I’m a Director, I’m Not Bad

Facts have proven that as long as enough people are interested in something, and their subjective initiative is stimulated, Italians can live like China 996.

June 15th.

afternoon.

Roma Cinema, inside Studio 17.

Xu Xin sat in front of the monitor, accompanied by Pipo Mataro, a professional translator from the crew of Jia Zhangke's "I Am Li".

Hearing this name, even Xu Xin, who doesn't know much about football, knew that his name must be related to "Super Pippo".

I just don’t know if it’s a coincidence or intentional.

However, Xu Xin didn't know how Pippo was playing football, so there was no problem with the translation.

This is a top student from Peking University.

My major is Chinese and foreign literature.

Even some idioms can be translated appropriately.

Xu Xin, who has been directing the crew with him these days, feels much more at ease when he sees that everyone can understand his meaning accurately.

"Pippo, tell them that the shadows of the tableware on the table should not have such a strong contrast between light and dark, and then change to a set of goblets. These goblets are somewhat reflective under the light, which makes them uncomfortable to look at."

"Okay, director."

"Old Lin, if the saturation of the lens is lower, the texture will be a little blurry."

"Pippo told Andre that it should be more... life-like. The kitchen he decorated feels too model-like to me. Ask him what the kitchen in his home looks like, and just follow that."

"Okay, that's it."

Everything about the entire arrangement was carried out in an orderly manner under the command of Xu Xin.

This is the final finishing touch for the entire set, including light replacement, camera shots, etc., which will all be completed this afternoon.

Shooting will start directly in the evening.

In this film, Xu Xin adopted the most conventional narrative line.

That is to say, start from the beginning of the story and follow the timeline to the end.

There are no jumps or transitions, because all the stories are limited to a dinner party with friends, so it is shot according to the timeline of the story.

Moreover, since most of the stories this time took place on the dining table, the square dining table had to shoot everyone's expressions and demeanor when talking from four angles, so if it jumped too much, Xu Xin was worried that everyone would not be able to find the conversation. Rhythm.

In this kind of group portraits and small scene transitions, the actor's psychological activities and demeanor are actually much more important than other acting skills.

The main thing is nature.

When the time came to around 4 p.m., the two actors arrived first.

It's Jasmine and Marco.

The "Rockyva couple" in the story.

Xu Xin looked at the two people walking over carrying a large bag of things, and first stepped forward to say hello:

"CIAO."

Then his eyes fell on the plastic bags in their hands:

"This is……"

“Ingredients to entertain everyone.”

Jasmine said with a smile.

"Xu, this is our home, we can't let others cook dinner for us, right?"

"Well……"

This time, Xu Xin was really surprised.

"What are you going to do? Those are all props."

He pointed to the set in the kitchen.

Hearing this, Jasmine said a few words in Italian to the set designer Andre, and received a nod from the other party.

Then Marco took out a set of gas cans from the plastic bag.

"Just use this, director."

"That's...ok."

When Xu Xin saw this set of gas tanks, he realized that those prop gas stoves could be used with gas tanks.

But that's right.

If you really connect a gas pipe, it will be really troublesome.

Now that the two of them were here, Xu Xin took them directly to the kitchen.

Watch them take out all the ingredients one by one.

"This is for baking bread sticks. I'll bake some more later, Xu, I remember you like it very much."

Hearing Jasmin's words, Xu Xin nodded.

really.

Jasmine's toasted bread sticks are baked with butter and a sauce made from a very sweet syrup native to Italy, mixed with lemon.

It tastes sweet and fragrant.

"Cucumbers, carrots, these are used as appetizers. ...Aha, Marco, beautiful beef! ...Xu, tomatoes from Naples, let you try my grandma's unique recipe today!"

All kinds of ingredients are placed on the table.

It seems that today is a sumptuous meal for everyone.

In fact, this is fine.

Eating delicious food, these people are all friends, eliminating the strangeness between each other to the greatest extent.

but……

"Jesse, the cutting board is not here."

Seeing her and Marco standing side by side in front of the dining table, Xu Xin said something, and then moved the cutting board she took out to the other side of the rectangular dining table.

Jasmine was stunned:

"Not here?...Xu, this is very close to the gas stove. The food I prepared can be put into the pot at any time..."

"I know, but there is a wall between Locke and Eva."

Xu Xin pointed to the dining table in front of him:

"Not just here, but also when some of your conversations take place next..."

