How did I become famous?

Fang Bie's new film is tentatively titled "Shadow of Light".

This is a movie with two main characters.

The story tells of a love-hate relationship between a psychopathic serial killer and a police officer.

The movie begins with the two main characters browsing a video store together when they were children.

The equipment here has sweet highs, accurate mids, and deep lows; in short, it's crystal clear.

So the two kids usually like to come here to listen to CDs.

It should have continued like this.

But one day, the owner of this music store died.

The blond child took a painting with him, a Mona Lisa.

Another child with black hair took away a DVD player.

The two never saw each other again.

Until... twenty years later.

Kira is an ordinary 33-year-old owner of a music and video store.

single.

He doesn't smoke, and drinks only in moderation; he has no bad habits.

I always ranked fourth in my class when I was in school, because only the top three students would receive special attention from the teachers.

After graduation, he found an ordinary job, working from nine to eight every day, not attending any colleague gatherings, and never thinking about promotion.

He always managed to get his work done, though not perfectly.

Therefore, his superiors never scolded him, but they also had no intention of promoting him.

So he quit his job and returned to his hometown to open a record store.

He goes to bed at 11 p.m. and needs to sleep for eight hours every day.

Before bed, he drinks a glass of warm milk, then does twenty minutes of stretching exercises. Once in bed, he falls asleep immediately and sleeps soundly until dawn.

He would never leave fatigue and stress for the next day.

Even the doctor said he was perfectly normal.

But he has a secret that no one knows...

He was a serial killer who had murdered many people.

He felt alive when he killed people, even though he knew it was wrong and would cause trouble, he still chose to do it.

He harbored a certain expectation deep in his heart, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what that expectation was.

............

Chen Qing is an ordinary policeman who is thirty-one years old.

Also single.

He smokes, about a pack and a half a day.

He drinks, and he's basically always drunk.

He was always among the top students in school, usually ranking first or second.

After graduation, he passed the exam and joined the system, becoming a police officer.

I go to get off work and leave work normally every day, and after get off work I eat and drink with my colleagues, living like a normal person.

The organization also stated that he would be promoted next year.

He went to the hospital for a checkup, and it turned out his health wasn't very good.

He has mild fatty liver, often stays up late, and smokes and drinks alcohol frequently. His doctor also told him to get more rest.

He managed to get away with it by making jokes.

Beneath his cheerful and easy-going exterior lies a secret unknown to most.

He became a policeman so that he could catch the murderer himself and avenge his parents, brother, and sister.

Ten years ago, when he was studying at a university in another city, he suddenly received devastating news.

His home was burgled, and his parents, brother, and sister—all four of them—were brutally murdered by the perpetrator.

The investigation concluded that this was a case of home invasion robbery and murder.

The perpetrator was apprehended within 48 hours.

But only he knew that the killer wasn't that person.

Because along with the money, two DVD players were also lost from his home.

Among the murderer's confession and the stolen goods found, there was only one DVD player.

He knew who the killer was.

............

Three months later, he applied to be transferred back to his hometown, a small town.

Faced with his boss's regret and his colleagues' lack of understanding, he simply said that he was naturally lazy and that the pressure of life in big cities was too great, so he would rather return to his hometown to shine.

Just then, a series of murders occurred in his hometown, so his superior sent him back.

On the afternoon he returned to the town, he inexplicably found himself in a vintage music and video store.

There was also a copy of "Mona Lisa" hanging on the wall of that music store.

There he met a man.

The person he had erased from his memory, yet who reappeared like a ghost.

Kira.

That afternoon, the sun shone brightly, and the world was at peace.

Inside the music store, the two sat on chairs, enjoying old music together.

"This speaker is a standard Hong Kong-made product, costing over ten thousand. With the addition of a local cable costing over a thousand, it's comparable to European products costing over ten thousand. The highs are sweet, the mids are accurate, and the lows are deep; in short, it's crystal clear. The stereo effect is so strong, it's like the music is playing right in front of you. Just like the one in that old record store."

"I don't like listening to music; I prefer watching movies." Chen Qing smiled, avoiding the question, "How long have you been back?"

"It's been over ten years, I came back after graduating from university. What have you been doing all these years?"

"Be a police officer."

"Did you come back because you were fired?"

"No, it's to catch a criminal. Have you heard about the recent series of murders in town?"

"I've heard about it. They say the killer is a pervert who specifically targets young girls. But he didn't assault them; he just cut off their hands and took them away. What a freak."

"I think so too."

After this first meeting, Chen Qing confirmed his guess—Kira was the murderer.

It wasn't just this serial murder case, but also the bloodshed of his entire family of four.

The murderer is Kira.

And he was provoking me.

The DVD player that was stolen from my home is sitting in this video store.

And there's that Mona Lisa I've never seen before.

But he had no evidence.

So he set his sights on Kira, wanting to find evidence that he was the murderer.

