Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 253: A New Era Premiere, a New Generation of Masters
Liu Yifei poached Liu Shishi, Huayi poached Zhou Xun, Fan Bingbing backstabbed his godmother, Chengtian poached Wang Jinhua, and Huang Xiaoming jumped to Huayi.

The undercurrents in all aspects and lines point to a mastermind behind all of this.

However, the mastermind behind the scenes has now switched to his directorial identity, and is busy working towards the next of the three European awards in his directorial career.

On February 2005, 2, the premiere of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was in progress at the Berlin Film Festival on the three-person screen at Huayi Office.

This year's Berlin Film Festival, or rather the Berlin Film Festivals of the past two years, are not very star-studded.

The main reason is that the Oscar awards ceremony was held a month earlier in the past two years, and many blockbusters that were originally scheduled to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival were advanced.

It’s just that Boss Lu nominated “Alien Land” for the Oscar, so he could take both into account.

For blockbusters, an Oscar nomination means a guaranteed $3000 million increase in box office revenue in the North American market, doubling the chances of winning awards.

However, the tones of the three major European films are relatively independent and literary, which is too highbrow for ordinary audiences. Apart from their high-end features, the benefits they gain in terms of box office growth are inferior to those of the Oscars.

This has resulted in Berlin losing its star-studded Hollywood stars and its influence declining in the past two years.

At this moment, the premiere theater was already full.

The huge success of "Alien Land" around the world has made Mr. Lu's reputation as a director spread far and wide in Western Europe, and he has accumulated a large number of fans around the world.

In fact, there are also many in China, but they are all black fans who overlap with Xiao Liu’s fans!
There weren't many stars attending the event today, as this year's Berlin Film Festival was indeed a bit lackluster in terms of its scale.

In addition to Tsai Ming-liang from Taiwan and the crew of "Peacock" from the mainland, close friends of Mr. Lu such as Harvey and Quentin were also present.

Harvey came to buy a movie, no need to say more.

Quentin is an old hand at major film festivals. Even if it weren't for the boss Langyoulu, he would basically be present at all of them.

Because he likes watching movies.

Influenced by his stepfather when he was young, he began to be exposed to various types of movies. Later, he took the opportunity to work in a video store to watch a lot of films. It is said that he has watched more than 20000 films.

He watched everything from Italian Westerns to Shaw Brothers kung fu films to French New Wave films.

In addition, Roland, the chairman of the jury of this film festival, and Koslik, the president of the film festival, basically played all the cards.

Although there are no Hollywood movie superstars, they are still willing to show goodwill to Mr. Lu who just won the Golden Globe Award, which is also a high recognition of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

After the red carpet, brief introductions and interviews, the movie finally began.

The whole place was eerily silent. A beam of light from the projector hanging high on the ceiling illuminated the screen, and the background music of the movie's opening sounded in the packed theater.

An old woman lies on her hospital bed, telling her daughter (Li Lin) a story recorded in a diary as a hurricane is approaching.

As the old woman tells the story, the screen begins to cut into the story, starting Li Ming's unique, legendary and moving journey of reverse aging.

This opening design cleverly introduces the main story and creates an atmosphere of time passing and stories being told, allowing the audience to quickly immerse themselves in the film's unique narrative context.

The shrill whistle of a train attracted the audience's attention. The beginning was like "Forrest Gump", with real black-and-white historical images implanted into the film.

In early 1919, World War I had just ended for two months.

The images of Gu Weijun at the Paris Peace Conference and progressive students taking to the streets chanting slogans of the May Fourth Movement brought the audience back to that era.

At this time, the Magic City had already become the number one city in the Far East.

The scene opens with two policemen chatting. One of them laments that the prosperity here is 100 years ahead of the cities in the British Isles.

The opening scene is a heavy historical narrative perspective, which lays the foundation for the whole film's thinking about life and the flow of time.

The overhead shot is zoomed out, framing the scene on a clock that turns backwards. This is the key image of the entire film:
The clock turns back, and the journey of life also flows backward.

The first 5 minutes of the film, with its standard camera language and narrative rhythm, looks as bland as boiled water.

Quentin was a little strange.

This is not the level of the road.

With his ability, it would be easy for him to show off his skills in the first 5 minutes. Why did he choose such a boring narrative?
Soon he found the answer.

Li Ming, played by Lu Kuan, was born, but his overly old appearance was a little shocking, and the audience exclaimed for the first time.

Hollywood's digital "facial motion decoding" system perfectly projects the old man's appearance onto the face of a baby actor, making it look real.

Ordinary audiences were surprised at the baby's ugliness, but Quentin, Gu Changwei and others had already noticed something was wrong.

Especially Gu Changwei, who is good at photography and good at directing.

This picture...

Is it overexposed?!

Is he crazy? Or is it Zhao Fei, who shot Lu Kuan, who is crazy?

Everyone watched patiently, but at this moment they felt like they had entered a haunted house, carefully exploring and capturing every word of the camera.

These directors are eager to find answers.

An answer to explain why a Golden Lion and Golden Globe Award-winning director would make such a low-level mistake.

Hui Yinghong plays Zeng Wenxiu, a local nanny in Shanghai who picks up the baby Li Ming at the door of a nursing home in the concession.

This was abandoned here by his father Li Xuejian.

Li Xuejian is a local business tycoon, or a capitalist comprador, who made his fortune by relying on foreign trade orders from foreigners in the concession.

Hui Yinghong and her husband have been infertile for many years after their marriage. They have been serving the dignitaries of the British and French Concessions in a nursing home run by an American military attaché in the Asia-Pacific region.

After a moment of surprise, Li Ming became their adopted son.

After examination by the doctor, the baby's cataracts almost caused blindness and severe arthritis in various bones.

These are common geriatric diseases. Why would they occur in a baby?

The montage cuts to daytime, and the audience begins to murmur.

"Isn't the picture a little bright? It seems a little different from ordinary movies."

"It's a little weird, like..."

