Nobody knows movies better than me

Chapter 88 Year-End

Although the story of the movie "The Promise" left the audience confused, the film's visuals were exquisite, and it featured a large number of handsome men and beautiful women.

With Chen Gezi's immense reputation, this film initially exuded an invincible aura.

As of December 21, before the release of "Sherlock on the Plains," "The Promise" had already grossed 7452 million yuan at the box office, which can be considered a success.

However, the film also received widespread negative reviews.

The Southern Metropolis Daily stated, "The film's script is mediocre, lacking in detail and foreshadowing, making the characters exceptionally pale."

The emotional expressions thus appear affected and fake, and the more affectionate the dialogue, the more laughable it becomes.

Although the theme of the curse of fate is very grand, and some passages do indeed have the artistic conception of Eastern culture.

Overall, however, it's a rather mediocre film.

The Beijing News also stated: "The film's narrative is so arbitrary and capricious, constantly changing direction, with necessary elements missing, and the characters' desires and actions being vague or hesitant, that it makes the audience suffer greatly while watching the film and remain in a state of confusion."

When viewers can't keep up with the film's chaotic and unpredictable pace, it's not necessarily a problem with their imagination; more likely, it's because the director himself hasn't provided enough imaginative solutions to the problems.

Instead, they shifted all the trouble onto the audience in a condescending manner that seemed to come from nowhere.

The film's visual imagery is rather crude, with its passionate depictions of mountains and rivers repeatedly radiating outwards from a central point.

A uniformly orderly army without faces, and elders with expressionless faces and identical clothing, like puppets.

This includes the fact that there are no extraneous characters in the film, no scenes of daily life or everyday life, and not a single sound or disturbance.

The internet is also flooded with negative reviews, with comments such as "I don't understand it," "The plot is obscure," and "It's good for nothing except for handsome men and beautiful women."

At first, some moviegoers didn't understand the film and thought it was their own problem, but later, after discussing it online, they realized that it wasn't their problem at all.

When a movie receives negative reviews from most viewers, it is undoubtedly a bad movie, regardless of its artistic merit.

However, Chen Gezi's friends in the cultural circles helped out and gave the film positive reviews.

For example, Yin Hong, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, commented with a condescending attitude: "The film's poetic style, poetic brilliance, grand theme, spectacular visuals, and stunning scenes..."

The twists and turns of the story make it a rare gem in 21st-century cinema.

This is why the film has received high praise during its overseas previews.

As for ordinary Chinese viewers, it remains to be seen whether they can temporarily set aside their long-standing habit of watching melodramas and accept and appreciate the unconventional beauty of this film.

This may not only be a test for the film itself, but also a challenge to the viewing habits and tastes of the audience.

The subtext of this statement is that the audience lacks the level of artistic appreciation and is rather foolish, so the film's poor reviews are not the film's fault.

Similarly, Chen Gezi also understood it this way.

During a roadshow, Chen Gezi said, "Most viewers may not understand the movie 'The Promise' for another twenty years."

Chen Gezi didn't know that twenty years later, "The Promise" would still not be understood by many people. However, there would be too many bad movies by then, so "The Promise" wouldn't be as bad as it was.

Fan Bingbing was very interested in the topic of "The Promise," mainly because she admired the female lead, Cecilia Cheung. Although she didn't understand "The Promise," she couldn't resist its box office success.

With "The Promise" about to surpass 100 million yuan at the box office, Fan Bingbing was naturally very jealous of Cecilia Cheung, who was the lead actress.

If a movie in which you play the lead role grosses over 100 million yuan, your status will rise significantly.

In response, Zhang Jun said, "Our new movie is also expected to gross over 100 million yuan. Although you are not the female lead, it still helped."

And I remember you collaborated with Andy Lau on a movie called "A Battle of Wits"? What happened to that movie?

Fan Bingbing replied, "I heard it won't be released until next year. Apparently, there were some problems with post-production, or maybe it's to avoid the competition from 'The Promise'."

"next year?"

Zhang Jun chuckled: "Next year won't be a good time, there will be a bunch of period dramas coming out in droves."

There's my film "Reign of Assassins," Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower," and Feng Xiaogang's "The Banquet."

None of them look like they should be messed with.

"Are you that confident?" Fan Pangbing looked at Zhang Jun's handsome face.

Zhang Jun expressed great confidence: "I'm young, and young people should be confident. Otherwise, if you get discouraged when facing the older generation, how can you make movies?"

That makes sense, but if you add up both lifetimes, Zhang Jun isn't actually that young anymore.

For some reason, Fan Bingbing always felt that Zhang Jun had a strange kind of overconfidence, and Gao Yuanyuan felt this most clearly.

Gao Yuanyuan and Zhang Jun met at the Cannes Film Festival.

Gao Yuanyuan observed that other Chinese filmmakers always seemed to unconsciously appear inferior and trembling with fear when meeting foreigners.

But Zhang Jun is different!

He spoke with confidence, neither humble nor arrogant, and he didn't seem to feel inferior in front of foreigners. Gao Yuanyuan could even sense the disdain in his eyes for foreigners.

