Hollywood Drawing

"Nami, don't judge movies by your likes and dislikes!"

With a click, Wayne leaned on the sofa and lit a cigarette. Without even looking at the newspapers and magazines piled on the coffee table, he took a sip of coffee, raised his wrist and glanced at the time, and asked, "Nina, what else are you doing?" Not coming?"

"Not yet, but it should be soon." The assistant pushed up her glasses and shook her head slightly. "The time is running out, do you want to eat something first?"

Wayne crossed his legs and looked at the bright sunshine outside the floor-to-ceiling window. "Forget it, I don't have much appetite."

While several people were talking, the housekeeper Hela came down from upstairs, dragging a huge suitcase in her hand. Just like countless trips in the past, all of Wayne's personal belongings had to pass through the housekeeper's hands, and then Then let Nina arrange it when using it.

The promotional activities for "The Departed" will be carried out by Wayne and the crew. It is expected to take two weeks to fly through major cities in North America and then fly directly to Europe.

"Here is David Denbigh's film review. Do you want to listen?" Naomi Watsch leaned against Wayne next to her, shook off the "New Yorker" in her hand, and then pointed the newspaper at the person next to her. Stroller, said naughtily, "Look, little Fundy, your dad's movie is showing again. Do you want to hear it? Do you want mom to read it to you?"

"Hey, she doesn't understand that right now."

Wayne rolled his eyes and glanced at his daughter playing with his fingers in the stroller. He instantly felt that his heart was about to melt. The little guy's eyes widened and he looked at his father and grinned.

The Australian actress ignored the sweet interaction between their father and daughter and deliberately cleared her throat. ""The Departed" is a Greenberg-style movie through and through. I would like to remind the majority of movie fans who plan to watch the movie that for most Greenberg-style movies, we cannot ignore the religious aspect, otherwise there will be difficulties in understanding it. missing.

Greenberg maintains a consistent realism style in this film. From the rough fight documentary at the beginning and Castro's narration, you can clearly understand the unique immigrant culture of Boston, North America, which brings out racial conflicts, gangs , violence and other regional and social descriptions of characters.

I want to emphasize here that realism does not necessarily mean being close to reality. It should be said that it is more realistic than other styles. However, no matter how close a movie is to reality, it does not mean it is good. In the same way, the lack of sensationalism and melancholy does not mean that a movie is not good.

To measure whether an art form or artistic style is outstanding, we should not just look at how many eye-catching skills and creativity it has to show off, but whether it can be the most appropriate form and style to reflect a specific theme and content. , thus reflecting the value.

Let's think about it, what story style could represent a Greenbergian gangster character more effectively than realism? Like Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs," "The Departed" is a stylized gangster movie where the characters' dialogue is as violent as their actions.

The flavor of the whole film is violence, cruelty and pathos. A tone like this, which is extremely honest in terms of formal aesthetics, is close to the film's purpose of being on the edge of reality in the eyes of ordinary people. So the fact that the characters are so foul-mouthed feels more true to who they are, rather than being vulgar for the sake of being vulgar.

I have to say that this is a typical gangster film with violent aesthetics. Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" has taught many people how to be a man. "The Departed" by Wayne Greenberg tells you how cruel the struggle between men is.

As a much-anticipated conscientious production this summer, Wayne Greenberg did not disappoint. This "The Departed" can be rated 9 points from me. I recommend that all gangster film lovers or all men go to the theater. Watch this great work again.

Missing "The Departed" will be your biggest loss this summer. David Denbigh. "

"Wow even."

The assistant lady exclaimed exaggeratedly, looked at Wayne, raised her eyebrows, and said jokingly, "Boss, look, you patiently accepted the guidance of this film critic, and it was really helpful. In my memory, David Denbigh rarely gives such a high rating to a movie, right? What’s more, he also strongly recommended your movie to fans!"

To this day, Nina still remembers the scene where the famous film critic was at the cocktail party last night, instructing her boss on how to make a movie. Although this seemed ironic to outsiders, the effect was particularly good. Watch it. , early this morning, the film critic began to praise it eagerly.

In fact, both women present knew that if it weren't for the professional ratings of "The Departed" during the awards season, Wayne would never bother to listen to the other's chatter.