A mainland reporter responded in English: "It's like how a newborn baby sees the world, a little blurry."

"Correct!"

This film journalist is Ju Wenpei, an old friend of Boss Lu. This time he led the "World Film Tour" to Berlin.

She had previously attended a film screening held by China Film Group.

But even when watching the movie for the second time, Ju Wenpei found that he still discovered many details that he had not paid attention to before.

For example, the reverse clock at the beginning of the film.

The clock is running backwards, and Li Ming is also growing backwards.

When he is born, his face and body are like an old man, but he will gradually become younger as he grows older.

When you die, you will become a baby again.

Hui Yinghong brought the child to a group of elderly people. An old woman with wrinkled skin and white hair exclaimed, "He looks so much like my ex-husband!"

Laughter broke out in the cinema.

The linear narrative is very smooth, and the light and shadow of the 20s slip through the fingers like quicksand.

Quentin's feeling was very strange.

He is world-renowned for his genius circular narrative film organization, and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes for his groundbreaking narrative structure in Pulp Fiction.

But from such a dull opening ten minutes, and the fact that Li Ming safely went through the first few years of his life amidst overexposed "defects", he did not feel mediocre at all.

Instead. . .

With the calmness and restraint of a master, he began to concentrate on thinking about Lu Kuan's intention of overexposure.

Li Ming grew up in a nursing home. He was curious about everything and met an American journalist Harrison Forman.

Harrison Forman is a famous World War II journalist who has lived and worked in Shanghai for a long time. He is a writer, explorer, lecturer, photographer and pilot.

In 1937, Harrison Forman became famous for filming and reporting the Second Battle of Shanghai. He also conducted in-depth interviews and reports on our party's anti-Japanese activities behind enemy lines. He is an international friend.

Li Ming and Harrison Foreman sat on the steps of the nursing home and talked. Li Ming listened with longing as he spoke fluent Chinese mixed with English.

"Li Ming, do you know how beautiful your country is?"

"My country?"

Harrison Foreman pointed to the contrails left by fighter jets roaring through the sky and said, "One day you should take a plane and see your Yellow River, Yangtze River, and Great Wall."

The soul of young Li Ming passed through the nursing home that trapped him, passed through the small but prosperous British and French Concessions, and began to open his eyes to observe the world.

Including his motherland, a motherland that is suffering deeply.

This was the first lesson he learned.

Lu Kuan plays the ten-year-old Li Ming, who looks up at the sky in a trance. This is Lu Kuan's expression projected onto the face of a short special actor through special effects.

At this time, his understanding of the land under his feet was limited to a nursing home with only a few dozen people.

The dim sunlight left a faint longing and sadness on his face, as well as a hope that was about to break out of the ground.

A golden halo appeared on Lu Kuan's profile, forming a sharp contrast with his ignorant eyes!

The audience's mood was calm, but Gu Changwei was already getting a little restless!
It turns out that this is his intention when he used the word "exposure"!
"Lao Gu, Lao Gu?"

"Don't make any noise!"

Jiang Wenli muttered in dissatisfaction, "Tell me, what's with all these burrs on the lens? It's not very pleasant to look at."

Gu Changwei let out a long sigh.

"Overexposure is extremely amateurish in photography, but Lu Kuan did it on purpose. He used overexposure and the burrs in the picture to suggest the burning feeling of the characters and the era."

The veteran photographer seemed to have opened up.

"Li Ming was born in 1919. We were a victorious nation, yet we faced difficulties at the Paris Peace Conference from the foreign powers. The opening segment shows footage of Gu Weijun at the Paris Peace Conference."

"Li Ming was born into a period of prosperity, with the country and its youth awakening from the May Fourth Movement, but also of concern for the restoration of the Xinhai Revolution, which faced two successive restorations in 1915 and 1917."

"In other words, this baby represents our nation, which is suffering so deeply."

Jiang Wenli was stunned.

The cultural level of this generation of actors is not low, and they are familiar with the historical common sense that Gu Changwei talked about.

However, this method of using photographic technology to highlight the sense of the times and perfectly integrate the fate of the characters into the tide of the times is simply unheard of.

The young baby represents our new country born through the Xinhai Revolution.

The baby's aging and serious illness highlight the tragedy of feudal restoration and humiliation by foreign powers.

The old yet new country, and the old yet new baby, these are two film images that blend into each other.

Jiang Wenli was speechless. Even an amateur like her was deeply shocked.

"Will foreigners understand it? They're not familiar with this period of history."

Gu Changwei didn't even blink: "Keep watching, I believe Lu Kuan will make arrangements."

Li Ming grew up in the orphanage day by day, and began to yearn for the outside world through his communication with Harrison Foreman.

And the "motherland" that only exists in his mind.

At the age of 12, Li Ming met the love of his life, Zhang Manyu.

Zhang Manyu is the daughter of a wealthy American businessman and a beautiful Shanghai woman, so her grandmother also lives in a nursing home.

The two met for the first time, and this time not only Gu Changwei and Jiang Wenli, but also foreign filmmakers such as Quentin and Roland who were not very familiar with the metaphor of this history also understood the intention of overexposure.

The two are the same age, but Li Ming looks old and has weak limbs, while Zhang Manyu is lively and cheerful with a sweet smile.

This overexposure clearly implies that the relationship between the two childhood friends, which has bound them together for a lifetime, will face setbacks.

Li Ming stood on the steps of the nursing home and watched her running around with a wild look in her eyes. He felt a little inferior and didn't dare to go forward.

The overexposed shot at this time vividly describes the burning feeling in his heart!
Gu Changwei smiled bitterly and shook his head. It turned out that he regarded the fate of the country as a hidden line and the emotional fate of the hero and heroine as the main line.

In this way, Chinese audiences can delve deeper into the metaphors of the hidden lines, while foreign audiences can completely regard the movie as a magical love drama.

No matter from which angle you look at it, the overexposure and glitch-like images in the first thirty minutes are so ingeniously designed that they allow the audience to thoroughly enter this era and the heart of this character.