............

But the murderer continued to commit crimes, and Chen Qing still couldn't find any evidence. He even received many anonymous packages containing arms.

He finally couldn't hold back and took Kira to the police station.

However, Kira had alibis for all those cases on the day they occurred.

Helpless, Chen Qing watched Kira being released with a smile, vowing to find evidence that he was the murderer.

Finally, after arduous investigation, he realized something.

He returned to the old record store that had been burned to the ground.

Inside the music store, he found the arms that had been hidden.

Furthermore, the technical department also retrieved a shoe print and a discarded shoe.

Chen Qing was overjoyed and applied to the bureau to have Kira come and wear those shoes to test the footprints.

If the point and angle of force are consistent, then evidence that Kira is the murderer has been found.

But then, a dramatic scene unfolded.

Kira was in a car accident.

Chen Qing fell silent as he stared at the mangled corpse.

He didn't believe it was Kira's body.

DNA testing needs to be done in the provincial capital, and the results take about a month to come out.

But Chen Qing couldn't wait that long.

Three days later would be the anniversary of his family's death.

So he continued searching for the suspect.

After going through countless hardships and eliminating everyone else, he narrowed it down to one person.

The driver who ran over and killed Kira—his car caught fire, and he suffered extensive burns all over his body; he is currently receiving treatment in the hospital.

Chen Qing rushed to the hospital, only to find that the driver had disappeared.

Chen Qing knew where he would be.

............

Inside the video store, Chen Qing saw the person wrapped in bandages.

The two engaged in a tense and exciting battle, and the bandaged man was defeated.

"Kira, it's you."

Chen Qing was referring to the identity of the bandaged man in front of him.

It also refers to the perpetrator of a serial murder case.

And the murderer who killed his parents, brother, and sister.

"You have no evidence."

That's how the bandaged man answered.

"My name is Kira, I'm thirty-three years old, and I live in the residential area on the east side of town. I'm unmarried. I own a music and video store, which opens at nine in the morning and closes at eight in the evening. I don't smoke, and I only drink a little alcohol. I go to bed at eleven every night and make sure I get eight hours of sleep. Before bed, I always drink a glass of warm milk, then do twenty minutes of stretching exercises, and then I fall asleep immediately. I sleep soundly until dawn, never carrying fatigue or stress into the next day. The doctor says I'm perfectly normal."

How could someone like me be a murderer?

"Evil can never triumph over justice."

"So I'm not the murderer. For the past twenty years, I've been like your shadow. Actually, you're the one who should be living in the shadows."

It turns out that the fire at the old video store was caused by human intervention.

Everyone assumed Kira was responsible, as Chen Qing insisted it was him, but due to a lack of evidence, he was released.

However, because of this, his whole family moved away from the town, and his parents abandoned him and left him because of this incident.

But Kira knew best that the person who set the fire and killed the boss was Chen Qing!

Chen Qingcai is an antisocial psychopath!

"But you're the killer of the serial murders in this small town. You're also the killer of my parents and sister. By the time the burglar arrived at the scene, they were already dead." Chen Qing said calmly. "Turn yourself in. It's not too late. Why not give yourself a chance to start anew?"

"Confess?" Kira tilted his head slightly. "I just wanted you to live in the shadows with me. Why should you be able to live in the light while I can only eke out a living in the shadows? You're just like me."

"It's all too late. A life for a life, that's an age-old truth. It's just that you and I are different from others; you and I are special."

Kira looked up: "Once upon a time, there was a mental hospital built on a cliff, where there were two madmen. One night, they got tired of living there. They felt that they were not livestock living in this cage, but human beings who should live in the world outside this cage."

So they decided to escape from the cage.

One night, the two arrived at the cage door. Through the door, they were greeted by a brightly lit human world under the moonlight.

To get across, one must leap over the deep valley in the middle of the cliff.

One of them jumped over easily, and he turned around to invite the second person to jump over with him.

The second person dared not jump, because he was afraid of falling and dying.

So the first person came up with a solution. He said, "I'll use a flashlight to shine a bridge in the middle, and you can walk across by stepping on the bridge."

But the second person refused, saying...

"Did you think I was crazy? You would have turned off the flashlight when I was halfway there."

Isn't that hilarious?

"Sorry, I have a high threshold for laughter." Chen Qing lit a cigarette, took a light puff, and said, "I'm not like you."

"you......"

Kira's eyes widened.

Then he laughed, and tears streamed down his face.

"As expected, you and I are different."

"But soon, you'll be just like me."

The laughter stopped abruptly.

............

The truth is that the incident at the record store was done by the two of them together.

It was indeed Kira from ten years ago who killed Chen Qing's parents, brother, and sister.

But why is it said that Chen Qing is a different person from Kira?

Because Kira eventually found out too.

This Chen Qing is not Chen Qing.

He is Chen Qing, who should have been killed ten years ago.