To be honest, let alone a small film critic, there are not many people in the world who can teach him about filmmaking. He can hold his nose and listen to the other person's self-feeling talk for a long time. , which is already a very compromised result.

"Okay, although I need them to put in a good word for me now." Wayne shook his head and put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray. "However, in my heart, I still haven't changed my view of them."

All this time, in his heart, he has never valued or recognized the profession of film critic. Each of these people has their own newspaper column and recommends movies to movie fans in the name of guiding the film industry. In fact, they can't direct anyone.

The art that this group usually recognizes is almost always contrary to the popular movie fans, as if if they don't do this, they can't reflect their unique art.

A group with only a few hundred people in North America, can they represent the real needs of movie fans? They can't. A group of people who only watch movies and then use vitriolic language to gain attention, can they guide movie directors? Neither can they.

In Wayne's heart, he has never been very cold about this group, because he knows that in a dozen years, this group will disappear in the Internet wave, and it will be difficult for the right to speak to be as important as it is now. .

When ordinary people can find channels to express their opinions, then everyone can express their own opinions, and everyone is a film critic. The Internet will severely tear off the last fig leaf of this group.

"Click. Click. Click."

The sound of the fax machine rang at the right time. Before Nina could react, Naomi Watts immediately stood up and walked over. The statistics that Wayne had been waiting for all morning finally came.

Compared with those vain film reviews and media reports, this is what he cares about most.

"That's right, the statistics Warner Bros. sent over."

After being together for so long, Naomi Watts understood what Wayne cared about most. After sitting back on the sofa, she immediately looked at the fax paper and started reading.

"Warner Bros. commissioned a third-party survey company to distribute a total of 20,000 questionnaires last night. The questionnaires returned showed that the audience's favorable rating in advance last night was 78%, and the overall audience score was A. "

The Australian actress' voice became softer and quieter. She raised her head and secretly observed Wayne's face, and found that he did not reveal any obvious dissatisfaction. He just lit another cigarette and breathed a sigh of relief.

The reason is very simple. This "The Departed" has the lowest early audience reputation among all Wayne's works since his first film "Happy Death Day". His movies have always relied on strong storytelling and audience empathy. Even with large-scale shots, many viewers have never expressed dissatisfaction.

"Let's talk about the box office first." Wayne said as he relaxed on the sofa, "Did the box office performance meet expectations?"

"The three major theater chains, led by AC, Imperial Cinemas and National Artists Cinema Chain, have opened about 3,200 advance screenings for "The Departed." According to preliminary statistics, the film has grossed about US$6.54 million in box office in North America. Already exceeded Warner Bros.'s $5.5 million estimate."

"Hmm, not bad." Wayne nodded slightly. Although he knew that the early box office was affected by many off-site factors, this number could at least ensure that the film's first-day box office would not be too ugly. "It's much higher than I expected."

Starting from this morning, the film has officially entered a large-scale public release. Throughout North America, most of the fans who were able to enter the theater last night are probably fans of the three male protagonists, as well as supporters of Wayne's own fan organization. .

This group of people who are willing to watch the movie in advance will probably not be willing to give the movie too low a score. Therefore, this statistical report can only be used as a reference. The specific market potential of the movie still has to wait until the box office is released on the first day. Only then can you see it.

Seeing that he was relatively satisfied, Naomi Watts quietly breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, she could not help but guess that Wayne's inner market expectations for this film, which was mainly used for Oscar competition, were not as high as his other works.

"What about other specific statistics?"

The Australian actress quickly looked at the fax again and continued, "The distribution department of Warner Bros. analyzed that "The Departed" has a tendency of polarizing audience reviews. They specifically checked the opinions of fans in multiple questionnaires."

"Polarizing?" Wayne exhaled a large cloud of smoke helplessly. He had expected this result. After all, the scale of the film was there, and some fans must not be able to accept it.

"Yes, the returned questionnaire showed that about 78% of the movie fans gave the film a score of A or above, and the remaining more than 15% gave the film a score of C or below. , the distribution department of Warner Bros. analyzed that this is a typical love story, and those who don’t love it may even feel disgusted because of the film’s excessive scale.”