Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 730 Considering Having a Child
The film "Marriage Story" has seen a second small-scale surge in popularity in China – the first being its Cannes premiere, where a very small number of film fans were present.

"Samsung. The story is actually not very original, but the actors' performances are really strong. Liu Yifei deserves this Best Actress award."

"Four stars. There's really nothing innovative in the text, but the Rashomon structure keeps the audience from getting bored with this traditional text."

"One star. The director pretends to think about family relationships, but the level he touches on is extremely superficial. The whole story stems from the two people's inexplicable guesses and misunderstandings, without any substantial expression."

"Five stars. I strongly disagree with the claim that the film originated from unfounded speculation and misunderstanding. Li Qiutang's cleverness lies in using the Rashomon structure. The purpose of the Rashomon structure is to obscure the truth, allowing everyone to have their own version of events. This perfectly aligns with the chaos of life and the ambiguity in communication between husband and wife that the film aims to portray. There are many things in family life that are difficult to explain or understand, and not everything can be clearly distinguished as right or wrong. This is what the film is trying to express. Those who don't watch the film carefully and then randomly give it a rating are wrong."

"I admire director Li Qiutang's courage. He dares to keep life as it is in the film—chaotic, unsolvable, and without standard answers, forcing the audience to face it directly. I'm quite worried for him; I don't know how well the audience will accept it after its release."

Of course, the most frequent comments were praise for Liu Yifei's performance.

"Five stars. The performances of the main actors were all excellent, especially Liu Yifei, who was the biggest surprise."

"I have to admit that I have a stereotypical prejudice against Liu Yifei's acting skills. Even after she won the Cannes Best Actress award, I still didn't think her performance was satisfactory. So I specially bought a ticket to the film festival to see for myself. After watching it, I was dumbfounded. Is this Liu Yifei? Is this the Liu Yifei who was said to have wooden acting skills? Liu Yifei is really different. She deserves this Best Actress award. I hope she will make more films."

The positive reviews after the screening at the Changchun Film Festival made Liu Yifei quite proud.

"Look, everyone says I acted well." This guy made a video call from the film set to show off to Li Qiutang.

She didn't participate in the event, but she paid close attention to the comments online.

"Oh, that's enough. You've been bragging since May, and now you've even won Best Actress. We know you acted well." Li Qiutang was too lazy to pay attention to her.

Anyway, she's the oldest this year, so let her say whatever she wants.

Liu Yifei then asked, "Feng Xiaogang has really been arrested?" She was filming on set and was out of touch with the news, so she only found out today.

"How would I know?" Li Qiutang genuinely didn't know, and he wouldn't ask about such things. "When do you wrap up filming?"

"Next week, no later than Saturday," Liu Yifei said. "You can pick me up at the airport."

"Aren't you going back to Jiangcheng for a couple of days?"

She even became clingy: "You haven't seen me for months, and you don't miss me at all. Now that I've finished filming, you still want to send me back to Jiangcheng."

"Are you trying to kill me?" Li Qiutang was amused by his wife's actions. "You're in Xiangyang. Shouldn't you go home to see your elders after filming wraps up? If you don't go, who knows what your extended family will say about us? They say a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl. You don't even come home to visit in Hubei Province. It's only been a few years. They'll say it's because I, your son-in-law, didn't let you come home. I'll be the one who got the short end of the stick."

"Okay, okay, I'm done filming and going home for a couple of days."

"I'm taking advantage of these two free days to exercise properly, hehe."

"Pah, what's the use of cramming at the last minute?"

"Even last-minute preparations can be effective."

Liu Yifei rolled her eyes, ignored him, and after a few more sweet words, the couple hung up the phone. Li Qiutang returned to the Changchun Film Festival. If the Shanghai International Film Festival is a mid-year review of Chinese cinema, then the Changchun Film Festival's timing is perfect for summarizing the bustling summer season and previewing the upcoming National Day and Lunar New Year film seasons.

This year's summer film season achieved relatively good results, so the sluggishness of the Shanghai International Film Festival did not continue into the Changchun Film Festival.

The Changchun Film Festival actively embraces commercialization in its activities. During the festival, there are various themed events for the audience to participate in every day. If you want to freeload, there are also various cocktail parties to choose from. If you're shameless enough, you can even sneak in.

"Dying to Survive," the biggest winner of the summer season, and Autumn Pictures became the brightest stars at this year's film festival.

However, because "Dying to Survive" was also an nominated film, its activities were subject to stricter restrictions. Apart from necessary activities organized and assisted by the film festival, the film crews of nominated films were not allowed to hold any promotional activities on their own. Otherwise, they would be considered to be engaging in award lobbying and would be severely punished.

"The Wandering Earth" is scheduled for release on the first day of the Lunar New Year next year, so there are some things that can be said at the Changchun Film Festival in September.

There are still many voices pessimistic about domestic science fiction. Li Qiutang's view is:
"We should face the problems and the gaps head-on, but we shouldn't complain. I often see many people saying that we don't have this condition or that condition, which is certainly true, but you will never solve the problem if you don't start doing it."

"When I was working on the Towering Tree Project, many new directors would ask me the same question: what's the most important thing for a newcomer making a film? My answer was always: start doing it. Starting is the most important thing, then persevere, and solve problems as they arise. This applies not only to science fiction, but to any genre."

Speaking of "The Wandering Earth," which will be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Li Qiutang happily informed fans that the post-production progress was very good and that the film would be completed on time.

"It will show everyone something different," Li Qiutang said confidently.

As for "Marriage Story," which will be released in December, Li Qiutang is even more relaxed: "I don't feel any pressure. I've already won an award, and the copyright revenue has already covered my costs."

But the reporter's questions always caught Li Qiutang off guard: "Yifei has already won the Best Actress award she's always dreamed of. What's her next goal? Is she going to become a mother?"

"Oh—" The entire audience joined in the cheering.

Li Qiutang couldn't help but chuckle and said, "I'm already considering it." This wasn't just to fool the audience; Liu Yifei had already won Best Actress awards and filmed a Disney princess movie, and she really was thinking about having children.

"Oh—" This answer will certainly satisfy the audience.

After a day of official activities, Li Qiutang dragged his tired body back to the hotel, told his assistant to go back first, and let him eat something by himself for a while.

It was past mealtime, and the hotel restaurant didn't have much food left, so Li Qiutang ordered something casually and found a seat by the window.

He had barely sat down and hadn't even picked up his water glass when he heard a woman's voice calling out to him in surprise from not far away:

"director!"

There were only a few people in the restaurant at that time, and Li Qiutang was probably the only director present.

Looking up, she saw Zhang Ziyi, who waved to her with obvious delight, then dismissed her assistant and sat down opposite Li Qiutang.

(End of this chapter)