Halfway through the movie, Ji Yan quietly leaned over to Ning Wei and asked, "Isn't it a bit perverted?"

Ning Wei turned his head away. In the dim light, he couldn't see Ji Yan's expression, but he could feel the other's breathing. Using the light from the screen, he grasped Ji Yan's fingers and pressed them against Ji Yan's palm.

He didn't dare to be too bold, because the cinema staff would notice, but when he was with Ji Yan, he couldn't help but get closer to him.

He enjoyed watching Ji Yan's movies, but the person on screen always gave him a sense of unreality. Ning Wei still preferred the real Ji Yan.

"Yes or no?" Ji Yan asked again.

"A little."

In the movie, after the confrontation with Gu Chao, Li Yu became increasingly reckless in his actions. However, he was very clever, and both Gu Chao and he were aware of what he was doing. But Gu Chao couldn't catch him, and instead, his repeated attempts to catch him back led to many misunderstandings.

This only emboldened Li Yu to further provoke him.

Li Yu is a villain without any principles. In the movie, he becomes increasingly arrogant in his actions, and the sound of people begging him before they die excites him. Although Gu Chao is carefree, he is a very upright person at heart. Everything Li Yu does is eroding his mind, but it also strengthens his determination to bring Li Yu to justice.

In the audience, reporters from "Fancy Movies" and "Movies" couldn't help but whisper among themselves: "Ji Yan is really daring."

Generally, few actors who can become leading actors are willing to play villains. Villains are usually supporting roles, and their image is too dark. Once their image is fixed, they can't break out of the villain circle. If an actor of Ji Yan's caliber plays a villain, his business may be affected.

No brand wants to see a villain endorse their product.

Ji Yan has already played a villain once in "The Vanished Murder Case", and in this "Black Curtain", his villainous traits are further deepened.

However, reporters from both "Fancy Movies" and "Movies" acknowledged that Ji Yan's performance in "Black Curtain" was outstanding, no less than that of Xi Ming. Magazines like "Fancy Movies" paid close attention to Ji Yan when he first emerged and noticed some changes in his acting skills. Even from a professional perspective, the transformation from He Tang to Li Yu was astonishing.

It's not that He Tang is bad, but... these two characters don't seem to be played by the same actor.

"He must have been prepared."

"Next year's Changkong Award?"

"It should be very difficult; the Changkong Prize is quite conservative."

In the year Ji Yan won Best Actor, the fact that he played a villainous role already posed a significant disadvantage. However, in this film, "Black Curtain," Li Yu can no longer be described as a villain; he is the ultimate villain.

Among the films and television dramas already released in the country, it's rare to see one this evil.

On the screen, the movie plot continues to unfold. Li Yu's actions are no longer limited to strangers, but also begin to involve people around Gu Chao. He does his best to provoke Gu Chao, forcing him to become a madman like himself.

The final scenes are exhilarating fight sequences. Viewers are well aware of Gu Chao's impressive kung fu skills, as they have been shown in previous scenes. However, to everyone's surprise, Li Yu's martial arts skills are no less impressive than Gu Chao's. The two fight fiercely, with every punch landing hard and every move aimed directly at the opponent's weakest point.

Xi Ming and Ji Yan are not action actors in the audience's impression, but their movements do not give people the feeling of flashy but ineffective moves. On the contrary, on the screen, their fight is extremely intense, with each punch aimed at killing the other. The slightest emotional fluctuations on their faces can be seen: Gu Chao's is anger, and Li Yu's is excitement.

He's a madman—everyone knows that.

Even if such a madman is eliminated, the fear he brings remains, like a large net covering the entire sky, a dark curtain that makes it hard to breathe.

This character has never experienced happiness since childhood, nor has he felt even a shred of kindness from the world. Even though he lives as a human being, it is merely a mask for him.

In the end, justice prevailed over evil, but Li Yu's influence on Gu Chao persisted, and it remained unclear until the very end who truly triumphed over whom.

The moment the screen lit up, Ning Wei's voice rang out in the theater—it was clearly a movie about darkness, yet the theme song was titled "Pure White," but Ning Wei's slightly mad voice perfectly matched the theme of the song.

Only sufficient darkness can highlight sufficient white.

The reporter from "Film in the City" took notes as the film ended. In his opinion, "The Curtain" was a very exciting story with a fast pace and no dragging scenes. The performances of actors Xi Ming and Ji Yan were at their peak. In fact, it could be said that if other actors had starred in the film, it might not have achieved the same effect.

First of all, visually, Xi Ming and Ji Yan are the kind of actors that are very attractive to the audience. Their scenes together are not abrupt at all. On the contrary, their cooperation can be described as very wonderful. Their image, expressions, interactions... in terms of performance, the two can be said to be flawless.