From the direction pointing to the dining table, it turned to those lattice windows, door frames, etc.

After making all the gestures, he said:

"I will use background to represent your mental state."

"Have we always been estranged?"

"Yes, until the end, Eva will come to your back and give you a hug. Only then will all the barriers disappear...including Casimo, whose background is always messy, and Pep, who The background is next to the window, which represents something he hides deep in his heart that he doesn’t want to express... Everything will be explained clearly in the background."

After hearing Xu Xin's words, the two of them looked at each other and nodded in unison:

"Understood."

"Well... then prepare the ingredients and remember to put on your makeup later."

"good."

Xu Xin left quickly, and at this time, Jasmine said to Marco:

"How is it? It's unusual, isn't it?"

Marco nodded equally:

"Quite a delicate thought."

"It's going to be a good movie, I promise."

Marco smiled slightly.

"Yeah, I believe it."

…

In fact, the story of "Perfect Strangers" is completely adapted from the last time Xu Xin had dinner at Jasmin's house.

Even the background characters are similar.

The connection of the story is also quite simple.

Locke, Lele, Casimo, and Pepe are friends who grew up together.

Locke is a plastic surgeon, Leler is a legal practitioner, Casimo is a taxi driver, and Pepe is a middle school physical education teacher.

Except for Pepe's divorce, the other three seem to have a relatively perfect family.

Locke's wife Eva is a psychiatrist, and their family is definitely an upper-middle-class family. She has abundant material conditions and a beautiful 17-year-old daughter. She looks very happy.

Leler and Carlotta have a 6-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old son. Carlotta is a full-time housewife.

Casimo and Bianca, on the other hand, were newly married and were among the most passionate newlyweds.

The three couples look perfect at first glance, but in fact, beneath the surface glamor, there are some troublesome cracks secretly.

For example, in the Locke family, Eva, as a mother, has a relationship with her grown-up daughter. She has a strong desire to control her daughter and will even secretly go through her daughter's backpack when she goes out to play.

She wanted to protect Sophia so much, but the more she acted like this, the more Sophia wanted to stay away from her. Everything was communicated to Locke, which almost became a vicious cycle.

Another example is Lele Carlotta and his wife. Lele is a very filial child and took his mother to live with him. But Carlotta didn't like living with her mother-in-law very much. She felt that there was a lack of private space and she always wanted to send her mother-in-law to a nursing home.

Cassimo and Bianca are logically the happiest couple. They have just gotten married, but Cassimo's character is very restless, and he doesn't look like a reliable person. He likes to do everything half-heartedly and without thinking through his brain. Bianca, on the other hand, was the last to integrate into this group. She was relatively new to everyone and didn't know them well.

Compared with these three, Pep is the most mediocre one.

He is just a middle-aged physical education teacher who has gained weight. He is currently fired from his school job and is unemployed at home.

After everyone got together, Pep originally said that he would bring his new girlfriend, and everyone was still very curious. It turns out he just came alone and his girlfriend had a fever.

Everyone is still very sorry.

Then as they sat down to eat, they started chatting about a mutual friend.

This friend also recently divorced his wife because he cheated on her with a 22-year-old female college student. The female college student sent this friend an ambiguous message, and her wife happened to find it when she checked her friend's cell phone, leading to a divorce.

Using this friend as the topic, everyone started chatting about the nature of the matter.

The men believed that the friend was careless and failed to respond to text messages in time, which led to the family tragedy.

Women believe that cheating is inherently wrong. Couples should be honest with each other and have no secrets.

Then...just chat.

In a hurry, Eva held up her mobile phone and said, "So you think everything about XX was ruined by the mobile phone?"

It was unanimously approved by the men.

But after they agree, they each show their loyalty, something like "There are absolutely no secrets in my phone, my dear, you believe me". Leler's wife Carlotta detailed Leler's mobile phone habits.

For example, Lehrer never puts his phone with the screen facing up. Whenever he puts his phone down, the screen must be facing down.

Lehrer was unconvinced.

Eva next to her encouraged everyone to play a game while they were joking.

Everyone puts their mobile phones on the table, and in the following time, no matter whose phone calls or text messages they are, they will be made public.

At first, the men were resistant.

Especially Locke.

He told his wife: "Didn't psychology tell you that human nature cannot stand the test?"

Eva asked in return: "What? You have a secret to hide from me?"

