Tokyo Literary Godfather

"Haha, of course not, we are absolutely impartial. If Mr. Fujiwara personally participated in the work, it would be no problem to win the prize." Eiji Shirai nodded.

"It's just to cheer myself up. I also watched some of the films on display this morning. I have to say that the level of independent directors is getting higher and higher now."

"It's true. Compared with previous years, the quality of the works on display this year is higher. It seems that Mr. Fujiwara and Director Ohno will inevitably have a fierce battle this year."

We couldn't stand chatting all the time, so the four of us planned to sit at a table and chat while eating.

"Kamiya-sensei seems to be a regular visitor." Fujiwara Kei said.

Momoka Kamiya brushed her hair on her temples and said with a smile: "Yes, I often came to this restaurant to eat when I was a student. I think it has the most delicious food in Tokyo. Even as an adult, I have tasted a lot of expensive food. But I still think the rice bowl here suits my taste best.”

Kei Fujiwara remembered that in the essay Kamiya Momoka published not long ago, she mentioned a donburi restaurant that she often visited when she was a child. It must be this restaurant. The tastes of childhood can last a lifetime.

"Fujiwara-sensei is worthy of being the one who wrote "The Lonely Gourmet", and you can even find it here." Momoka Kamiya seemed to have found a like-minded person, and her inner impression of Kei Fujiwara became a little better.

"It was Nobu Satoshi Takagi who brought me here. Mr. Takagi is a gourmet."

After a while, the rice bowl was served, and Kei Fujiwara subconsciously protected the bowl with his left hand - you can't blame him for protecting the food, it was a completely instinctive reaction. If someone else hadn't been here, Ono Nagaharu would have reached into his bowl to steal the eel with his chopsticks.

A few people chatted while eating, and soon the topic turned to movies.

"Nowadays, it is increasingly difficult for domestic films to survive under the impact of overseas films and TV programs..." Eiji Shirai lamented, suddenly looking at Kei Fujiwara with some sadness, "During this period, the company's theater management department has reported that in recent evenings on Sunday The attendance rate of theater audiences has dropped by 15% compared to last year, and this proportion continues to expand. Fujiwara-san, our film company has also suffered a lot from you."

Kei Fujiwara could only smile. Indeed, Japan's local movies are not very strong at this stage. In the box office rankings over the years, Hollywood movies top the list most of the time. In other words, in the current version, the whole of East Asia has been beaten so hard by Hollywood that they can’t even lift their heads. This is true whether it is this world or a parallel world.

Except for Hong Kong, in the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong films were still quite vigorous.

It was not until later that Japanese animators entered the film industry that they changed the status quo in one fell swoop. "Spirited Away" has created a box office myth that is difficult to break for decades, and even "Titanic" was trampled under its feet in China.

Precisely because of the current sluggishness of the Japanese film market, many film production companies, even Matsuni Pictures, have begun to gradually shift their business focus from film production to distribution, and no longer produce films themselves.

This has also become an opportunity for the rise of many independent films and small production companies.

After eating, several people walked out of the hotel. Kei Fujiwara and Nagaharu Ohno claimed to go to a nearby bookstore and separated from Kamiya and Shirai.

The two of them actually went to play marbles at a nearby small steel ball shop, but they were too embarrassed to tell them directly.

And they don’t want to be a lightbulb behind the two of them. Momoka Kamiya and Eiji Shirai are both divorced and single, and the two of them seem to be in a relationship now.

An executive from a large company and a well-known professor and writer, well, they are a good match.

Ohno Nagaharu was distracted when he hit the small steel ball for the first time and kept looking at his watch. It was still more than an hour before "Suddenly Looking Back" would officially premiere at the film festival, and he still couldn't calm down his nervousness.

Kei Fujiwara noticed it and said to him: "Okay, no more fun. The movie will start soon. After the movie is over, you will have a discussion with the audience."

"Well, okay...I'm going to buy a cup of coffee to refresh myself."

When the two returned to the film festival venue, there were still many people, the atmosphere was thicker, and the discussion became more intense.

"There are a lot of masters this year." A girl wearing thick glasses said, holding a notebook with movie names written all over it.

Each movie has a rating behind it, ranging from S to C.

They are students from the Film Department of Chuo University, which is also the birthplace of the peer film festival.

Members of the film festival also came to the film festival. They watched the movies separately, then communicated after coming out, and rated the movies they watched on their notebooks.

If someone can see an A-level or above movie, other students will watch it the next day. B-level movies will also be selectively watched. If a movie is rated C-level by the movie-watching students, then spit Phlegm and then go.

The Film Department of Chuo University of Japan is the birthplace of the peer film festival, so the Film Department of Chuo University of Japan is also one of the auditors in the second round of review. The auditor does not have to be a certain person, it may also be a certain group.

The members wrote down the name of the movie they had just watched, and then wrote their own evaluations after the movie name. Most of them were B and C, and occasionally there were A-level ratings.

The lady with glasses took a pen and wrote the word "lucky" in the notebook, then hesitated for a while. He felt that Tetsuya Iwai's film was indeed well-made and had no major flaws. It followed a popular line and the style was more commercial. Personally, he felt good about it.

She was hesitating whether to rate it S-level or A-level. In their evaluation criteria, C-level is unqualified, B-level is qualified, A-level is excellent, and S-level is an absolute masterpiece.

After some thought, I still gave it an A rating. Their evaluation of each movie must be published in the school magazine. Although the movie "Lucky" is considered excellent, it still feels a little far away from a masterpiece.

S-level is a rating that is rarely given. In the past three peer film festivals, there were no S-level films in their judging criteria.

But she also feels that this "Lucky" is indeed excellent, even better than the film that won the commendation award last year. The director of this film seems to be still a student. He is really excellent. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be the winner this year.

So after some thought, she added a plus sign after the A, and the final score was A+.

After other students saw the score of the girl with glasses, they said, "You rate this movie so highly? Who made it?"

"Tetsuya Iwai, a student at Tokyo University of Literature and Art." Another person said at this time, "I am very familiar with this person's name. He has participated in several film festivals, and he has always won encouragement awards before."

As a student director, it is actually very impressive to receive the Encouragement Award. The bespectacled girl then added: "If nothing else happens, I think this movie should win the first prize this year."

The other members nodded and kept the name of the movie in mind. The bespectacled girl's opinion alone definitely doesn't count. There will be a re-screening of this film tomorrow. After they watch it, if they have the same views, they will vote for this film.

"What to watch next?" A chubby boy opened the movie schedule again and said, "I'm going to watch "Crow High." The director almost won the sub-award last year. I think this movie won't be too good. Difference."

Eye Girl also took a look at the timetable and said, "Then I'll go watch "Looking Back" at four o'clock."

The director of this film is a name I have never heard of, and the film’s synopsis is even more vague: a love letter to the creator, I don’t know what it will be about.

It's probably another bad movie...but fortunately it's a short film, and it only lasts half an hour.

Everyone decided on the movie they wanted to watch, and when the time came, the girl with glasses walked into the screening room.

Randomly choosing a seat in a corner, the bespectacled girl quietly looked around and discovered a few familiar faces.

But having said that, being a reviewer is really hard work, and the mental impact of bad movies on people is sometimes really huge...

I hope this work can be a little bit like...

While I was thinking randomly, the movie started.