Chen Qing is the older brother, the same age as Kira, and someone who committed that crime together.

He knew he had psychological problems and had tried to struggle with them.

But he failed.

And how can one cleanse oneself of the sins already committed?

So, on that day ten years ago, when Chen Qing returned home and found his parents and sister lying in pools of blood, and Kira, whom he hadn't seen for ten years, standing there, an idea popped into his head.

He impersonated his younger brother Chen Qing and was then killed by Kira.

But he also left clues for his younger brother.

Because he knew Kira wouldn't leave any openings.

Because both of them have special abilities.

This is what makes them different—they don't see themselves as ordinary people.

Using his abilities, Chen Qing recorded the evidence he saw at the crime scene onto a CD and hid it before he died.

Kira knew his abilities, so he took the DVD player after killing the man.

But he didn't expect that Chen Qing had another DVD player at home.

Chen Qing, the younger brother, was two years younger than his older brother. He was notified to go home and retrieved the DVD player from the stolen items taken by the robber.

He learned the truth.

Actually, his brother didn't want him to seek revenge. Chen Qing just hoped that his younger brother would live in the sunlight and be a good person.

But what the older brother didn't know was that the younger brother also had special abilities.

Unlike his older brother, the younger brother didn't think it was anything superior, so he always kept his abilities hidden.

Until this case, the younger brother made a decision.

He wants to find the killer and kill him with his own hands!

So he gave up his own identity and chose to live as his older brother, Chen Qing.

The Chen Qing who died became his younger brother, Chen Qing.

Why did Kira laugh so happily at the end?

Because he achieved his goal.

He actually knew from the beginning that it was his younger brother, not his older brother who was also a shadow like him.

However, this younger brother, who was the light, ultimately chose the path his older brother did not want him to take.

He used his abilities to kill Kira.

He was no longer light; he had become shadow.

Of course, this last part is written directly in the script, but it won't be shown to the audience in the final film.

It's an open ending.

After reading the script, Liu Mang took a deep breath: "Old Fang, this... is it a commercial film?"

Fang Bie smiled slightly: "Is it profound?"

"have."

"Then it's an art film."

Before Liu Mang could say anything more, Fang Bie spoke first: "You tell me, what makes a good movie?"

"A good movie..." This question really stumped Liu Mang.

"Can it be sold for money?"

That's exactly the point.

This world is different from Fang Bie's previous life.

In his world, the domestic film industry had also undergone changes.

Even trashy movies made by popular young idols can have high box office returns, because there are brainless fans willing to pay for them.

But can we say that something that's worse than a slideshow is a good movie?

I'm afraid not.

However, before Fang Bie traveled through time, the film industry in that world had already become more rational.

It's becoming increasingly difficult for movies starring popular celebrities to achieve high box office returns.

But since this world doesn't have this kind of experience, high-grossing movies... must be movies that the masses love.

Some directors like to say that they make art films and disdain making commercial films.

But in Fang Bie's mind, these are just the stubborn words of those incompetent directors. Making a low-grossing film that others can't understand doesn't make it an art film.

The best art films are inevitably commercial films, because good art films can also sell at the box office.

Are films like "The Legend of 1900," "The Pursuit of Happyness," "Forrest Gump," "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Truman Show," and even the domestic film "Dying to Survive," commercial or art films?

Film is the seventh art, combining the three forms of literary expression: text, images, and sound.

Therefore, Fang Bie believes that, apart from the visual effects of the film itself, a film that can provoke thought and has some depth and meaning is an art film.

So he chose to drastically modify the script.

However, in order to avoid winning an award, Fang Biewang added something to it.

For example, the special abilities of the two main characters.

Don't believe those old guys who judge awards won't like big-budget movies with special effects.

Just look at Liu Mang's reaction and you'll know.

"So what exactly is that special ability?! A Stand? Is it really okay for something like that to appear in an art film?"

Fang Bie shrugged: "With depth, substance, and a story, what else could it be but an art film?"

"But this is also..."

But this is so different from what people usually think of as an art film!

This is exactly the effect Fang Bie wanted!

Through the previous movie, he discovered something.

What the young lady really cares about isn't the box office performance, but rather public approval.

Only movies that win both awards and critical acclaim can satisfy her!

So Fang Bie simply modified a movie with crazy special effects and then called it an art film!

If the award judges are not satisfied, and the audience who came for art films are not satisfied either, then what else is there to say?

Fang Bie stood up: "That's settled then. Everyone, go about your business."

Su Mulin grabbed him: "Where are you going?"

Fang Bie turned around and smiled, "Finding actors."

Who would be the best actor to play Kira?

Of course, it's Kira Yoshikage, the manager of the nail salon next door!

PS: JOJO Part 4 + some clips from Infernal Affairs + some scenes from Daybreak + some scenes from Daybreak + Batman: The Killing Joke, is this worth it?