Generation Z Artists

Chapter 299 A Deadly Shot

The plot unfolds with many twists and turns.

After a big argument with her grandmother, Chen Nian's mother left with the last of the family's cash.

Chen Nian did not show hatred; she simply leaned against the wall, looking lost and desperate.

Grandma's temper worsened, and she radiated endless resentment.

Chen Nian dared not talk back, much less cry, and clumsily did all sorts of housework, but she still couldn't please her grandmother.

"Put it down! What's the point of all this? You'll only be useful if you get into a good university!"

Through various groundwork laid, foreign audiences have gained a deep understanding of the significance of China's college entrance examination and realized that this fragile nation needs new hope to sustain it.

That hope was precisely Chen Nian's achievement.

Despite her own exhaustion and pain from illness, Grandma took on the responsibility of caring for Chen Nian.

She didn't do a good enough job, but her expectations were extremely high.

This relationship reflects a profound reality—the failed elder can only breathe under the heavy pressure of reality by manipulating the only remaining family authority.

But where is Chen Nian's breathing space?

She was still being bullied at school.

At home, she didn't even dare to mention it—in fact, she had mentioned it once, but her grandmother and mother's indifference hurt her.

"Why would they bully you if you didn't provoke them?"

"It takes two to tango. Don't you have any problems at all?"

"What time is it? You still have time to do things other than studying!"

"They won't dare do anything at school, just ignore them!"

Her mother and grandmother used her situation to subtly criticize and compete with each other, and no one cared about her mental state at all.

Or rather, in this family, everyone's mental state is teetering on the brink of collapse.

So when the chubby girl broke her lip, she instinctively resisted going home. She knew how her grandmother would react, and she didn't want to face that again.

Can I stay at your house for a few days?

"No..." Zhang Xiaobei's subconscious refusal froze in Chen Nian's lifeless eyes. "Fine, come on, as long as you don't mind the mess."

A glimmer of light suddenly flashed in Chen Nian's dull eyes.

"It's okay! All I need is a desk to study at; I can sleep on the sofa!"

Liu Yifei's acting skills are far from sufficient, but during the filming of this scene, she had already moved into a small room in the corner of the hotel. Facing rejection from the entire crew every day, she genuinely longed for the peace and quiet of her little nest.

Therefore, Chen Nian also genuinely and urgently longed for it, which caused her slightly childish voice to be deformed just right.

Awesome!

She acted wonderfully!
The three female judges became increasingly involved and praised Liu Yifei's acting skills.

But this was just the beginning of her extraordinary success.

……

Zhang Xiaobei started picking up and dropping off Chen Nian every day.

Wei Lai followed Chen Nian out and was immediately drawn to Zhang Xiaobei the moment she saw him.

"Who is that?"

Wei Lai's pupils dilated, her cheeks flushed, and she subconsciously pursed her lips.

However, the judges did not praise her performance because they believed it was a genuine reaction—as expected.

Which little girl could resist Fang Xinghe's charm?

Therefore, it was only natural that more intense conflicts would follow.

"What makes you think you deserve Brother Xiao Bei's help?"

Wei Lai tried to get close to Zhang Xiaobei, but was rejected without mercy and even received a warning to "not bother Chen Nian anymore".

Jealousy burned fiercely, causing Wei Lai to gradually cross that line.

She hired some thugs from the factory area in an attempt to tame Zhang Xiaobei, this wild horse, and sabotage their intimate relationship.

then……

Zhang Xiaobei completely exploded.

This is Zhang Xiaobei's third fight scene, and it's also Fang Xinghe's highlight moment where he fully showcases his acting skills.

First-person perspective shot: Yellow Hair and Red Hair stand on either side of Chen Nian, teasing her with laughter, while Huang Bo, playing the gang leader, sits on the railing, smoking arrogantly.

To use an analogy from online articles, this is the director stirring up hatred.

However, in standard cinematic language, the situation wasn't actually that tense; it was just that the three thugs seemed particularly despicable.

This was also Fang Xinghe's deliberate choice—in broad daylight, the thugs wouldn't dare to really do anything to Chen Nian, so the scene lacked a sense of crisis and wasn't exciting enough.

However, even with this relatively mild provocation, Zhang Xiaobei instantly flew into a rage.

Fang Xinghe used a semi-circular moving shooting technique here, moving closer to the focal point and then further away from the axis.

Initially, the camera followed Zhang Xiaobei from behind, showing him running hurriedly with unsteady steps.

Then, the moment he saw his surroundings clearly, he stopped in his tracks.

