Ji Yan couldn't help but tease He Qing: "Brother He, did you run from one place with bad signal to another place with bad signal?"
After enduring months of insect bites in the deep mountains and forests, and then spending months eating sand in the desert, He Qing was noticeably thinner and darker-skinned when they met this time. His weight loss was even more obvious than when Ji Yan was forced to go to the gym by Ye Ying.
Ji Yan felt that Ye Ying must not find out about this. Based on his understanding of his agent, Ye Ying might be very tempted.
...
This was the first preview screening and media event for "Young Love Poems." Guests included heads of various cinema chains, as well as professional film critics and media representatives. "Young Love Poems" is, after all, a low-budget art film, and this type of film is not popular in the market. Its screenings are unlikely to be high after release, but the specific situation needs to be comprehensively evaluated by industry professionals.
As a director, Zhu Shuguang has always been very confident in his films, but he is also aware of the possible box office performance after the film's release. Even though the cost is not high, he still tries his best to recoup the cost.
The number of guests attending the preview screening was much higher than Ji Yan had expected, especially in the media section, where many media outlets, large and small, were present, including authoritative and professional media, as well as online media and some online influencers.
Lu Yu patted Zhu Shuguang's shoulder silently: "Finding a popular male lead really makes a difference."
Zhu Shuguang glanced at him and said, "I didn't approach Xiao Ji because of his popularity."
It's just that Ji Yan's popularity is even higher than Zhu Shuguang had imagined.
Zhu Shuguang's previous film, "A Stranger in a Strange Land," featured a talented actor like Lian Huaishu, but it received far less media attention than "Young Love Poems." Su Pan had just joked with him, saying that there was no need to take the movie poster seriously; just showing a headshot of Ji Yan would be enough to lure many fans into the theater.
Zhu Shuguang: "..."
He hadn't realized Su Pan was such a talented person before.
As one of the main creators, Ji Yan sat in the first row of the audience, quietly waiting for the movie to start. To his left sat director Zhu Shuguang, and to his right sat screenwriter Qin Zhen. Both of them had calm expressions on their faces. After all, they had experienced movie screenings more than once. However, Ji Yan was a little nervous.
When "Young Love Poems" was released, Ji Yan's feelings were completely different from when "I, Nameless" was released. At that time, he was very clueless about making movies. In "I, Nameless", his appearance was very short. As long as his performance was not too bad, he would not receive too many negative reviews. In the end, the role of He Tang made him successful and even earned him a nomination for the Chang Kong Award.
There are differences between playing a lead role and playing a supporting role. With the success of "I, Nameless" as a precedent, film critics and audiences will inevitably have higher expectations for Ji Yan.
After filming wrapped, Zhu Shuguang contacted Ji Yan once, saying that Ji Yan's performance in the final cut was quite good. However, Zhu Shuguang always spoke in the same tone, so Ji Yan wasn't sure if he was actually praising him.
In short, the movie is about to be released, and he has to face it whether he is criticized or praised.
...
The lights in the screening room gradually dimmed, and the film critics in the audience straightened up, their eyes fixed on the screen in the middle of the door.
The first thing that comes into view is a crystal-clear sky. A gentle breeze rustles through the trees, and the scent of sunshine and grass fills the air. This is a poor but beautiful mountain village. Through Su Pan's lens, the scenery of the village is incredibly beautiful, and every frame is like a flowing painting.
Zhu Shuguang's works have always been like this; you can tell the effort he put into them just by looking at the pictures.
"I heard this film cost 20 million?" Niu Cong, a film critic for "Fancy Movies," and Yu Meng, a film critic for "Movies," whispered to each other. "It seems that money was indeed invested in the film."
"You know Zhu Shuguang, right? He only has 20 million to put on the film. If you give him 200 million, he'll definitely be able to produce an effect worth 400 million."
"Unfortunately, no one dares to do it."
Zhu Shuguang has the ability to make a film that grosses 400 million, but this film might only get 40 million at the box office.
The same applies to film critics attending screenings of Zhu Shuguang's films; the red envelopes they give are always at the industry average level, and they never give more than that. This month, Niu Cong also attended screenings of two films, "Blade Hunter" and "Old Nest," and the red envelopes given by the production teams were quite generous.
This is also why so-called professional film critics are becoming increasingly unprofessional. Critics praise every film genre indiscriminately, leaving audiences feeling utterly cheated.
Take the two blockbusters released in early May as examples. In terms of quality, the domestic film "The Old Nest" is actually better than "Blade Hunter." However, before its widespread release, "Blade Hunter" had a much higher reputation on various platforms than "The Old Nest." Of course, this approach can easily provoke a backlash from the audience. On the first weekend of May, "The Old Nest" had already significantly surpassed "Blade Hunter" in daily box office revenue.
...
In the movie, the story continues.
In this mountain village grew up a strange child. While his peers were running barefoot on the mountain paths, he would carry a chair and quietly look at the starry sky, talking to himself or talking to the stars.
The actor who played Gu Shan as a child looks somewhat like Ji Yan. Ji Yan's scenes were staggered with the actor's, but Ji Yan hadn't left the crew when the actor joined. He went to check it out and found that the actor looked somewhat like Dun Dun. Dun Dun does indeed look quite like Ji Yan.
Overall, the pacing of "Young Love Poems" is very gentle, slow everywhere, like a quietly flowing river.
Then, Gu Shan slowly grew up into a silent boy who still loved the stars.
