Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 255 Guest Film Critic

"A Guide to Awards Predictions and Analysis for the 62nd Venice Film Festival."

A post in the "Caoyang Bar" was pinned to the top and quickly became a hot topic.

The reason why this post was pinned is that the person who wrote it is a well-known and rising director in China. He did not hide his name but posted it directly in the forum.

Moreover, he specially wrote at the beginning: I am honored to be invited by the official program of the Venice Film Festival to become a special film critic.

I wrote this article with an objective and fair attitude and point of view. This article is also published in the official program of the Venice Film Festival ICS. Friends who are interested can check and correct it.

In his post, he wrote in the tone of an “expert”:

It is not difficult to predict the Oscars. More than 5500 Academy members serve as judges, the voting subjects remain exactly the same every year, and the overall viewing taste has created long-term aesthetic inertia.

Add to that the Golden Globe Awards, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, various union awards and other large and small indicators and guesses, and the results can generally be grasped as long as you analyze patiently.

Film festivals are different.

Although the avant-garde Cannes, the sophisticated Venice and the old-fashioned Berlin are each in their own series, there is a high degree of randomness because there are only a few judges and the people who hold power every year are not the same.

Before predicting the awards, one must definitely analyze the composition of the jury members. Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can one accurately guess who will win the award.

There are three things worth noting about the jury members of this year's Venice Film Festival.

First, the chairman of the jury, Mr. Dante Ferretti, is an art director by profession, and he must be very demanding on composition, color, costumes and various details.

Second, Italian singer Emiliana once sang the ending song of the second part of "The Lord of the Rings", so she will definitely pay attention to the soundtrack of the movie.

Third, the Chinese writer and screenwriter Ah Cheng appeared on the jury, so that filmmakers, musicians and writers were all included.

This leads to a definite conclusion that this year's awards will be relatively dispersed, and it is impossible for one film to win multiple awards.

Getting back to the topic, so far, based on the ratings in this year's program book and the opinions of film critics, as well as my own bold speculation after careful consideration, the biggest favorite for the Golden Lion Award is Patrice Chéreau's "Gabriel".

Someone will certainly argue that the film with the highest score in the official program catalogue currently has Cao Yang's "Black Swan", so why is "Gabriel" the favorite for the Golden Lion Award?

First of all, there is an unwritten rule at film festivals, which is that the favorites and the films with high scores will die.

"Black Swan" is indeed 0.3 points higher than "Gabriel", but you have to know that Cao Yang has long "abandoned" traditional art films and started making so-called experimental films, which is a betrayal of art.

Let me first state that Cao Yang and I are alumni and both graduated from the directing department. I have no opinion about him and I really appreciate some of his early literary and artistic films.

However, Cao Yang has not made a pure art film for two years. He has been immersed in so-called experimental films and has achieved quite good results.

I doubt whether he can still make a pure art film?

I watched his "Black Swan" and I don't know how to describe it. This movie is more of a thriller and suspense movie than an art film!
Throughout the history of the Venice Film Festival, no horror film has ever won an award.

Some people may ask, why is the rating of "Black Swan" so high?

Commercial success has made director Cao Yang extremely famous, even surpassing his influence in the field of art films.

When people judge Black Swan, they will unconsciously think that this is Cao Yang's movie, and the parts of this movie that I don't understand must have a deeper meaning...

Therefore, the rating of "Black Swan" will naturally be higher.

Let me make one final point about the speculation and winner of the Golden Lion Award.

Patrice Chéreau's "Gabrielle" also has an advantage, that is, the wonderful performance of Isabelle Huppert, the literary queen who has won two Cannes Best Actress Awards and two Venice Best Actress Awards, is another plus point for the film.

By the way, Cao Yang won the Jury Prize at the 01st Berlin International Film Festival in 51, and the one who defeated him and won the highest prize, the Golden Bear Award, that year was Patrice Chéreau.

……

Next, there are predictions about some other awards and possible reasons for winning. At first glance, they seem somewhat "reasonable".

For example, he said that the Best Actress award would most likely be won by Lee Young-ae from the South Korean film "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance".

The reason given is that the film abandons the concept of social reality and elevates the outcome of revenge to the moral level of theology, indicating that only through "redemption" can a way out of despair be found, and Lee Young-ae is that "goddess".

As for the second most prestigious Grand Jury Prize, he predicted that Takeshi Kitano, who lives a simple life, would win it.

The reason is that as the "god" of daily life, the world's film master, his idol, Takeshi Kitano made this film for himself, a very personal "dream talk"-like work.