Starting from these words, regardless of whether they wanted to or not, everyone including Casimo, who promised Bianca that he had no secrets, and Pep joined the game and put their mobile phones on the table.

From this point on, the story begins to spiral out of control.

If we talk about the previous time, the whole story is like a chat between a few old friends reunited, and the story seems to be scattered.

But from this point on, the whole story is connected together.

Then, after two barely innocuous phone calls, the first secret was revealed.

Eva's father called and told Eva: I have made an appointment with a plastic surgeon for breast augmentation surgery for you.

After hearing this, everyone at the table was stunned.

Because Locke himself is a plastic surgeon.

Although Locke felt uncomfortable, he still told everyone: He is more famous than me, and I will buy one and get one free for my breast augmentation. They charge everything... they are more famous than me.

Eva also felt a little embarrassed.

Then everyone chatted about the Queen for a while, and Pep went to have a cigarette, and Leler joined him.

While the two were alone, Leler asked Pep to do him a favor. He has a "friend" who will send him a "selfie" photo on time at 10 o'clock every night.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Leler hoped that Pep would exchange cell phones with him.

Pep reluctantly agreed.

In the middle, Eva learned from Carlotta that her husband Locke was receiving psychological treatment for some things.

Eva was very angry, then spilled wine on her husband's shirt, and asked in the kitchen why her husband wanted to seek psychotherapy instead of communicating with her.

Locke meaningfully told his wife: Sometimes we all need to take a step back.

Eva was momentarily puzzled.

Immediately after exchanging mobile phones with Pep, at 10 o'clock, "Pep" received a "selfie" from a friend on his phone. A very bold Pilates pose without clothes...

Everyone was still joking about Pep, and Pep, who helped Leler conceal it, didn't feel there was any shame in it. On the contrary, it made the atmosphere of the party better.

But immediately, Pep's mobile phone in Leler's hand received a message from "Lucio": Are you okay?

Carlotta asked her husband who Lucio was, and Leler casually confused him. Instead, Pep asked Lehrer if he wanted to reply to a message. The puzzled Lehrer didn't care and had no intention of replying. But this time, Pep became inexplicably excited.

Upon seeing this, Leler sent a message back to Lucio: I am fine, thank you for your concern.

Pep felt better now.

At this time, Carlotta received a text message on her mobile phone, which was a message that the nursing home had rooms in June.

Leler then realized that his wife had always wanted to send his mother to a nursing home.

The two of them started to get emotional.

Fortunately, Bianca stepped forward and said she wanted to see the lunar eclipse and take photos.

It changed the topic.

Then everyone took their mobile phones and went outside together.

While watching the lunar eclipse, Bianca suggested taking a photo together. When Casimo helped his wife take a selfie with her phone, a message appeared on the screen: I want ML.

Later, Bianca got involved with her ex-boyfriend, proving that she had not cheated on her. The reason why her ex-boyfriend sent her a message was because he was entangled with his current girlfriend. Every time he wanted to have sex, he would go there. Looking for his current girlfriend, and Bianca tells him that his current girlfriend is just messing with him...

After proving his innocence, the next call came from Lucio.

Because Pep's cell phone was with Leler, Leler lied about having a cold in order to disguise himself. Lucio questioned "Leler" and said that you can't even tell whether you like men or women, so go to hell.

From this point on, the atmosphere... took a turn for the worse.

Carlotta asked Lele who Lucio was, why you kissed Lucio, and asked Lele if he was gay.

And Leler saw Pep's ugly face after the absurdity.

Being the most sensitive in his heart, he chose to admit that he was gay to protect his friends and prevent Pep from clarifying his intentions.

But because of his "gay" identity, Casimo, who had been playing with Lehrer since childhood, suddenly became resistant to Lele and said many hurtful words.

It was also from here that the atmosphere of the entire party began to reach a freezing point.

At this moment, Casimo's cell phone rang. He was the owner of a jewelry store and asked his lover if she liked rings and earrings. But Casimo did not give his wife a ring or earrings.

When the wife asked, another call came.

Another woman told Casimo on the phone that she was pregnant.

Casimo's affair was directly exposed.

Bianca, who had just been comforting Carlotta who left the table angrily, couldn't accept it for a moment and ran to the bathroom and cried bitterly. Carlotta, in turn, comforted Bianca in the bathroom.

Cassimo originally wanted to chase him, but was dragged directly into the bedroom by Eva who came over.

Without saying a word, he spat on Quasimo and slapped him. Then he took off the earrings from his ears and gave them to Quasimo.