In Ji Yan's first scene, the transition from day to night begins. During the day, Gu Shan is no different from any other boy in the mountain village. When he blends into the crowd, Niu Cong from "The Movie" can't help but widen his eyes: "Is this Ji Yan?"
Yu Meng nodded: "That's right."
What surprised them was not the character's makeup, or the fact that Ji Yan's face had changed so much, but rather... the character's aura.
The changes are truly enormous.
He Tang in "I, Nameless" and Gu Shan in "Young Love Poems" are two completely different people.
Gu Shan is silent and taciturn. At least when Ji Yan, who plays Gu Shan, appears in the movie, Niu Cong does not feel any sense of incongruity, as if Ji Yan originally grew up in that kind of environment.
"That acting is really good!" Niu Cong exclaimed. "No wonder Zhu Shuguang chose him."
Then comes the nighttime scenes.
When observing the stars, Gu Shan's eyes were filled with childlike innocence as a child, while Gu Shan in his teenage years... The film critics present stared intently at the big screen, eager to see what kind of performance Ji Yan would deliver.
On the screen, Gu Shan is looking up at the sky.
The night was incredibly beautiful, with stars twinkling in the sky. Gu Shan gazed at the stars with fascination, and at that moment, there was a close-up of his eyes—in the shot, his usually calm eyes were sparkling with light. It was hard to describe Gu Shan's expression at that moment; his figure seemed to shrink in that instant—when looking at the stars, the young Gu Shan and the childhood Gu Shan had the same look in their eyes.
This is not easy for adult actors.
But Ji Yan has the ability to portray the innocence in Gu Shan's eyes. The way he looks at the stars is so devout that it's easy to be infected by this emotion.
In the adult world, it's not easy to truly like something.
Ji Yan's gaze... inexplicably gave off a chilling feeling, but his performance wasn't particularly forceful or deliberate.
"Isn't this just a natural-born actor?" Yu Meng sighed. "With someone like him, if you said he wasn't formally trained, and that this was only his second film, would you believe it?"
"If he hadn't come out, I wouldn't have believed it. Now that he's out, how could I not believe it?"
Acting in an art film without feeling out of place is already difficult, let alone a role that is so different from Ji Yan himself.
As the plot unfolds, Gu Shan's attitude towards life and family becomes incomprehensible in many ways, yet Ji Yan's portrayal makes him hard to dislike.
His scenes with You Kesi showcased his acting prowess—facing You Kesi's unrestrained performance, Ji Yan handled the role well, making the character of Gu Shan more well-rounded.
When facing the starry sky, Gu Shan maintained a devout and awe-inspiring attitude throughout, while Ji Yan delivered a consistently stable performance.
He never broke down.
Despite the slow pace of the film "Young Love Poems", Ji Yan's performance was quite nuanced and not one-dimensional. His appearance is naturally appealing to audiences, so even in a mediocre art film, it's hard for viewers to get tired of his face when it appears on screen.
At least in his portrayal, the character Gu Shan is not unlikeable.
In the final scene, Gu Shan throws himself into the sea of fire. Between the starry sky above and the earth beneath his feet, his choice seems to have changed, but this is also the question that the film "Young Love Poems" poses to the audience.
The final scene of the film brought the entire theater to a standstill.
Until this moment, Gu Shan's character gave people a sense of etherealness. He never faced the reality of life and was immersed in his fantasies about the starry sky. But at the last moment, in the sea of fire, Gu Shan seemed to come alive. He clearly knew what he should do and made his own choice.
On the screen, Gu Shan, who was protecting the child, seemed to still have a smile on his lips.
He was cautious and remained silent, but his eyes revealed a resignation to facing death.
Seeing this, Ji Yan himself was moved by the performance.
Now he believed what Zhu Shuguang said; he had indeed acted well in the movie.
But he suddenly realized that from "I, Nameless" to this "Young Love Poems", and then to the recently filmed "The Long Song of Lament", it seems that none of the characters he played survived to the end.
Although his acting career is not long, he has already portrayed all the serious topics of life and death.
...
After the screening of "Young Love Poems" ended, no one in the audience spoke. Film critics were pondering what kind of reviews to write, while theater managers were evaluating how to treat the film.
Is the movie bad? No, it's very good. The plot isn't complicated, but the characters' emotions and the portrayal of human nature are very rich. It's a typical work by Zhu Shuguang.
Ji Yan's performance far exceeded their expectations, far surpassing their imagination.
Film critics couldn't help but feel a little sorry that the film might not do well at the box office.
Niu Cong's notebook was already filled with key points. He wrote three whole pages, evaluating the overall plot, the actors' performances, and the film's visual style. "Flower Movies" was not as commercially driven as "Movies." They paid attention to both commercial and art films. In Niu Cong's view, "Young Love Poems" belonged to the category of art films with relatively high completion.
Niche art films often give the impression of being melodramatic and pretentious. A film may be incomprehensible from beginning to end, but if you look closely, you might find that the whole film is just pretentious.
And then these people will shift the blame, saying that the audience lacks sophistication and can't understand their highbrow art.
In this respect, Zhu Shuguang is actually quite likable. He can film whatever he wants to film, and he is happy if the audience appreciates it, and he can continue to film even if the audience doesn't like it.
After roughly outlining the framework, Niu Cong drew a large circle around the name Ji Yan.
I'll probably have to work overtime tonight.
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