The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 663 Screening of "Joker"

The Venice Film Festival has officially begun. The opening film is "Elevation" from Beautiful Country. The director of this film is Balthasar Komaku from Iceland. The main actors are a group of second-rate Hollywood stars, Jason .Clark, Robin White, Emily Watson and others.

In Li Shengyao's view, this is a very ordinary, it can be said that it is an assembly line work without any highlights.

He was a little surprised why such a movie could be chosen as the opening film.

Generally speaking, opening ceremony films are directed by great directors, or are films that have attracted much attention and have a unique style.

For example, Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" was the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival in previous years.

Although the movie is average and not very outstanding, it is full of gimmicks and attracted many media and celebrities to watch.

But now "Desperate Elevation" obviously does not have such energy.

After the movie ended, everyone left in a hurry.

None of the Hollywood stars leaned in to say anything nice.

The cast members of "Joker" left the theater quickly as they naturally did. Lee Sheng-yew always believed that Alberto was a thoughtful film festival chairman.

There must be a lot of interests behind choosing such a movie as the opening ceremony movie.

The opening ceremony film was not good, but the overall quality of the films at this Venice Film Festival is still very good, such as "Come from Away" by Verrella, "Memories" by Egypt, "For Your Sake" by Italy, and the British "The Danish Girl" are all extremely high quality movies.

From a literary point of view, these movies are very good.

However, from the perspective of commercial films, these movies may not be as profitable as "Old Paoer".

"Old Paoer" is the closing movie and you have to wait until the last day to see it.

"Joker" was screened on the fourth day of the festival. There were two screenings in total, both in theaters with 300 people.

In fact, this time point is not suitable. You can't move forward or backward.

Fortunately, Li Shengyao's reputation is there, and the previous trailer was very successful and attracted a lot of people's attention. On the day of the screening of "Joker", the theater was packed with not only a large number of reporters, but also many directors, actors, and producers. .

"I want to see Li's movies. His movies are very mature. I think it is a direction that all directors should study and study."

Pablo Chabiro from Argentina expressed his thoughts like this when being interviewed by reporters.

The movie "Crime Family" he directed also received a lot of attention.

"Lee is very good. When I was in Los Angeles, I heard some opinions. Many people think that "Joker" has the ability to compete for the best film Oscar next year, so I can't wait for a long time. Now I have the opportunity to watch it in advance. Of course I won't Opportunities will be missed.”

Gyllenhaal, who has never made a bad movie in his life, faced the camera and expressed his approval of Lee Sung-yew.

"We have always attached great importance to Lee's performance. He has been away from Hollywood for several years. This time he returns to Hollywood and everyone is looking forward to his performance.

To be honest, we are very envious of Warner. I am Arthur Wenders, the producer of Paramount. I welcome Lee to cooperate with Paramount. "

The producer from Paramount expressed his thoughts at the entrance of the theater.

At the same time, heavyweight film and television magazines such as Germany's "Cinema", France's "Cahiers du Cinema", England's "Sight and Sound", and the United States' "World Cinema" all arranged for reporters and film critics to come to the screening. Cinema, watch this movie that everyone is still looking forward to.

Of course Alberto and Alfonso were also present, as were many members of the jury, such as Hou Hsiao-hsien, Francisco Muniz, Diane Kruger, etc.

"To be honest, I don't really want to see this movie. It's a DC Universe movie."

Diane Kruger has blond hair, wearing a blue backless dress and a pair of white crystal shoes, looking noble and elegant.

She was praised by the media as Germany's most elegant beauty.

She played the stunningly beautiful Queen Helen in "Troy".

She is a model. Although she is only 1.7 meters tall, her body proportions are very good. She is already thirty-seven years old, but this time on the red carpet of the Venice Film Festival, she outshone everyone.

Even Depp's wife Hilde is not as dazzling as her.

Most of the films she has participated in are commercial films, but as a German, she actually dislikes commercial films and prefers literary films.

As for superhero movies, she hates them even more.

"People in China are like this. They like to brag. No matter what kind of messed up movie they are, they can brag perfectly."