Gao Yuanyuan didn't understand, but she didn't ask Zhang Jun where this confidence came from.

It's actually quite simple. Neither of the two women could have guessed that Zhang Jun came from an era of overflowing national self-confidence.

In his previous life, he was born in 2008, just as the entire nation experienced a period of rising self-confidence. Even after traveling back in time, that subconscious confidence returned with him.

People in this era, especially when it comes to things involving foreigners.

For example, when making a film for one of the three major European awards, people usually think about how foreigners will view their film.

Zhang Jun is different; when he makes a film, he only considers the fundamental question: how will the audience react?

The difference in mindset between these two is like night and day. This is why Zhang Jun was so bold as to swindle money from foreigners and refuse to do anything for them, ultimately leading to the creation of "Sherlock on the Plains".

On the eve of the release of "Sherlock on the Plains", Zhang Jun asked Ye Bingcheng to contact Pierre.

Business people always have connections they can use to reach people, even if it's a roundabout way. After all, there has been a lot of foreign investment entering China in recent years, and there has been some cooperation with Ye Bingcheng.

Zhang Jun plans to deliver "Sherlock on the Plains" as a token of his commitment, and even said he would participate in next year's Cannes Film Festival.

Hopefully, Pierre will pull some strings to get this film nominated for the main competition.

According to the information relayed by Ye Bingcheng, Pierre was quite angry. This was because Zhang Jun, unfazed by his threats, had simply run away.

They're not stupid; of course they know Zhang Jun tricked them.

A mere 1.5 million euros is nothing, but the key point is that it made Pierre lose face in high society.

Pierre was furious at losing face.

If it weren't for China's strict controls and Zhang Jun's status as a celebrity, he probably would have wanted to have Zhang Jun kidnapped and brought back from China.

Ye Xiaoyi, who helped Zhang Jun, naturally fell within Pierre's sphere of revenge.

However, Ye Bingcheng still values ​​his daughter's safety very much. Even without Pierre's incident, he would have sent security guards to protect his daughter.

The people he sent were all skilled individuals he recruited through connections within the military; foreign security companies handled the perimeter, while domestic ones were responsible for the interior.

Four bodyguards were also there to protect Ye Xiaoyi closely, surrounding her completely, which made the young lady very irritable.

When Ye Bingcheng came to Beijing to have dinner with Zhang Jun, they talked about this matter: "Xiao Yi was very unhappy, thinking that I restricted her personal freedom."

Zhang Jun said, "Actually, Uncle Ye, you don't have to do this."

The United States is a combination of heaven and hell. UCLA, where Xiaoyi studies, is not a place that just anyone can get into; there are very few dangerous individuals among them.

As long as you avoid Black communities or Hispanic areas, you'll be fine.

The more closely you watch over her, the more annoyed and curious Xiaoyi becomes, which is actually bad for her safety.

Ye Bingcheng nodded: "You're right. I'll give her a call later."

The two then talked about the movie theater industry.

Ye Bingcheng said, "I've already sent a team to North America to talk to IMAX. Does this company you're talking about really have that big a market?"

"There was at least a golden period of more than 20 years."

Zhang Jun said, "I heard that James Cameron is preparing a big project and plans to shoot it in IMAX 3D format."

With his abilities, this will be a work that is no less impressive than Titanic.

Uncle Ye, if your Chengxin Cinemas seizes this opportunity, it will be able to firmly establish itself in the cinema industry.

"So your movies won't have to worry about being suppressed by theaters anymore, right?" Ye Bingcheng said with a half-smile.

Zhang Jun did not deny it: "I have always thought there is something wrong with this system. How can someone be in charge of everything from production to the final screening?"

But that's reality, and we have no choice in the matter.

I don't have the capital myself, but I think that since Uncle Ye was willing to invest money in Xiaoyi to establish Guanzhi Film Industry, he certainly wouldn't sit idly by.

Moreover, the cinema chain is a big business, and Uncle Ye has countless capable people under him, so he must have already done his research and summarized it.

I also used this connection to ensure my own film was released smoothly, without having to beg and fawn over those old guard in the entertainment industry.

Zhang Jun spoke very frankly, and it was this honesty that earned Ye Bingcheng's appreciation.

On the way back to Tianjin, he exclaimed to his assistant, "A son should be like Zhang Jun! He's a real talent!"

The assistant's eyes lit up, and he suggested, "Boss, since that's the case, why not adopt Zhang Jun as your godson?"

"Godson?"

Ye Bingcheng squinted his eyes: "Let's talk about it later. I don't think Zhang Jun will be happy about it either."

On December 22, "Sherlock on the Plains," distributed by China Film Group and co-produced by Guanzhi Pictures, Benshan Media, and Zhang Jun's personal director studio, was officially released.

This film was written and directed by Zhang Jun, and stars Uncle Benshan, Fan Wei, Liu Peiqi, and others. Although the lingering influence of "The Promise" is still present, it won't have a significant impact on this film.

Putting aside everything else, Uncle Benshan's name is quite well-known in northern China, and many viewers do go to see the movies because of his reputation.

Uncle Benshan himself was very enthusiastic, and despite his busy schedule, he still took the time to participate in several movie-related events to support the film.