Just as Lu Xun said when talking about "Dream of the Red Chamber", Confucian scholars saw the "Book of Changes", Taoists saw lust, talented men saw tenderness, revolutionaries saw the anti-Manchu movement, and gossipers saw the secret affairs of the imperial palace.

The more layers of interpretation there are, the more it can represent the rich connotations of the work.

Zhang Manyu, who is kind-hearted, did not feel disgusted with the weird "old man" Li Ming. The two hid under the table in the nursing home, lit candles and told each other secrets.

She curiously touched Li Ming's wrinkled cheek with her hand, but was startled by her grandmother.

The warm and friendly scene looked so weird and perverted in her eyes.

After meeting Zhang Manyu, Li Ming began to have some concerns.

As he grew older, his miraculous physique of "rejuvenation" became more and more prominent. Looking in the mirror, he found that he was gradually developing healthy muscles.

Finally, in 1936, when Li Ming was seventeen years old, he secretly left the nursing home for the first time and entered the concession where flowers were everywhere.

After the October Revolution in Russia, more and more White Russians fled to the interior. The White Russian women who had no means of making a living but were graceful began to engage in the flesh trade in the concessions.

The naive Li Ming entered a brothel, and his old appearance caused the White Russian ladies to laugh at him.

"Old man, does your stuff still work? Hahaha!"

Li Ming made a fool of himself repeatedly under the humiliation and teasing of the women. These conquered slaves did not hesitate to vent their anger in exile on this "old Chinese man".

"Shut up! You White Russian bitches!"

The supporting actor played by Zhang Songwen appeared and slapped a woman with big breasts and fat buttocks away.

"Uncle, this is not the place for you, go back!"

There was a burst of laughter in the theater. Li Ming, played by Boss Lu, gave a just right look of innocence.

But this expression on his gray-haired and wrinkled face looked so weird and funny.

When Quentin saw this, he suddenly had an epiphany:
Lu seems to have incorporated countless stunts and camera designs into the seemingly bland plot, and this restraint is even more difficult than tension.

He is looking forward to the rhythm in the middle of the film, and perhaps there will be a camera language that is even more shocking than overexposure or even worse than overexposure.

Zhang Songwen is a young man from Shanghai. His father is the "MSG King" Zhang Yiyun, who was a juren. He is unruly but has a sense of justice.

Zhang Yiyun founded the Tianchu MSG Factory in 1923, breaking the Japanese monopoly on the MSG market. Later, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he also donated money, materials and aircraft.

Li Ming explained his physical condition to him. Zhang Songwen laughed out loud and immediately called the madam.

"Arrange one for my brother and I'll pay for it!"

The White Russian prostitutes rushed to raise their hands.

In their opinion, the cost-effectiveness of such an old customer is too high. For the same payment, maybe this old man only needs 10 seconds?
A White Russian woman excitedly led him upstairs, but ended up making Zhang Songwen wait for an hour at the bottom of the stairs.

When she went downstairs again, the Belarusian woman who had been feeling relieved before was already trembling with pain.

"Brother, I'd better call you uncle. You really are my uncle!"

The audience burst into laughter again.

Jiang Wenli laughed and said, "Hey, Lao Gu, how come Lu Kuan's films are so easy to make professional directors like you see the connotation while also letting ordinary audiences understand the story?"

Gu Changwei glanced at his "wife of many hardships" speechlessly.

Do you know that what you call so easy is beyond the reach of many top directors?

The film lasted for more than 40 minutes, and Boss Lu, who had been quietly observing the dynamics in the venue, felt a little relieved.

The audience's response was very good. Whether it was the plot turning points or the deliberately hidden jokes, they all received due feedback and there was no situation where the audience could not get into the mood.

Besides, this is in Berlin.

If they are like this, the mainland moviegoers will only be more adaptable.

To be fair, this is a work of Lu Kuan's self-entertainment.

In addition to maintaining a smooth narrative, he made radical changes in film language and lens language, such as overexposure and dead black.

This can be said to be an attempt that goes against common sense in film and basic principles of photography.

At the beginning of the screening, he was most worried that the styles of the pictures from different periods, such as the glitch or backlighting, would not be accepted by the audience, which would undoubtedly be a failure.

He is a leading figure in the mainland's commercial film industry, and such a film that still combines artistry and storytelling is a big test for him.

The movie continues, Li Ming and Zhang Songwen agree on the time for their next meeting, and walk alone on the way back to the nursing home in a good mood.

This time after leaving the nursing home, his next goal was to walk out of the concession and see the world described by Harrison Foreman.

On the street, a Cadillac V16 suddenly stopped. This was a luxury model released in New York in 1930.

Li Xuejian looked through the car window at his son, whom he had abandoned more than ten years ago. Every year on this day, he would go to the nursing home to secretly take a look at him.

This day is Li Ming's birthday and also the anniversary of his biological mother's death in childbirth.

"Hey, can I give you a ride?"

Li Ming walked to the side of the car and looked at the luxury car curiously: "Do you recognize me?"

Li Xuejian said in a hoarse voice: "I often go to the nursing home in the concession and have seen you there."

"Well, thank you for your kindness."

Li Ming got in the car. Li Xuejian told the driver to drive and chatted with his son who had grown up healthily.

As a father, he invited him to the pub as a friend, and the father and son drank together for the first time.

Before leaving, Li Xuejian asked Li Ming: "Can I come to see you often?"

"of course."

The camera pushed horizontally, giving Li Xuejian a close-up of his face facing the audience.

The moist eyes and slightly twitching mouth corners perfectly portrayed the relief and excitement of this veteran actor at the moment.

Quentin exclaimed: "Lu is so good at choosing actors. This is an actor who is no less than Morgan Freeman!"

Gu Changwei also whispered to his wife: "Teacher Xuejian is so outstanding. This is what I envy most about Lu Kuan."

Jiang Wenli was puzzled: "What?"