Then, he started again and walked straight toward the thugs.

At the very moment of restarting, Fang Xinghe used a technique from the Tiger-style training.

His muscles tensed, his steps became heavier, his spine instantly straightened, his shoulders and back relaxed, and he seemed to grow three times taller in an instant, with a fierce aura bursting forth.

After completing this stretch, the shoulders are pulled inward again, the back is slightly arched, and the body changes from relaxed to contracted.

At the same time, he pulled his right hand out of his trouser pocket—gripping a dagger tightly.

With each contraction and expansion, it was as if Zhang Xiaobei had unleashed a ferocious beast.

Zhang is stretching his body, Shou is preparing to attack.

This is no ordinary wild beast; it's a tiger.

A tiger's anger is never a grand display of bravado. As is well known, all felines will exercise extreme restraint before hunting. This does not mean they are not dangerous; on the contrary, this is the most terrifying danger.

Humans have long lost their awareness of such dangers, but under certain circumstances, it can be reawakened.

This 30-degree circular close-up, from the back to the oblique side, under Fang Xinghe's physical control, highlights an intensity that can be perceived by ordinary viewers.

The background sound of this scene is Zhang Xiaobei's increasingly rapid heartbeat.

When the camera panned to a 45-degree angle, revealing part of Zhang Xiaobei's profile, the audience held their breath even more intently.

The muscles under the boy's cheeks twitched slightly, and veins bulged on his neck.

A 60-degree angle, the camera zooms in.

The boy's ears turned slightly red.

90-degree angle, close-up.

The veins around the boy's temples throbbed.

Cut the camera to an over-the-shoulder shot of the thugs.

Huang Bo's eyes widened, and the half-smoked cigarette fell out of his mouth.

Then the camera cuts to a close-up of Zhang Xiaobei's face.

The boy's eyes were bloodshot, filled with murderous intent. Suddenly, he charged forward and crashed into the frame. Cut to wide shot.

Zhang Xiaobei grabbed a dagger and rushed forward, raising his hand to stab!
"Fuck your mother!"

Huang Bo was so frightened that he fell off the railing. Huang Mao instinctively swung a steel pipe, while Hong Mao had to turn around first and couldn't react in time, so he was suddenly bumped into Zhang Xiaobei's arms.

The intense but brief fight scene ended cleanly and decisively within 8 seconds.

The three thugs swung their clubs haphazardly a few times, then fled in disarray under Xiao Bei's blood-stained dagger.

This tactic of treating human life as worthless is far too extreme for thugs.

Once they were far away, Zhang Xiaobei quickly deflated, his shoulders slumped, and he breathed heavily, his vest soon soaked with sweat.

The moment the tense fight scene ended, a collective sigh of relief filled the hall.

"Mrs……"

Carlo Poggio rubbed his face vigorously, unable to describe it for a long time.

Compared to the spectacular fight scenes in "Hero", this fight scene is obviously too childish.

But it is so real that it is violent enough.

This is the maximum fighting power that an ordinary teenager who has not learned combat skills can unleash.

Using weapons, summoning all their courage, they bit, entangled, and swapped...

Rather than praising this fight scene as thrilling and exciting, it's better to describe it as an ultimate display of power—a profile of a young man who, with the aim of protecting others, burns himself out, unleashes a beast, and then is utterly exhausted.

Stephen Hunter wrote with sparks from the tip of his pen.

"SR used the most exquisite physical control to complete the most clumsy fight scene."

A marginalized teenager in the city, relying on his ruthlessness, fought off three adult thugs by exchanging blows.

This wouldn't be a highlight in any other film, but in "Better Days," it shines with indescribable brilliance..."

Meg Ryan, on the other hand, continues to write about love.

"Zhang Xiaobei lost his temper when he shouldn't have been so angry, which means he has come to regard Chen Nian as a more important person."

The director didn't directly depict the escalation of their relationship. Zhang Xiaobei remained reserved, aloof, closed off, and distant in his interactions with Chen Nian. But at this moment, we don't need the saccharine eye contact and smiles typical of romantic movies to deeply understand that their bond has reached a new level…

Aishwarya Rai focused on Fang Xinghe's acting skills.

"Incredible body control! My God! I can't believe that an actor can portray such intense anger with just a silhouette and some physical movements! And his micro-expressions! He's a genius actor!"

The Indian actress was frightened.

Bollywood actors actually pay a lot of attention to physical control because they have to do a dance from time to time in any movie they're filming, so... you know what I mean.