Diane Kruger did not sit with other members of the jury. She sat with her agent. She felt very happy after watching so many literary films in the past few days.

We know that "Joker" is actually a commercial movie and a character in the DC universe.

She was very disgusted in her heart, but she couldn't say such things directly. She could only secretly talk to her agent at this time.

"Honey, please keep your voice down. This is a major movie released by Warner. Its director is Li. If you offend Warner, it will be difficult to get along in Hollywood in the future. If you offend Li, maybe he will become the chairman of the jury in the future. At that time, It’s miserable.”

The agent lowered his voice while looking around, slightly praying that Diane would not say such words again.

"Hmph, just wait. After the screening of "Desperate Elevation", no one will interview you. This will happen in "Joker"."

"I know, I know, don't say it anymore."

There were spectators before and after, and the agent was really afraid that such remarks would spread.

The theater was dark, the movie hadn't started yet, and many people were discussing in low voices.

Diane curled her lips, then opened her bag, took out a pair of sunglasses, and put them on.

A deep cello sound sounded, and "Joker" officially began.

Diane took out another stick of chewing gum from her bag, then put it in her mouth, chewing and chewing.

The theater became quieter, the credits of the movie passed, and the main film began to show.

The male protagonist Arthur is a comedian in a club. His job is to dress up as a clown and hold up LED billboards on the street to attract customers for restaurants.

In an old street, among a numb crowd.

Arthur was dressed in colorful clothes, and he was also very happy. The overall color was much brighter than the others.

He seems out of place with his surroundings, but he still works very hard to blend in, and he works hard to show off his comedy talents.

It's a pity that no one was interested, no one stopped, and no one walked into that restaurant to eat because of him.

Just when Arthur had no choice but to work, several gangsters suddenly rushed out. They locked Arthur, two people held Arthur's arms, and one person snatched away his LED billboard.

If the billboard is lost, his boss will deduct his salary.

Arthur was unwilling to give in and immediately chased after him. He shouted while chasing, but no one paid attention to Arthur and no one helped him. He chased him all the way to a remote alley. Just when Arthur was about to discuss and let the gangsters give him the billboard, someone hid beside him and knocked him down with a stick. Then several gangsters quickly approached and attacked him. His punches and kicks.

Arthur clearly had no enmity with them, but the gangsters humiliated him unceremoniously.

Finally, they raised the billboard and hit Arthur hard.

So why do they do this, and they can’t get any money? Is it just to vent the negative energy in their hearts?

Arthur was very puzzled. He was angry, helpless, unwilling and resentful. He put his hands on the wall and kicked the garbage bag several times.

In the theater, everyone watching gasped. Everyone was a fan of movies, and they immediately realized that this Arthur was the male protagonist, the clown.

Arthur was undoubtedly very pitiful when such a thing happened.

Some people sympathize with it, while others think it is not worth mentioning. In their view, the male protagonist should be aware and have enough positive energy to fight against an unfair world.

Diane gently took off her sunglasses. She could see that the shooting and lighting of "Joker" was completely different from that of superhero movies. The overall temperament was also different from that of past DC Universe movies. The temperament was more like her own. My favorite literary film.

Since the movie has some artistic qualities, she plans to watch it carefully. If it is really an artistic film, she can praise it after the screening.

The movie continued, and Arthur soon left work with scars all over his body. On the bus, he wanted to interact with a child, but he was sick and couldn't help laughing. This behavior angered the child mother, she sternly warned Arthur not to molest her children.

Arthur was in pain, but he couldn't help but laugh.

Back home, Arthur met his mother. Her mother was very nervous and liked to watch TV, and she really liked to watch Thomas Wayne, the richest man in Gotham.

Arthur had no feelings for this man. He took off his coat at home, revealing his morbidly thin figure.

Everyone in the theater knew a little bit about Phoenix. They knew that the crazy actor had lost dozens of pounds for this movie. Seeing how "thin" Phoenix was, everyone nodded secretly, feeling that Phoenix had made a huge sacrifice for the movie.