"He has money, he's too rich, he doesn't care about box office appeal at all, he just chooses actors based on suitability for the role, which is something we directors who rely on investors can't do."

Time went on to 1937. That year, eighteen-year-old Li Ming could no longer suppress his yearning and bid farewell to his adoptive mother Zeng Wenxiu.

Immediately afterwards, Li Ming and Lucy, who came to the nursing home to see her off, looked at each other affectionately. This was the first time that the two young lovers had clearly developed feelings for each other.

"Go ahead, but remember to send me a postcard."

"Ah."

Movie fans burst into exclamations, is this 18-year-old girl really Zhang Manyu?

Oh my god! What kind of magical special effects technology is this?
"Wow!"

"Is this China's Maggie Cheung? How can she be so young!"

Gu Changwei sighed again. It seemed that he had sighed three or four times in less than an hour of the movie.

Jiang Wenli was impatient: "What's wrong? Is it because the special effects are so good that Zhang Manyu looks like she's really 18 years old?"

"On the one hand, but more importantly is the director's use of special effects."

“The ingredients are the same, but the taste is different in the hands of different chefs.”

"I really don't know how a young man who was born and raised in China for 20 years could be exposed to and learn Hollywood special effects technology so quickly."

Top special effects talents in the digital field used a facial expression capture system to successfully capture 120 of Lu Kuan's expressions.

Then, based on special effects makeup and sculpture, we used spatial volume to obtain three elderly Li Ming CG characters and facial databases, so that the facial modeling could switch between different age groups.

Butian Film: The technology is good, but it belongs to me now.

At this point in the movie, the overexposure with a burr-like feeling has slightly weakened, and Li Ming is about to enter the second stage of his life.

Open your eyes and see the world.

This is Li Ming opening his eyes to see the world, and also the ancient Eastern dragon opening its eyes to see the world.

Li Ming followed the adventurer Harrison to Southeast Asia. About four years later, the Pacific War would break out and this place would become a war zone.

In Singapore, Li Ming, who was gradually gaining strength, met the wife of a Japanese professor from Kochi.

This devil professor was actually a spy for the Japanese military, gathering intelligence as a foreground for the foreseeable Pacific War.

As a cover, Bingbing, who plays the professor's wife, hangs out in high-end hotels all day, pretending to be a sweet couple. In fact, the Japanese spies go out at night to gather information.

Li Ming and Bingbing met by chance in an elevator. It would be a bit of an exaggeration to say that they were a perfect match.

But the passion between adult men and women is an indisputable fact. Bingbing's lonely heart was filled and he quickly fell for her. The two spent some time together shamelessly.

Until one day, Li Ming saw the war intelligence from the Japanese in the mainland on the desk of a Japanese spy.

He looked at the intelligence date with bloodshot eyes!

It turned out that three days ago, on August 1937, 8, the Japanese devils created the "Hongqiao Incident" in Shanghai, and the Battle of Shanghai in history officially broke out!

At this time, Li Ming had no concept of "motherland" in his mind.

But looking at the horrific bombing scenes in the photos, and looking at the "Chinese Doll" that shocked China and the world and has brought tears to countless Chinese people to this day.

He was silent and angry.

The country in Li Ming's concept was concretized for the first time.

He thought of his adoptive mother Zeng Wenxiu, Lucy from the concession, and so many compatriots who had loved and helped him since he was a child.

Is the "your beautiful country" that Harrison mentioned the same place as this fragmented picture?

Li Ming turned his back to the spy's wife and flipped through the photos: "Is your husband Japanese?"

Bingbing thought he was just a sailor who traveled around the world, so he could speak such fluent English. This was what Li Ming learned from Harrison since he was a child.

After making love, the spy's wife had no doubts: "Yes, this is our masterpiece. It's very shocking, right?"

After sailing with Harrison for several months and being accustomed to fights and disputes on the ship, Li Ming became daring and grabbed the small silver pistol in the spy's wife's handbag and turned around to shoot!
"Bang bang bang bang!"

The audience exclaimed in surprise. There was a close-up of the murderer over the shoulder from behind Bingbing. Li Ming's face was filled with rage and fear after the passionate murder.

He began to vomit violently and then fled...

The style of the picture changes abruptly, from burrs to a direct backlight effect.

Gu Changwei, Quentin and others who are knowledgeable know that this is another change in the character's personality, and the character's growth in the second act has begun.

In the heart of Li Ming, who grew up in the prosperous and safe British and American concessions, the concept of "motherland" is awakening.

He fled to the hotel where he was staying like a madman and tried to find a way to call the nursing home.

Historically, the British and American concessions were spared from the Battle of Shanghai, but they also fell after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Knowing that he was no match for the professional spy, Li Ming quietly spread the true identity of Professor Guizi and then boarded a passenger ship to the United States.

When the Battle of Shanghai broke out, the military attaché in the United States who ran the nursing home, feeling the frequency of war, brought all the relatives of diplomats in China back to their home country.

Among them are Li Ming’s adoptive mother and Zhang Manyu’s family.

Gu Chang didn't know that since the ill-fated Li Ming was the representative of our new country, the identities of the people around him were also deliberately arranged by Lu Kuan.

His biological father, Li Xuejian, was a foreign comprador;

His childhood sweetheart, Zhang Manyu, represents the foreign capitalist class;

The young man Zhang Songwen, whom I met by chance on the street, is a descendant of the national bourgeoisie.

This symbolizes the class dilemma faced by the country and nation in the complex context of the times.

And the awakening of nationalism in Li Ming's heart through his travels in Southeast Asian countries in the second act corresponds exactly to the fate of the country and the nation.

Gu Changwei frowned as he watched Li Ming on the screen standing on the deck of a passenger ship bound for North America, looking up at the sun as a hummingbird flew past his side.

This is a backlit shot of him standing by the side of a ship. His figure is outlined by the backlight and his facial expression is unclear.

The light hitting his profile gave him a sense of fate and heaviness compared to the rough feeling in the first scene.