However, Bollywood's physical control is clearly a different matter.

Or rather, the physical control of actors worldwide is not the same as the self-torture training that arose from the brutal drama genre.

Fang Xinghe practiced whenever he had time, and with his maxed-out coordination and flexibility, he had stacked the Grice training method to 95 points, which was obviously abnormal.

However, no one had realized it before.

Now, he's testing the waters with a performance that has no lines whatsoever, giving the Cannes artists a major shock.

"Wow……"

The hall was filled with gasps of surprise; those in the know were all dumbfounded.

They don't yet have a clear idea of ​​how many points they would give the entire film.

Fang Xinghe's acting skills did indeed frighten many people.

Ordinary viewers might think that anger is the easiest emotion to act out, since everyone has been angry before.

However, only those who have systematically studied acting can understand that shallow anger, genuine anger, controllable anger, and controllable anger that takes into account details belong to four levels.

Real anger means complete loss of control, and it's not necessarily better or more impactful to put in a movie.

Reality doesn't need logic, let alone layers, but movies do.

At the very least, in this part of the story, the director needs to show a kind of anger that is layered and infectious enough, so that the audience can realize the subtle changes in the protagonist's heart.

If you express it as uncontrolled, genuine anger, it will be too erratic, too crazy, and too excessive.

If the performance lacks sufficient layers and the presentation is not precise enough, it will appear too stiff, too fake, and too unrealistic.

Acting is a skill that serves the plot, and the final presentation determines everything. In this scene, Fang Xinghe's performance was neither empty nor overly filled, which was extremely frightening.

President Patrice highlighted this point—

"To deliver a performance that is both technically brilliant and natural is noteworthy."

……

Then, starting from this scene, setting aside the plot, the male and female leads seemed to have unlocked a superpower, showcasing their acting skills at an all-time high.

Xiao Bei's violence caused Chen Nian to argue with him.

The smugness and joy in Xiao Bei's eyes instantly turned into disappointment and grievance, which vanished in a flash.

He, who had softened, regained his coldness and hardness.

After Fang Xinghe finished showcasing his acting skills, Liu Yifei immediately followed suit.

She also felt wronged by Zhang Xiaobei's lack of understanding, but in addition to feeling wronged, she also felt flustered, which eventually turned into a cautious attempt to please him.

As she took small, quick steps to catch up and gently tugged at Xiao Bei's clothes, the wind blew from the front, and the camera panned from the side to her shivering shoulders, making her look just like a homeless, sickly kitten.

After arriving home, an unspoken silence ensued.

Zhang Xiaobei took off his coat and began tending to his injuries.

"Let me apply the medicine for you..."

The girl's face was expressionless, concealing her panic. Her eyes darted around, a mixture of guilt and shyness, courage and hope coexisting.

Zhang Xiaobei suddenly lifted his lowered eyelids, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and he turned his head away nonchalantly, giving a dismissive "hmm".

But under the cold, hard side lighting, the face, which was half-hidden in the shadows, inexplicably softened in the eyes of the audience.

It's a kind of localized imaginative space that combines contrast and contradiction, where the facial muscles are completely relaxed but only a small part is exposed in the picture.

The cold, hard, and gloomy feeling created by the side-top lighting is the canvas, while Zhang Xiaobei's soft lines are the brushstrokes, and Chen Nian's careful movements and distressed frowns are the colors. The three are like a perfect match.

This is a visually stunning effect created by a combination of superb filming techniques and top-notch acting skills.

Director Fang + Actor Fang, absolutely amazing.

The room was completely quiet.

Chen Nian's focused profile and Zhang Xiaobei's soft breathing intertwined, creating an extremely harmonious...atmosphere.

Yes, there were no extra sounds or distracting lines; it was a kind of tranquility that belonged only to the two of them, contained within the small room.

This scene was so beautiful, and it was all the more precious in the context of the whole film.

God knows how many female viewers had maternal smiles on their faces. Shipping couples is a new term that came about later, but similar behaviors have existed since ancient times.

A perfect couple, their innocent and cautious touch blossoms into an unconventional and pure love—who wouldn't love that?

Westerners are simply not used to this kind of subtlety, not that they cannot understand this kind of vague and subtle emotion.

Their teen films also include classics that are handled in a refreshing way, such as "Flipped," "The Fault in Our Stars," and "First Love," all of which have caused a sensation around the world.

These classics haven't been filmed yet, but "Young You" has taken the lead and fired the first shot in the realm of beautiful and pure love.

A deadly shot that struck the audience's heart.

(End of this chapter)