Diane frowned.

Judging from the plot just now, this movie still has a lot of commercial elements. It is not an artistic film at all, and it even uses gimmicks like Phoenix's weight loss.

She couldn't help but frown, then curled her lips.

I thought it was a literary film, but I didn't expect that it looked like a literary film, but it was actually a commercial film.

Thomas Wayne was running for mayor, and he was talking in front of the TV.

After a while, the interview about Thomas ended, and then came Arthur's favorite talk show, "The Murray Show."

Arthur was once imprisoned in a mental hospital. He needed to take seven types of psychiatric drugs and had to visit a psychiatrist in a community hospital regularly.

However, he aspires to become an excellent stand-up comedian, and his idol is Murray.

It was another day at work. Arthur was scolded by the manager because of the billboard and his salary was deducted. Arthur was very frustrated. Backstage at the acrobats, his colleague Randall gave Arthur a pistol, saying that he would do it next time. If you are bullied, shoot decisively.

Another colleague, the dwarf Gary, persuaded Arthur to be more open-minded.

Arthur agreed with Gary's words, but he still accepted the pistol.

When no one was around, Arthur was dancing with a pistol, and the unconscious aggression in his heart awakened.

At this point in the movie, most viewers understand that this movie is about Arthur's transformation into a clown.

The early characterization is very good, and Phoenix's acting is almost flawless.

Generally speaking, the plot leaves a lot of hooks, which is indeed the narrative method of commercial movies.

Diane crossed her arms. She didn't like commercial movies, but she had to say that the previous plot established the character. She was a little curious about what kind of "clown" Arthur would become in the end.

The movie continues. The hero goes home and meets his beautiful neighbor Sophie. In Arthur's subconscious, he feels that Sophie has a crush on him, and he is very excited.

He even followed Sophie secretly. Although his behavior was a bit obscene, Arthur felt like a deer bumping around, hiding a rose in his heart, and wanting to bloom to others.

He felt that Sophie discovered his behavior, but Sophie did not blame him.

This cheered Arthur up even more.

Although his work was not going well, he felt that he was no longer alone emotionally.

Then, while performing in a kindergarten, the pistol he was carrying fell to the ground.

Such behavior was clearly not allowed and he was fired and lost his job.

Arthur was very disappointed. He was riding the subway alone and encountered three drunkards bullying a girl.

The girl looked at Arthur asking for help, but in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Arthur gave up.

He thought that such a concession would allow him to get through the incident safely.

But they didn't expect that he was sick and couldn't help laughing. The drunkards thought that Arthur was mocking them and immediately came over to beat Arthur.

Arthur was so angry that he took out his pistol and shot two people on the train.

Another man escaped, but Arthur gave chase and shot the third man dead in the subway station.

He was very scared at first and kept running until he came to the public toilet of the subway. He looked around in horror, but soon he realized that no one had noticed him. He thought of the feeling of killing someone just now, and he couldn't help but dance alone again. .

This was the second time he danced with a pistol. Arthur's mentality really changed at this moment. He was no longer timid, no longer afraid, and no longer believed in the same set of moral principles.

He realized that in this world, it was survival of the fittest, the weak and the strong, and whoever was more ferocious would live a better life.

Seeing this, the atmosphere in the theater became much heavier.

Ask yourself, if you were in a situation like Arthur's, would you also fall?

Or can you stick to your heart and always be a kind person?

At this moment, many viewers who felt that the male protagonist was a villain and that the movie was not positive enough felt that this character was flesh and blood, and his transformation was worth pondering.

Diane spit out her gum and put down her hands. She put her hands between her thighs and twisted them together.

Although "Joker" is completely based on the narrative method of a commercial movie, Arthur's encounters and conflicts continue to escalate, constantly raising the audience's emotions.

But I have to say that the overall design, shooting, and actors' performances were outstanding.

She was completely immersed in it, and she had only played a third of the movie, but she was now 100% sure that this movie was awesome and the best movie so far in this movie program.

(End of this chapter)