Jiang Wenli tried to ask him what happened, but he didn't know what to say.

He was reminded of the classic film "The Legend of 1900," in which the protagonist Danny Bertmann has a similar backlit shot when deciding whether to disembark and start a new life on land. He was also reminded of the beginning of "The Godfather," in which Godfather Corleone listens to someone's request in a dimly lit room, with light streaming in from a window behind him, creating a backlit effect.

He thought of Wang Jiawei's "In the Mood for Love". The dim light in the corridor shone from behind Liang Chaowei and Zhang Manyu, and the backlight beautifully displayed their postures and the outlines of their cheongsams.

But what about the road width?

How does it compare to the use of overexposure and backlighting in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", which is integrated into the entire character and the metaphorical fate of the country?

This has gone beyond simple techniques and can be said to have entered the level of Tao.

Just like Zhao Fei's subconscious reaction when he suddenly heard Lu Kuan's genius idea on the set, Gu Changwei could not contain his excitement and emotion.

Perhaps Chinese cinema is really about to produce a master.

If at the beginning of the film, he was still worried about whether "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" would compete with his painstakingly crafted debut "Peacock" for the Golden Bear.

At this time, Gu Changwei had completely let go of these unrealistic thoughts, and from the perspective of a top photographer, he was truly convinced by this masterpiece.

More importantly, not only professionals like him can see the unique camera language and visual style in the film.

Even Jiang Wenli, who was next to her, could accept and recognize the story of this movie from the perspective of an ordinary audience.

Gu Changwei didn't know how to define "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" between an art film and a commercial film.

As Li Ming traveled along the way, he began to shape his outlook on life and the world as he opened his eyes to the world, and he wrote down his experiences in his notes.

That is the notebook that Zhang Manyu read to her daughter on the hospital bed at the beginning of the movie.

Li Ming arrived in the United States and reunited with his adoptive mother. At this time, Li Ming had gradually lost his old age, and the effect of anti-aging was so obvious that Hui Yinghong almost couldn't recognize him.

He and Zhang Manyu met again.

Here, the hidden thread of the country's fate is temporarily hidden, and the emotional fate of the male and female protagonists is highlighted as the bright line.

Quentin and others’ ignorance of the hidden plot does not affect their interpretation of magical love as Westerners. The backlighting in the second act was “prepared” for them.

"I heard you've started dancing ballet?"

Zhang Manyu smiled gently: "Yes, I will become a dancer. Are you looking forward to it?"

"of course."

For some reason, even when his childhood sweetheart, whom he had been thinking about day and night, stood in front of him, Li Ming felt that there was a gap between them.

The outlook on life shaped by his travels in recent years and the awakening of his nationalist consciousness are somewhat incompatible with Zhang Manyu's family background as a bourgeois lady.

In this way, Li Ming lived in the United States for two years.

Like his childhood idol, journalist and pilot Harrison, he traveled and sightseeing in North America, measuring foreign lands with his own feet and broadening his horizons.

At this time, Zhang Manyu officially started her ballet career. Because of her graceful figure and beautiful face, she quickly stood out.

The scene switches from the protagonist's trivial love to the magnificent historical curtain.

In 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

In the same year, the United States entered the war and President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act, allowing China or other countries to lease weapons and equipment.

At the invitation of the Nationalist government, retired U.S. Army Air Force Captain Claire Lee Chennault came to China to serve as an adviser to the Chinese Air Force and recruited air and ground crew members to form an air force in China.

This was later known as the famous Flying Tigers.

Refugees fleeing the country continued to come to Chinatown. A few years ago, a photo of "Chinese Dolls" from the Battle of Shanghai on the desk of a Japanese spy in Singapore came to mind.

Li Ming made a decision that would affect his life: return to China.

He contacted his childhood spiritual mentor Harrison, who was filming a documentary and conducting interviews in Kunming, targeting the aforementioned Flying Tigers.

After many twists and turns, 23-year-old Li Ming arrived in Kunming, which was the base camp for the Kuomintang to train pilots at that time.

Li Ming entered the student training class through Harrison's relationship. Listening to inspiring speeches every day, he also felt a sense of mission to save the nation.

Although his physical condition has been declining, at the age of 24, his physical condition is equivalent to that of a normal person in his 40s or 50s, which does not meet the selection criteria for the pilot he longs for.

As early as when he was a child in a nursing home in the concession, Li Ming listened to Harrison talk about the "rivers and mountains of the motherland" from a high-altitude perspective.

The movie uses a flashback here. The old-looking Li Ming in his childhood and the much younger Li Ming now have a soul dialogue across time and space, which amazes the audience.

"Hey, why are you here too?"

Li Ming suddenly turned around and saw his old friend Zhang Songwen, whom he met when he first left the nursing home.

He is also the third son of Shanghai's national entrepreneur Zhang Yiyun.

"I'm here to save the nation!"

Li Ming's persistence and naiveté made Zhang Songwen want to laugh, but his face, covered with engine oil dust, was filled with bitterness.

The war was intense, and these novice pilots who had only trained for less than a year had to go to the battlefield.

"Brother Song Wen, I have confidence in you. The performance of the Hawke-3 is not much worse than the Japanese Zhong Kui Type . You will definitely win!"

Zhang Songwen smiled and touched Li Ming, who was not as tall as him at the moment, then turned and left.

Li Ming, who devoted himself to the job of mechanic repair with full of patriotic feelings, did not realize that this turn would be a farewell forever.

In early 1942, the Japanese invaders designated the Burma Road as an important strategic bombing target because the road was an important channel for China to obtain international aid at that time.

At this time, the absolute main force of the Flying Tigers was dispatched to carry out the famous "Hump Route Air Transport" mission.

This is a route with extremely harsh conditions, starting from Assam, India in the west, crossing the Himalayas and other mountain ranges in the east to Kunming and Chongqing.

An air battle is about to begin.

Although the first generation of national army pilots who are still in training are still relatively immature.

But in order to fight the war, we must not fear life or death, regardless of east or west.