If we had to nitpick, it would be the character of Li Yu himself; he is far too negative, which makes him seem unrealistic to the audience.

Of course, "The Curtain" never claimed to be a work of realism.

"As for this film, the box office is hard to predict, but the quality is definitely up to standard."

As the film's title suggests, "The Curtain" tells a dark story. This kind of subject matter is not very popular in the film market; audiences prefer works with happy endings or those that are positive enough.

The film critics silently reflected on the cost of "Black Curtain." Fortunately, the investment in "Black Curtain" was not low, but it was still quite extravagant. If it were released during the summer vacation, breaking even should not be a problem.

As for the upper limit, it probably depends on the box office appeal of Xi Ming and Ji Yan, as well as the acceptance of the film itself.

...

After the movie ended, the main cast and crew returned to the stage, and the lights in front of the screen became brighter. After they sat down, applause suddenly broke out in the audience, and the main cast and crew bent down to accept the applause from the audience.

The film critics' eyes turned to Ji Yan at that moment.

After the promotional period for "Black Curtain" began, director Qu Xiyu, Xi Ming, and Ji Yan himself all mentioned in interviews that Ji Yan's portrayal of Li Yu in the film was a major breakthrough in his career.

Film critics had imagined his breakthrough performance, but in fact, Ji Yan's portrayal of Li Yu was nothing short of madness. At least no one expected that Ji Yan would actually portray a real devil.

Even with the bright lights in the theater, the eerie feeling emanating from the character of Li Yu seemed to linger.

Even though Ji Yan doesn't resemble Li Yu at all right now, his smile is still intimidating.

“Our crew was in the same state at the time. When filming first started, many people were joking around with Teacher Ji, but as filming progressed, fewer and fewer people joked with him. Everyone was afraid that he might accidentally kill them.”

Ji Yan wore an innocent expression.

After the movie ended, the conversation naturally shifted to the plot and the actors' performances. Ji Yan received the most questions among the main creators—his character Li Yu was clearly the most eye-catching character in the entire "Black Curtain," and the contrast between this character and Ji Yan himself was truly astonishing.

Judging solely from his performance, Ji Yan is fully deserving of the Chang Kong Award trophy. Of course, the awarding of the Chang Kong Award often involves a comprehensive evaluation of multiple aspects, including the subject matter.

"Ji Yan, when you took on the role of Li Yu, weren't you worried? Would it affect your popularity? This role is unconventional. Were you worried that you wouldn't be able to handle it?"

"Of course I was worried. When I first joined the crew, I did think the role was difficult to handle, but gradually I began to believe that only I could play the role well, and then I became more and more involved."

Xi Ming added, "There was a scene just now where Ji Yan and I had a psychological confrontation. We did it in one take, which was amazing. We were both in great condition when filming that scene, probably because we were well prepared beforehand, so we were able to film it smoothly in one take."

The two had a lot to talk about during filming, such as rehearsing scenes and training for fight scenes. During the filming of "Black Curtain," both Xi Ming and Ji Yan felt that the other was someone who could inspire them.

The production team revealed more details, which naturally gave them more room to maneuver in the publicity. Later, film critics and reporters focused their attention on the fact that "Blue" sang the movie's theme song. Although Ning Wei was a man of few words, she still talked about the opportunity that led her to create the theme song.

However, when asked why "Blue" was willing to sing for a movie after so many years, Ning Wei cleverly dodged the question and did not give a direct answer.

Only Zhong Lu, at this moment, transformed into a know-it-all: "What else could it be? Doesn't he even look who's sitting next to him?"

Zhong Lu seemed a little agitated, and a spectator next to her couldn't help but glance at her curiously several times.

...

This is the opening day of "Black Curtain". On this day, the film's opening day box office will be revealed, and major film review websites will also release the film's initial rating. Although the opening day box office may not determine the life or death of a film, for a heavyweight blockbuster like "Black Curtain", the opening day box office almost determines the film's subsequent financial prospects.

Of course, "The Curtain" occupied more than one-third of the screenings that day, so the box office figures were bound to be good. However, before the results were revealed, the creators were still somewhat uneasy.

Even Ji Yan couldn't help but type "behind-the-scenes manipulation" into the search bar to find real-time feedback from viewers about the film.

"That's pretty awesome!"

"I was stunned when I saw the movie content. Teacher Ji Yan is truly amazing."

"Wow, Ji Yan's portrayal of the villain is quite exciting."

"The Black Curtain is still very good. It's a blockbuster with a completely different style from The Daytime Crisis. The scenes between Xi Ming and Ji Yan are very memorable. The plot is also tense and exciting, and my heart was pounding the whole time."

"The Black Curtain is definitely a passable film, worth the ticket price. Because one of the characters is so twisted, I plan to watch it a second time. It's been so long since I've seen such authentic twistedness."