I’m a Director, I’m Not Bad

Chapter 784 781. Fake Kung Fu

(This chapter only has more than 3,000 words and less than 4,000. There was a power outage. I was originally notified that the power would go out at 12 o'clock, but it turned out to be an hour early and I didn't finish it. It was embarrassing... but luckily, I finished writing a plot paragraph. ~)

September 10th at 7:30 in the morning.

Xu Xin boarded a plane to Venice.

The entourage seemed very streamlined this time, just him, Su Meng, and Ai Qing, who came here specially to serve as translator.

Just three people.

The plane seemed unusually spacious.

The time difference between Venice and China is 6 hours.

The time of flight to Venice is probably between 8 pm and 9 pm in China and around 2 to 3 pm in Venice.

The flight takes 13 hours.

And the crew finally ushered in a long vacation.

Starting on the 10th and continuing until the 14th.

Leave for 4 days.

Because the director won’t be back until the 14th.

Just yesterday, Xu Xin received a very official call.

Invitation from the Chinese Embassy in Italy.

Invite him to participate in an important event of the Chinese Cultural Year on the 13th. The reason why I found him was because this year’s China Cultural Year was jointly organized by Venice and China. The traditional Venetian boating “gondola” carried two erhu envoys, and the symbols of the two ancient civilizations were merged together. It constitutes the traditional activity of Italy’s “Chinese Culture Year”.

On the 13th, the day after the film festival ends, a cultural performance of China-Italy friendship will be held at the Colosseum in Rome.

He attended as a guest.

If you don't refuse, Xu Xin will definitely not refuse.

Therefore, he will stay in Rome for one day on the 13th and return home on the 14th.

But this time it was not an invitation from China, but an invitation from Italy to the Chinese Embassy, ​​inviting him to come.

When Xu Xin received the news, he was actually confused.

Because he really couldn't understand...how he could have so much energy after just eating a pizza.

Is he really the biological son of an Italian grandmother?

Inexplicably, he and Italy were "tied" together.

It's really fantasy.

…

At around 2 o'clock in the afternoon in Italy, Xu Xin walked out of Marco Polo Airport in Venice.

Not to mention... Although he felt that his relationship with Italy was very mysterious, looking at the buildings in his memory now, he really felt like he was back in his "second hometown".

Quite strange.

With this feeling, he got into the vehicle sent by Volvo to pick him up and rushed directly to the hotel where he was staying.

Along the way, Ai Qing was like a conscientious tour guide... Although she had taken Xu Xin to many places last time, she was still introducing him to some of the unique sights of Venice.

After arriving at the hotel, he immediately found the person in charge of the Venice Film Festival to report.

As the presenter of the Silver Lion Award for Best Director and the winner of the previous edition, the level of reception he received this time was obviously a notch higher than last time.

Last time it was just the most ordinary guest room.

But this time it was a large suite.

After arriving in the room and finishing all the things like sorting out the clothes, he took Su Meng and Ai Qing and rushed to a theater called "Sala Giardino" without stopping.

In fact, to be honest, the scale is different from the multi-theater joint screening like Cannes.

Compared with Cannes, the Venice Film Festival is quite "small" in terms of screening scale.

During the entire film festival, in addition to screening halls like the Sala Giardino, there are screening halls such as university auditoriums.

Among the screening halls, the largest ones are definitely the White Cinema Palace and the Phoenix Opera House. Screening halls like Sala Giardino have only one hall, showing non-competition films around the clock.

The main reason why Xu Xin was in such a hurry was that at 3:55 pm, the movie "Trace of the Japanese Pirates" would be screened here.

He hasn't contacted Lao Xu yet and plans to watch the movie first.

When buying tickets, Ai Qing took a look at the program list and said to Xu Xin:

"Director Xu, after "Trace of the Japanese Pirates", there is "Flower", directed by Lou Ye."

"Lou Ye?"

Xu Xin was stunned.

After thinking for a while, he nodded:

"buy it."

"good."

Ai Qing directly bought two consecutive movie tickets, and then pointed to the pizza stall at the door:

"Director Xu, do you want to try it?"

"Walk."

Xu Xin nodded.

Now that we are here, we must give you the face-saving projects that are due.

So, at 10 o'clock in the evening in China, Xu Xin's Weibo was updated with a photo of him folding a 7-inch pizza in half and giving a thumbs up to the camera while he was feasting on it.

There is also a paragraph of text:

“Perfetto Margherita pizza! It’s so delicious, I can’t wait to eat it every day! The old Italian Margherita pizza is so authentic!”

Ai Qing helped him beat the first part of this sentence, but he blushed after finishing the second part.

I thought in my heart that for the sake of friendship between China and Italy, we Lao Xu had to sacrifice our appearance.

After posting on Weibo, he ignored it.

After eating the pizza that actually tasted really good at the door, the three of them walked into the theater together.

Before the movie started, he looked around.

Maybe because this is a Horizon film.

Maybe it's because the film festival is coming to an end.

All in all, attendance was not particularly high.

At most one-third of the people were seated in a screening room.

Sparse.

Soon the lights dimmed and the movie started.

There is only one dragon mark.

This is normal. The fact that the film was received in Venice shows that Xu must also want to be recognized in Europe and the United States. The absence of a distributor's label means that the film has not been sold yet, and the film company can then negotiate with him.

