Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

Clearly, he knew about the Sundance Film Festival, the world's most influential independent film festival. Previously, only one Chinese-language film was exhibited there, Zhang Yimou's "Ju Dou," which was just for public relations purposes. Then, "Ju Dou" became the first Chinese film to be nominated for an Oscar.

Of course, there are also many low-budget films costing hundreds of thousands or a million dollars that have grossed over 100 million dollars after Sundance, such as last year's "The Blair Witch Project" which grossed $200 million, and "La La Land".

By the way, Quentin Tarantino rose to fame at Sundance with Reservoir Dogs, and afterwards, a lot of people were throwing money at him.

After expressing his feelings, Han Sanping didn't want to suggest that Yang Che return to China as soon as possible to participate in the publicity, but he just told him to take care of both sides.

While repeatedly apologizing, Yang Che repeatedly assured that he would communicate with the domestic team every day.

Time flew by, and it was 3 p.m. on January 1, 2000, in the 1-seat screening room of the Egyptian Theater.

Well, it's the 21st century. Unlike the restless people around him, Yang Che, sitting in the third row of the audience, remained calm, even when the fireworks were set off at dawn.

Because at 9 a.m. yesterday, he had already celebrated the turn of the century, and the three of them celebrated simultaneously across four telephones.

Yuanyuan was on the streets of Beijing, and Bingbing was on the streets of Hong Kong. It was midnight on January 1st in both of their places. Yang Che in Park City heard the shouts of "Happy New Year" and the sound of fireworks through both of their mobile phones.

Suddenly, a whiff of perfume wafted over, and there was Michelle, wearing a jacket and looking nonchalant: "Hey, Yang, where were you at the New Year's Eve party? Were you on a date with some beautiful girl?"

"You were the most charming person at the entire film festival. I didn't even go on a date with you, so why would I go on a date with other girls?"

Michelle shrugged: "Thank you for the compliment, although it's not what you really think."

Yang Che smiled and said nothing more.

Standing on the stage at this moment is Robert Redford, the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, handsome since childhood, just as Brad Pitt imagined.

He is an actor and a director.

After winning the Academy Award for Best Director in 82, he founded this "anti-Oscar" film festival.

He was giving the opening remarks for "Saw" at that moment.

"The organizing committee had several discussions about making a B-grade horror film the first movie to be released globally in the 21st century. Until one of my colleagues said: We are here to serve independent filmmakers, not for some bullshit symbolic meaning of the 21st century."

Well, that statement successfully convinced us all.

"Ha ha ha ha"

"Clap clap clap clap clap"

The more than 300 filmmakers and dozens of journalists present applauded Robert Redford.

"OK, OK, Saw breaks through the increasingly formulaic and commercialized bottlenecks of the past. It has an ingenious concept and unrestrained blood and violence... I smelled the atmosphere of 70s B-movies in this movie, the atmosphere of the golden age, and I hope this film can also bring you surprises."

Wu Shih-hsien and Wen Tzu-jen, who were in the front row, jumped up immediately upon hearing this; this was incredibly high praise.

The distribution companies present were also on high alert, including Mark, the newly appointed president of Lionsgate's film division.

Well, almost all of the executives at Shimen Pictures are newly appointed. This independent film company, founded in 97 by Canadian banker Frank Gustave, had been run by its previous CEO, Roman, for two years without making any significant progress, so the entire management team was replaced.

These newly appointed management teams are now ravenously searching for talent and movies, asking everyone "What are your dreams?" They don't need red sofas or butt-shaking.

Otherwise, Mark, who is also the president of the film department, wouldn't be sitting here taking notes like an ordinary salesman.

Although it was the opening film, there weren't many formalities. After Robert Redford finished his opening remarks and stepped off the stage, the lights went out.

The screen lit up, and the English name of Vertical Entertainment appeared in a standard way. The screening room fell silent instantly.

Everyone trusted Robert Redford and wanted to see just how terrifying this first movie of the 21st century would be.

The screen went dark again, and the sound of dripping water could be heard. A young man woke up in the bathtub and found himself locked in a dirty, enclosed room, his feet chained to rusty water pipes.

This opening scene alone captivated the attention of the vast majority of viewers. However, Yang Che didn't observe the audience, as his attention was also on the film; after all, he hadn't seen this version of the finished product.

A middle-aged man was locked up in the opposite corner of the room, and between the two, a corpse holding a tape recorder and a gun lay in a pool of blood.

When a top-down shot revealed the panoramic view, Mark from the film studio's eyes lit up. He thought to himself, "Control, puzzle-solving..." As he pondered this, his gaze fell upon the four young people in the front row.

Then he looked at it even more carefully.

When the young man reached into the filth in the toilet bowl and stirred it around, many audience members clearly felt uncomfortable. Yang Che even noticed Michelle next to him swallowing hard...

In this way, people's emotions were constantly being stirred up, from the joy of finding a saw to the despair of not being able to saw anymore, to the despair of thinking about having to saw off their legs.

When Amanda was searching for the key to the mechanism inside a living person's stomach, the reporters at the scene finally started cursing.

However, after this part of the story, the audience also knows that as long as you follow the rules of the game set by the mastermind, you can survive.

After various efforts and decryption, the middle-aged man lost his mind. He sawed off his own foot, took the gun from the corpse, loaded it with bullets, and shot the young man dead. This was a mission given to him by the mastermind behind the scenes.

At this moment, the mastermind rushed in. He kicked the young man twice and was about to kill the doctor. Because the doctor did not kill the young man within the allotted time, the young man suddenly woke up, tackled the mastermind, and then attacked him wildly, finally smashing him to pieces with a toilet seat.

It turns out this was a scheme by the middle-aged doctor. He pretended to lose control and only injured the young man's arm, all to lure out the mastermind behind the scenes.

Seeing the mastermind dead, the middle-aged doctor promised him that he would call someone to save the young man after he got out, and then left on all fours.

The young man began searching the corpse of the mastermind, trying to find the key to the anklet. Instead, he found a tape recorder that represented being "manipulated." Trembling, he turned it on and listened, and the familiar voice came through again.

It turns out that this "mastermind" was also a participant in the game. He was a nurse who was suffering from a slow-acting poison. His task was to kill the doctor's wife and daughter within a specified time, which meant the doctor had to kill the young man at 6 o'clock.

The young man was dumbfounded. If the caregiver wasn't the mastermind, then who was?

As he was pondering, he seemed to hear a noise and slowly turned his head.

The corpse that had been lying in the middle slowly stood up, removed its hood, and began to decipher the mystery amidst the young man's terror.

It turns out he was a middle-aged doctor and a terminal cancer patient. He was in great pain, but he saw many healthy people who did not cherish their precious lives, such as drug use, promiscuity, extramarital affairs, and suicide. So he wanted to judge these people who did not respect the beauty of life.

Moreover, he had to watch these people go from suffering to death up close.

Finally, the mastermind staggered toward the door, announcing "Game over" amidst the young man's desperate wails.

As for the middle-aged doctor, how far could someone who had his foot amputated and lost too much blood run?

The film ends here.