The first generation of pilots in our country are almost all second-generation rich and second-generation officials. They received a good education since childhood, and those who were able to take the initiative to devote themselves to the cause of resisting Japan and saving the country are all loyal and courageous people.

The fighting was unprecedentedly brutal, and the two sides were still fighting back and forth in the past few days.

"Brother Songwen, am I right? If we can withstand a few more attacks from the enemy, the Flying Tigers will be back soon. By then, we'll make sure these Japanese invaders never come back!"

Zhang Songwen still smiled silently, his expression full of fatigue.

"Xiao Ming, if I die, please bring this epaulette to my father."

Li Ming, who was dancing with joy, was stunned: "Death? How could that be? We are in a very good situation now!"

Zhang Songwen waved his hand and walked away, leaving Li Ming with a look of astonishment. The backlight of the screen was almost dazzling, and the audience felt a pain in their hearts.

Even foreigners who don't know this history subconsciously feel that the cynical character Zhang Songwen is about to fall.

"Director, you succeeded."

Zhang Manyu looked at the feedback from countless devoted audiences in the theater and quietly congratulated the talented person next to her whom she was collaborating with for the first time.

She is not sure who is better between Lu Kuan and Wang Jiawei, but for her, apart from directors of these two levels, she probably won't act in any other movies.

Boss Lu was unusually calm at this moment: "Thank you, this is our success."

Strangely, he did not feel the joy of having his wish fulfilled. Instead, the confusion he felt the night he first arrived in Berlin resurfaced in his mind.

Maybe it’s because of film art, or maybe it’s because of my own life in this life?

The air battle the next day was unprecedentedly fierce. The fighter plane piloted by Zhang Songwen and his wingman discovered the enemy attack and immediately took off to intercept. Our Hawk-3 and the enemy's Zhong Kui- fired several streaks of light in the air.

"careful!"

Li Ming was watching in front of the ground telescope with horror. He saw a shell whistling towards him. Zhang Songwen pulled the lever suddenly, and the shell slid past the belly of the Hawk-3.

But the wingman behind him had no time to dodge and fell, leaving a long trail of black smoke!
"Fuck you, you little devils! I'm going to fight you!"

Zhang Songwen in the cockpit was so angry that his eyes widened. He quickly adjusted his flight attitude and locked the halo of the sight onto the enemy plane. He pressed the button decisively, and a tongue of fire approached rapidly!

"Wow!"

"Oh!"

The roll rate and acceleration and deceleration performance of the Type 3 Zhong Kui are better than those of the Hawk-. The Japanese fighter planes dodged quickly, which caused the audience to murmur in regret.

Li Ming was so nervous as he looked in front of the lookout tube that his palms were sweating.

Sudden! An accident happened!

Zhang Songwen's fighter plane suddenly shook violently in the air without any warning. The tail of the left wing showed visible damage and smoke, but at this time, there was no trace of the enemy plane in Li Ming's field of vision?!

Li Ming, who had been influenced by Harrison since childhood and worked as a mechanic for a year, came up with an extremely difficult answer in his heart.

There is something wrong with this batch of aircraft parts!

Because he was responsible for repairing the wings of Zhang Songwen's fighter plane!

The air battle scene changed rapidly. Zhang Songwen, who could hardly keep his balance, had no choice but to fly his fighter plane towards the Japanese invaders and died together with a Zhong Kui Type 2 fighter plane.

Thick smoke billowed in the sky, and Li Ming, played by Lu Kuan, broke the fourth wall in the movie. He raised his head from the lookout tube and faced the camera with a ferocious face.

Angry? Disappointed? Incredible?
The audience who were talking and making noise just now fell silent, and some were wiping away tears.

Quentin's fingers were bruised white as he gripped the chair handle. Lu Kuan's look was so sad and complicated that it deeply pierced his heart.

Even for a foreigner who cannot empathize with our national suffering, such a turn of events is cruel.

Li Ming ran back to the maintenance base like crazy and opened boxes of aircraft parts. After observing carefully, he picked up a hammer and started swinging!
"Harm people! Harm people!"

Substandard quality and insufficient strength of parts and materials ruined the life of ace pilot Zhang Songwen.

This group of loyal and brave first generation pilots were almost all children of powerful families who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths.

They gave up their comfortable lives and used their short but brilliant lives to leave the glory of patriotism in this cloudy historical sky.

All of this implicitly points to the corrupt logistics of the Nationalist army in the aforementioned plot.

Li Ming rushed to the command center with a grim face, but the dirty words he uttered failed to move the indifferent Kuomintang officers.

With Harrison's help, he was spared from being sent to a military court for offending his superiors and damaging military supplies, and left the base in a daze.

"You should go back to the United States first. The war is too cruel."

Li Ming was speechless. He wanted to say something but felt extremely powerless.

Before leaving, he called out to Harrison: "Can my country be saved?"

"I don't know either, but I'll go to northern Shaanxi to take a look. Good luck, kid."

After that, Harrison went deep into the enemy's rear base. He wrote "Red Report" (later translated as "Journey to the North") and edited and published the picture album "Journey to the West".

These works recorded the historical events of the time and allowed the Western world to have a deeper understanding of the anti-Japanese struggle led by our party.

His photographic works and written reports provided an important window for the world to understand the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and also left valuable materials for historical research.

“Can my country be saved?”

This is the confusion that comes from Li Ming's soul, and it is also the confusion of the country and nation he represents.

This is definitely not an anti-Japanese war film about saving the nation from extinction. The plot here is too broad to delve into further, otherwise it would involve sensitive content.

At the same time, the film focuses on both light and dark story lines, and the second act is coming to an end.

In 1944, 26-year-old Li Ming returned to the United States to reunite with his adoptive mother and lover.

But at this time, Zhang Manyu was already a well-known dancer.

The two met again on the stairs of the nursing home.