Tell him: You make me feel sick.

At this time, Leler knocked on the bathroom door.

When Carlotta opened the door, Lehrer was holding her cell phone.

There is a message on the phone: Did you go out without underwear as I asked?

It was a training text message sent to Carlotta by her online lover.

Carlotta was also confused and quickly followed Leler's explanation, but Leler didn't believe it and wanted to see if his wife was wearing underwear today.

All of a sudden, everyone who had been enjoying themselves just now was in a panic.

The threads of the entire story become compact, connected in series, one layer after another.

Everyone’s story lines explode together!

Leler and Carlotta had a fierce quarrel. Finally, Carlotta, who was about to leave with her bag, said to everyone:

"I really wish my husband wasn't gay."

After that, he left angrily.

At this time, Leler glanced at Pep, and then lowered his head.

Even though his marriage began to face a huge crisis, at this time, he still chose to protect his friends and bear the title of "faggot" himself.

But Pep stood up and told everyone: In fact, I am the gay.

Everyone in the room was dumbfounded.

Except for Leler, whose face was speechless and helpless.

And Locke told Pep: You should have told us earlier.

Pep asked: Why should I tell you?

When Locke was confused, Leler told everyone: Let me tell you why Pep didn't say it. Because I just couldn't stand being gay for 2 hours.

Finally, after bravely admitting that he was gay, Pep put on his coat and said:

"I don't think I have any problem. The real problem is you."

And just as he was about to leave, Casimo went to the bathroom to call Bianca out. It turned out that no matter how much I shouted, she didn't make a sound.

At this time, Pep opened the door and found that Bianca was just putting on makeup in the bathroom.

From tonight, the image without makeup has transformed into a gorgeous girl with heavy makeup.

With a charming smile, she regained an unparalleled confidence. After glancing at Casimo without any nostalgia, she passed through the crowd and walked out confidently step by step.

Finally, the end of the story.

The "two moons" phenomenon caused by the lunar eclipse disappears.

Casimo pulled Bianca, who was still undressed, out of the unit building sweetly. Carlotta, who had been waiting in front of the car, urged her husband to hurry up. It was very cold outside.

Lehrer walked quickly towards his wife.

And Bianca did not forget to say to Pep: Next time you must bring your girlfriend over to meet us.

Pep promised her that it would be okay.

The lunar eclipse disappears.

Parallel time and space fade away.

Everyone protected their secrets.

Everything never happened.

…

This is the flow of the whole story.

From the beginning, it was dull and casual, and it progressed step by step. Although there was no big scene in the end, the story was detonated one after another through the secrets deep in everyone's heart, pushing it to a climax.

In the end, there is an ending that seems perfect but is actually absurd, but it can make... at least everyone who reads this story fall into thinking.

This is the entire story constructed by Xu Xin and Philip.

As for whether it would be accepted by the audience... Frankly speaking, he had no idea.

But now the actors have arrived and all the crew are ready.

He firmly believed that this was a good story.

Because everyone who has read this story has a feeling that there is still something to be desired.

Although everyone's feedback to his senses is different, there is one thing in common.

That is... everyone agrees that this is an excellent story.

Looking at Mark and Jasmine who were busy in the kitchen and chatting happily, Xu Xin, who was sitting in front of the monitor and continuing to supervise the work of other staff, showed a confident look.

…

Soon, the time was approaching 7pm.

Naturally, the crew members who went to get off work at noon did not get off work. Everyone just got together and had a meal.

The actors were putting on makeup and drinking coffee for an hour.

8 o'clock.

All the role players have completed their makeup.

Hungry, they each took their scripts and prepared to go.

The aroma of Italian tomato puree is already wafting in the kitchen.

in front of the monitor.

The lights are in place.

The photography signal is normal.

After confirming that it was correct, and after the assistant director Paul Paswell and the Locke couple in this scene had confirmed their movements, Xu Xin put on his headphones and looked at his nodding appearance:

"Then, the first scene of "The Telephone Ring" is ready to begin."

Having said this, he paused.

Looking at the group of blond and blue-eyed faces around them, a rare sense of freshness arose in my heart.

However, this novelty was quickly suppressed by him.

Taking the bullhorn, he shouted:

"Act 1, Scene 1, Mr. and Mrs. Locke's Kitchen, 3, 2, 1...ACTION!"

"ring tone"

Shooting officially begins! ~