Moreover, his film does not have a distributor.

Headwinds are only for investment, but not for issuance.

This was the reason why she asked herself whether this film should be released in Xiying Film Studio.

Put it in the factory, and the factory will naturally take over the issue.

But the problem is... when this film was first invested, Lao Xu and Yang Mi talked about the filming concept of this film.

He wants to restore a real martial arts world to the audience.

There are no heroes flying over the cliffs, nor are all heroes born handsome and elegant.

The real martial arts world is like an existence constructed in the green forest of bandits and bandits... an existence that is relatively acceptable to ordinary people.

If you say this person is a bandit, then he must not be a good person.

But if you want to say that this person is a member of the world, and even has a so-called nickname... then he is not necessarily a good person.

That's it.

Therefore, he had no idea whether the film studio should distribute it or not.

After all, he doesn't know yet whether it looks good or not.

Just as I was thinking about it, a field of reeds appeared in the picture.

On the right side of the reed marsh are two men wearing bamboo hats and holding long sticks in their hands.

The picture is still, without wind or waves.

For a moment, Xu Xin even thought the disc was stuck.

Until he heard footsteps.

On the left side of the screen, a group of people dressed in black and holding long knives appeared.

When these people appeared, one of them came forward holding a long knife, and one of the two men wearing bamboo hats on the right came up holding a long stick.

The long sword is upright and the long stick is horizontal.

After the two sides faced each other, there were no tricks like those in traditional martial arts movies, just "hum, ha" moves.

The man holding the long knife was lying on the ground...

Seeing this, Xu Xin scratched his chin.

Not to mention... Lao Xu really captured this "martial arts" style.

Speaking of which... the action director should be Yu Lao, right?

These two tricks seem simple...but quite fresh.

They are all in the kind of posture that can knock them down with one move.

All of a sudden, the flavor that is different from traditional martial arts movies came out.

He nodded slightly.

Not bad, at least I can attract myself at the beginning.

but……

As time passed, he gradually frowned.

There was a hint of evaluation from the bottom of my heart:

"It's nothing but drama."

Yes, this film is full of a very twisted flavor.

Very stiff and uncomfortable.

He could feel that Xu wanted to express the tone of the film in a way similar to black humor.

For example, Qiu Dongyue, the world's best master, is the old man played by Yu Lao. He is considered the best martial arts master in the world, but he was knocked down by a long machine stick of a dancer.

The posture lying on the ground is quite funny.

Or maybe the world's best master couldn't control his concubine, and the concubine actually had an affair with someone else...

Also, although he was old and acted like he was retiring to the mountains and forests, he was afraid of being forgotten, so he secretly dyed his beard black to give people the illusion of being "not old"...

Everything seems absurd.

If you really use a mature way of expression, that would be okay.

The problem is... Lao Xu wants too many things.

It was too full, so nothing was done well.

However, what needs to be said needs to be said.

The martial arts scene...perhaps because he knew the "real martial arts" in advance, his acceptance level was quite high.

Especially in the last section, the fight scene between Qiu Dongyue and Liang Henlu was like dancing.

He watched with gusto.

But that's all.

After the movie ended, the crowd began to leave one after another.

Sparse.

There was no applause or much encouragement.

Of course, there were no boos.

Xu Xin sat still because he had a second game.

First, he turned his head and glanced at Su Meng, who was sleeping soundly next to him. He shook his head as if he hated iron, and asked Ai Qing in a low voice:

"how are you feeling?"

As a foreign friend, Ai Qing naturally has the right to speak.

Maybe even more objective than the Chinese people who grew up watching these Kung Fu movies.

And her evaluation is...

"I... don't understand. I think this should involve some issues of values ​​​​of the Chinese people, such as... the seventh general, I don't know who he is. I don't understand why paper is used to make armor... …Is it because the Ming Dynasty was very poor? It was very corrupt?…Anyway, this movie gave me a lot of doubts, and I felt that I needed to take a refresher course on the history of the Chinese dynasty. But…there is one thing I feel.”

"What?"

Xu Xin thought she would say something like "the charm of kung fu".

But I heard this sentence:

"This male protagonist is a very sad person. I don't mean that he was defeated in the end, but... he inherited the last wish of the Seventh General, right? The Seventh General is a general. It sounds like he is still fighting against Japan. He is a human hero. The martial arts and improved weapons created by this hero are all to protect his people. But everyone does not recognize him. Even in the end, the legacy he left behind cannot be seen in those... In the hands of soldiers who continue to defend the people, he has to bow to civilian forces in order to pass on his legacy... This is a very sad thing."

"..."

Xu Xin was startled.

Then he showed a thoughtful look.

After thinking for a while, he asked again:

"Then what do you think of the effort involved..."

"It's fake, right?"

"..."

Hearing this, Xu Xin's mouth twitched.

I saw this foreigner’s eyes full of yearning:

"This is fake kung fu, isn't it, director! Real kung fu requires the ability to fly and walk on water! His kind is fictitious, isn't it! It's not real kung fu!"

"Well……"

For a moment, Xu Xin was speechless.

It's like he couldn't bear to expose a "girl's" dream of spring.

After thinking for a while, he nodded:

"Well, you're right."