When the little old man and the little girl were 12 years old, they met for the first time;
At the age of 18, Li Ming said goodbye to Zhang Manyu and traveled to Southeast Asia with Harrison;
At the age of 23, Li Ming once again said goodbye to his girlfriend, wanting to save the motherland in his mind;
At the age of 26, Li Ming, who returned again, looks almost the same age as Zhang Manyu, and both of them have the appearance of young people.

At this moment, Boss Lu has returned to his original character image, standing on the stairs of the nursing home, and the camera texture is gentle and warm.

"You? Are you Li Ming?"

"Yes, I'm back."

Zhang Manyu rushed forward into his arms in ecstasy, and the two hugged each other tightly.

It’s just that the physical distance cannot bridge the gap between thoughts and souls.

Zhang Manyu has lived in the United States for many years, and her thinking and habits have become completely Americanized. The two of them talked to each other from morning to night and recounted their respective life experiences.

In the evening, the open-minded Zhang Manyu invited him to her apartment. Her beautiful eyes looked at him and the hint was very obvious.

Li Ming refused.

Although he didn't know how he could refuse.

Perhaps it was because their outlooks on life and the world were too different, or perhaps it was because his previous strange appearance left a sense of inferiority in his heart.

As a result, even when facing his beloved again, he couldn't make up his mind to accept this relationship.

Zhang Manyu left sadly and returned to New York to continue her dance career.

Li Ming discussed with his adoptive mother Zeng Wenxiu and decided to find a job with Li Xuejian, a button merchant whom he had met in the concession before.

Li Xuejian was very happy to see this young man whom he had not seen for a long time, who was also his own flesh and blood.

In fact, during the years that Li Ming was traveling, he found Zeng Wenxiu and told her the truth, and he also asked her about Li Ming's recent situation.

Li Xuejian was anxious to collude with Zeng Wenxiu to get Li Ming to his factory because he was suffering from a terminal illness and only had a few years left to live.

In the next few years, he will hand over his life's work to Li Ming.

Li Ming began to learn how to do business and manage a factory from him. Having traveled far and wide and gained a wide range of knowledge, he quickly got on the right track and became Li Xuejian's right-hand man.

A few years later, on the eve of Li Xuejian's death, he told Li Ming the truth on his hospital bed.

"You are my offspring."

"what?"

"You are my child, Li Ming."

Li Xuejian lying on the hospital bed had a hoarse voice and looked exhausted. He really wanted to hear the young man in front of him call him "Dad", but he felt that he was not qualified.

In this climax, Lu Kuan designed a contrast of light and shadow:

Li Xuejian lying on the hospital bed in the shadows symbolizes the disappearance of his life;
A spotlight from outside the door shone on Li Ming's face, which was filled with disbelief, as he lay in front of the bed.

This is a very creative light and shadow design and a meaningful profile. The edge of light and darkness is the edge of life and death.

Gu Changwei, Roland, Quentin and others almost clapped their hands in admiration!
Compared with the ubiquitous showmanship in the previous film "Alien Land", the camera language of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" appears to be more profound and restrained.

It's like the aggressiveness of a young man, which leads to the indifference and tranquility of middle-aged people as time goes by.

Quentin seems to think that this is not an improvement in film techniques, but a change in Lu Kuan's own mental state, otherwise there would be no such projection in the artwork.

He guessed correctly. After the editing, Boss Lu went to Jiuzhaigou with inexplicable thoughts to adjust his mental state, and his manic mood still could not be calmed down at this time.

Love is the common language of all mankind, and countless audience members were sobbing in tears.

In addition to the still talented director Lu Kuan, they also met a Chinese performing artist today who is no less talented than Morgan Freeman!
Li Ming finally forgave his father and took him to the beach and sat on a bench.

In the early morning, the sky turned pale and a ray of light began to appear on the sea level.

As time passed, the sun slowly rose, and the golden sunlight sprinkled on the sparkling sea.

Li Xuejian's frail face was illuminated by the sunlight, and his eyes were complicated.

There is regret for the past, guilt towards Li Ming, and relief that life is about to end.

The audience was in a calm mood, watching with emotion the warmth and sadness of the father and son's final farewell.

But Gu Changwei, Quentin and others suddenly discovered that the backlighting effect of the movie camera had disappeared!

It turned into a soft front light.

The so-called front light means that the direction of light exposure is basically the same as the shooting direction, so that the surface of the subject can be evenly illuminated.

When using soft front lighting, the light is softened and does not produce strong contrasts between light and dark and harsh shadows.

This ensures that the characters, scenes and other elements in the movie shots are evenly and softly illuminated, presenting a clear, bright and warm visual effect.

It is as if shrouded in gentle sunshine, which easily creates a warm atmosphere.

Knowledgeable directors can see that this is the end of the second act and the beginning of the third act.

"Dad, Dad?"

Li Ming sat behind Li Xuejian and called out a few words tentatively.

He walked up to Li Xuejian. This incompetent father had passed away suddenly. He didn't know if he heard Li Ming's two calls.

Li Ming suddenly felt a pang of pain in his heart. He grew up in a nursing home and had seen many separations of life and death, but when it really happened to him, he couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy.

He took over the family business and became a well-known button merchant.

Perhaps feeling empty inside, Li Ming went to New York alone. He wanted to find Zhang Manyu, just to see her.

In front of the glass of the dance troupe's rehearsal room, he saw Zhang Manyu dancing intimately with a young dancer. At the end of the song, the two kissed and hugged each other.

Li Ming felt bitter inside, but he couldn't blame anyone. It was his cowardice that caused him to lose the girl.

"Li Ming?"

Zhang Manyu happily rushed out and grabbed him: "Why did you leave without saying a word? Did you come to see me?"

Zhang Manyu's young lover came over and hugged her from behind: "Honey, is this your friend?"

"Yes! This is the friend I grew up with, the one who keeps getting younger and younger."

"Oh! Hello!"

Li Ming exchanged a few words helplessly and turned to leave.

In the carefully designed long shot, Zhang Manyu looked at his receding back and inexplicably felt that this increasingly tall figure was a bit pitiful.