It includes the director's own experiences, his understanding of society, and a review of past works, and is worthy of a grand jury award.

Until the final Best Technical Contribution Award, Cao Yang's "Black Swan" did not appear.

At the end, it was explained: There is no doubt that Cao Yang is a very talented director. As Cao Yang's senior, I sincerely hope that he will not waste his talent, but will settle down and delve deeper into the field of art films so that he can go further, instead of making a pretentious film like "Black Swan".

As a senior, I suggest that the film festival give Director Cao Yang a Special Jury Award to show its appreciation and encouragement for him.

I sincerely hope that Director Cao Yang can have smooth sailing on the road of art and go further and further!

This post is very popular in "Caoyang Bar" and has been viewed by a large number of people.

However, because "Black Swan" has not been released yet, no one knows how the movie is made, and no one can refute anything for the time being.

Most of the replies were like:
"I haven't seen Cao Yang's new movie yet. It seems that the OP doesn't think highly of it. Could it be that Cao Yang also has his moments of failure?"

"I don't know what's going on. Is there any big brother who has seen it in Venice? Can you tell me what you think?"

"This post seems to have a reasonable analysis, but brothers, have you noticed that the official program of the Venice Film Festival gave the highest score to Black Swan? Just based on this point, I think the author is biased."

"The poster is a well-known director and a senior of Cao Yang. It seems that the article is very 'fair' and he also said some encouraging words to Cao Yang. But I still saw naked jealousy between the lines."

"Haha, guys, let me show you the original film review published on ICS. Most of the text in the front is original, but it only predicts the Best Technical Contribution Award. The text after 'as' is missing."

Below is a picture of the original film review posted on ICS.

……

Jiang Shixiong was a student in the first batch of undergraduate directing class of Beijing Film Academy. After graduating in 60, he stayed on to teach at the school. He served as the director of the teaching and research section of the directing department and the secretary of the party branch.

She has taught many classes as a head teacher and served as a supervisor of graduate students for two terms before her retirement. She is a senior professor at the Beijing Film Academy and her network of contacts is needless to say.

Today, after receiving a phone call, she was stunned for a long time, and then she made another call with an angry face.

"Explain to me what's going on with that film review on ICS!"

As soon as the old lady answered the phone, she started to blame angrily.

"Teacher, I have written many film reviews on ICS. Which one are you talking about?"

After hearing this, the old lady became even angrier.

"Don't play dumb with me! You know exactly who I'm talking about. I need an explanation."

The other party hesitated for a moment before speaking softly:
"Teacher, is it my article predicting the award? Is there a problem? I am speaking from a fair and impartial perspective. I have watched Black Swan, it is just a suspense thriller movie. I am just expressing my thoughts."

"you!"

The old lady was furious and scolded directly: “Whether you are standing from the perspective of fairness and justice or for other reasons, you know best.

I am old, but I am not senile. Last time at the College Student Film Festival, I noticed that something was wrong with you and tried to persuade you earnestly. Is this what you did?"

Now that the truth had been revealed, the other party stopped pretending to be confused and shouted:
"Teacher, I don't know what I did wrong. I just can't understand why the entire Beijing Film Academy put all its resources on him. If these resources were given to me, I would definitely be more famous, more influential, and more successful than him..."

"Shut up!"

The old lady was furious.

"Do you think Cao Yang's achievements were the result of the school's investment of resources? That's ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. I can tell you straight out that not only did the school not invest resources in him, but he continued to create resources for the school!"

After taking a breath, the old lady suddenly felt very tired. The prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain. No matter how hard you try, you can't move it. It is better to be direct.

"You are now the guest critic for the Venice Film Festival's official publication ICS. You look so impressive and proud, don't you? Haha, how do you think you got this guest critic title?"

"Teacher, I... I know it was you who gave it to me, and I have always been grateful to you..."

"Haha, silly child, you are really naive."

The old lady laughed at herself. She was extremely disappointed. She thought she could bring up a great director and tried her best to build connections for him. Who knew...

Alas, I really envy that lucky guy, Old Situ. I teach more classes and more students than him. He is also a documentary teacher. How can he produce so many great feature film directors?

Why don't I have such luck?
"To tell you the truth, for your future and to get you closer to Cao Yang, I shamelessly asked Cao Yang for help. This so-called special guest film critic was someone Cao Yang asked for you in Venice. Didn't expect that? Haha..."

The old lady's laughter was filled with sadness and disappointment.

The person on the other end of the phone was dumbfounded.

(End of this chapter)