, it's not a question of good or bad, but rather that the film has been made to this extent, with its exploration of the dark side of human nature and its artistic control being both superb. This is definitely the kind of film that judges love.

To be honest, compared to "The Ballad of Narayama," all the award-winning films by fifth and sixth generation directors that were criticized by Chinese audiences for pandering to foreign judges are child's play.

"The Shepherd's Spring" will premiere tonight, and Wei Ming has invited the main creators of these two Japanese films to attend. He will also inform Hollywood stars such as Mel Gibson and Robert De Niro later, the more lively the better.

Unfortunately, because Melinda was with him, Wei Ming was unable to form any friendships with beautiful European actresses like Isabelle Adjani and Kinski. However, he did get to know Sigourney Weaver, the female lead in "Alien," and she later fought alongside the Na'vi on Pandora.

With just one short film, "The Witness," Wei Ming won over many film industry peers. The premiere of "The Spring of the Shepherd's Class" was a star-studded event, and the excitement made it hard to believe that he was a new director in his early twenties.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Huimin and the other two also joined in the fun.

They arrived in Cannes before dark, stayed overnight, and were heading back the next day.

And coincidentally, they were on the same flight as Ming Pao reporter Law Ah-sau. It was impossible for Law Ah-sau not to recognize Zhou Huimin, and he immediately guessed why she had come—it must be for her lover.

So Luo Ashu took the initiative to show himself, reveal his identity, and offered to take photos for them for free.

Because Zhou Huimin had a good relationship with Ming Pao, a newspaper with relatively high standards that wouldn't speak recklessly, she agreed. After all, she had already been recognized, and hiding it would eventually lead to her being discovered.

Linni: "Then take pictures of us to make us look better."

"Should we take photos first or watch the movie first?"

Linni: "What movie do you want to watch?"

Luo Ashu pulled out a film festival schedule he had picked up from the airport: "Tonight is the premiere of director Wei Ming's 'The Spring of the Shepherd's Class,' which will be showing for another hour."

Vivian Chow: "Of course, it's watching a movie!"

When they arrived at the cinema, there were still ten minutes before the show started, and all the tickets were already sold out.

Wei Lingling, with her experience, said, "No need to rush, there will definitely be scalpers within ten meters of this kind of place."

Sure enough, when they saw four Asian faces loitering at the entrance of the cinema, a Frenchman with blond hair immediately walked over.

The man with the yellow hair raised his price on the spot: "100 yuan a piece."

Still in francs? That's an astronomical price.

Wei Lingling glanced at the reporter who looked eager: "Give me four."

"Sorry, there's only one left."

The last ticket was given to Vivian Chow, who immediately went through the ticket check and entered the venue after receiving it.

Wei Lingling then dragged Lin Ni to find a hotel, while Luo Ashu, unwilling to give up, waited outside the door, hoping to buy the tickets from the audience who left early so he could go in and watch the movie.

At film festivals, it's quite normal for ordinary viewers to leave early because the films are boring and tedious.

However, after waiting for ten minutes, twenty minutes, and half an hour, not a single person left early.

Are these foreigners really engrossed in watching this?

Zhou Huimin also got absorbed in the movie. Originally, she was thinking of finding Wei Ming first, but it was too dark in the hall and she couldn't see him, so she had to concentrate on watching the movie.

She was blown away from the very first minute of the movie. It was a drumbeat soundtrack that Hu Weili had tailored specifically for Chen Pipi, who was blocking the chimney. Listening to it was so carefree and energetic, it made her want to do something mischievous!
(End of this chapter)