The movie switches to the opening scene, where Zhang Manyu talks to her daughter on the hospital bed.

"I didn't know that he came to see me that time because his father died."

"Otherwise I would have chased him down and given him a warm hug."

Li Ming left in a daze.

The soft light lens is like a smooth third-person perspective, continuing to narrate Li Ming's life with a sentimental touch.

The hero and heroine went their separate ways and started their own lives.

In 1950, the elderly Harrison returned to the United States and had a long talk with his lifelong "little friend" Li Ming.

"Li Ming! You are so amazing! You are really getting younger and younger!"

"Harrison, are you feeling okay?"

"That's great! There's no more war in the world. I'm going to travel around the world!"

Li Ming suddenly seemed to remember something: "Is everything okay back home?"

"You should go back and see. This ancient country, like you, has gone from old to young. It's unbelievable."

"They have a new government, a great government!"

In 1950, the central government conveyed the message to overseas Chinese through external broadcasts that domestic industry and trade would have great development in the future and that overseas Chinese could return to China to invest and set up factories.

The obvious love story of the hero and heroine is intertwined with the hidden story of the fate of the country and nation. Li Ming returned home with anticipation.

Li Ming witnessed the earth-shaking changes in China with his own eyes, and he returned to the nursing home in the concession where he was born.

He watched as Xiafei Road became Huaihai Middle Road, Pétain Road became Hengshan Road, and Yade Road became Lushun Road, as well as the joy on people's faces.

Li Ming's identity as a returned overseas Chinese was welcomed, and he decided to open a factory in the mainland to support the construction of his motherland.

After ten years of hard work in the mainland, one day his adoptive mother called him from North America and said that she was very old and wanted to see him for the last time.

Li Ming burst into tears on the phone and immediately set off to return to the United States.

In front of the hospital bed, the adoptive mother touched Li Ming's middle-aged face and kept murmuring, "My child," and then she passed away suddenly.

Zhang Manyu, who appeared in the camera again, no longer needed any makeup or special effects technology.

The year was 1960, and Li Ming and Zhang Manyu were both 40 years old.

Zhang Manyu gently comforted Li Ming's empty heart, and the two former lovers who had known each other at the age of 12 naturally came together.

Childhood affection and long-lasting concern, maturity and harmony after experiencing the vicissitudes of life.

Of course, this also includes two people who are both 40 years old and have a high degree of matching appearance.

Zhang Manyu was from 1 to 40 years old, and Li Ming was from 80 to 40 years old.

The hero and heroine walk towards each other on the journey of life. The two lonely souls meet, know each other, fall in love, and fall in love at the "midpoint" of life.

It doesn’t have the passionate love of youth, but it has the lingering love of a mature soul.

The two began to live together. They did not get married, buy furniture, or follow any rules. They lived a romantic life without any constraints.

Until their daughter was born.

The camera switches and returns to the third-person perspective at the beginning of the movie. Zhang Manyu's daughter Li Lin stares blankly at her seriously ill mother.

"So, Li Ming is my father?"

"Yes, he is your father."

Li Lin burst into tears and kept stroking the notebook left by her biological father with her fingers, wanting to cross time and space to touch that amiable soul.

"Then why did he leave me?"

Zhang Manyu, lying on the hospital bed, smiled bitterly: "The older you get, the younger he gets, and the more scared he gets."

"We were both approaching 50, and his face was getting younger, but his body was getting older."

"Your father was worried that in a few years, I would have to take care of both of you at the same time, so he left us a large sum of money and left alone."

The movie scene switches to the hysterical quarrel between the young-looking Li Ming and Zhang Manyu.

The quarrel ended with a silent hug between the two, and Li Ming left.

He asked Zhang Manyu to find a man of the same age and similar temperament to start a family and raise her daughter well.

The plot of the movie here follows the original novel.

The soft light of the movie lens is even more intense, as if the long river of history is silently passing through the hearts of the audience.

Deep and heavy, this is everyone's impression of the third act.

In 1978, Li Ming, who was over 60 years old, returned to China again after his properties in the mainland were confiscated in the incident.

Li Ming thought of Zhang Songwen, whom he met when he was young, and of the countless people who sacrificed their lives for this land. So he took advantage of the policy of reform and opening up to continue to devote himself to the construction of the motherland and opened foreign factories in the mainland.

In 1988, Li Ming could no longer hide the secret of his age-defying growth. Because his biological father's identity and position as a comprador for foreigners were wrong, he donated all his domestic properties to the country and returned to the United States alone.

One day, the new director of the nursing home found 70-year-old Zhang Manyu.

"Ma'am, there's a child in a nursing home who's unclaimed. There's a piece of paper in his pocket with your name and address on it."

The elderly Zhang Manyu suddenly remembered something and followed her back to the nursing home.

A child less than 10 years old sat at the piano and played "Für Elise" clumsily.

Zhang Manyu walked unsteadily to the piano and looked at Li Ming, who had "rejuvenated", and stroked his tender cheek with tears in her eyes.

Li Ming suffered from Alzheimer's disease and forgot everything, but he did not forget the song his lover taught him to play when they first met at the age of 12.

At the end of the movie, a very impactful scene is presented to the audience:

Under the soft light lens, the elderly Zhang Manyu holding the baby Li Ming in her arms forms a strong contrast!

Zhang Manyu has gone through the baptism of time and her face is full of wrinkles;

Li Ming has returned to the most primitive state of life, with delicate skin;

The soft light casts a faint halo over the two people, creating a sacred and poignant image.

Li Ming's life came to an end, but in the camera, his love with Zhang Manyu was frozen into eternity.

The film ends and the subtitles are finished.

Unlike the instant explosion of the audience at the end of "Alien Land", the theater was silent at this moment.

Apart from faint sobbing, there was no other sound.

　The second 300 monthly tickets will add 5000 more words. If I don’t have time to finish coding, I’ll add words first and make up for it later!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)