This director loves making friends.

Chapter 100 Broken Movie

Qin Keqing's second film, "Uncle," was released in Hong Kong on September 16. Before the release, Oriental Cinemas, in conjunction with media reports from the Venice Film Festival, gave many promotional slogans.

"Stylized auteur experimental films that strive to create high-quality works that balance commercial appeal and artistic merit."

"The second film by director Qin Keqing, the creator of the new violent aesthetic style, is a continuation of the realistic brutality and freehand style of 'Sweet Life'."

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"Selected for the main competition of the 50th Venice Film Festival, and won the FIPRESCI Prize, the Kinsieck Prize, and the Pasinetti Prize."

Catholic Culture Award —

"A brutal and poignant journey of human redemption —"

In Huang Baiming's words, there's always something that can attract moviegoers to the cinema.

Although September 16th is a slow season after the summer movie season, Huang Baiming attaches even more importance to it. If they can achieve high box office revenue during the off-season, the reputation of Oriental Cinemas will be "stronger".

Of course, this is also because he has high hopes for the new action film "The Man from Nowhere".

In Huang Baiming's mind, "The Man from Nowhere" is a fast-paced commercial film, and he arranged the publicity and release schedule according to the standards of a commercial film.

If it were to be promoted, scheduled, and screened like an art film, it would definitely be different from a commercial film.

Art films can't compete with fast-paced commercial films in terms of audience attendance, their screening periods are different, and they can't be scheduled for prime time. People who come specifically to see art films generally don't care too much about the screening schedule.

Huang Baiming is not only a star and director, but also a businessman. If he thinks "The Man from Nowhere" can make money, he will definitely arrange a number of screenings in Oriental Cinemas. If the box office of "The Man from Nowhere" is not as expected, he will not hesitate to reduce the number of screenings.

Shi Qi and Luo Ka are extremely famous in Hong Kong film criticism circles and professional fields, but their popularity among the general public is relatively limited. They are "legends in the industry, but little known outside the circle".

He and Luo Ka had a mentor-student relationship, and he was brought into the industry by Luo Ka.

Shek Kiu has his own column in Ming Pao, and the term "elegant violent aesthetics" was first coined by Shek Kiu in his column.

When "The Man from Nowhere" was released, he immediately called Luo Ka and they went to the cinema together.

In fact, the reason is very simple.

It wasn't just for the film column; Qin Keqing's "elegant violent aesthetics" had already spread, and as the first person to propose this concept in a film review, he was extremely proud.

The more famous Qin Keqing becomes, the more he will benefit, provided that Qin Keqing can promote the "elegant violent aesthetics".

Therefore, Shi Qi is most concerned about whether "The Man from Nowhere" belongs to the "elegant violent aesthetics" style of film.

Once a person has enough to eat and wear, and is not lacking in money, then "fame" becomes the most important thing.

No matter how famous a film critic becomes, they may not be remembered in the future.

However, as long as "elegant violence aesthetics" continues to develop and becomes mainstream, the person who first proposed the concept of "elegant violence aesthetics" will be mentioned by later generations, just like the creator.

Shi Qi and Luo Ka entered the screening room and made a deliberate observation. The attendance rate on the first day was indeed very good, and the screening room was almost full of movie fans.

"His movies are starting to gain positive word-of-mouth, and most of these people are probably here because of the director's reputation."

Shi Qi whispered to Luo Ka.

Luo Ka nodded, then looked around before replying, "Most of them are young people. These people probably like his hard-hitting fighting style, which looks much more satisfying than a straightforward, forceful style."

Since there were still a few minutes before the movie started, the two of them listened carefully to the discussions around them, which would likely become the basis or inspiration for their film reviews later.

"This movie is called 'The Man from Nowhere,' is it really just a story about the daily life of a middle-aged man? That's how art films are usually made."

"Qin Keqing's art films are different from those of other people. Although his art films also discuss human nature, they are not boring to watch. The movies are still very enjoyable to watch."

"Damn it, didn't you see it's starring Lam Kok-ping? How could it be a middle-aged man?"

"I remember that Lin Guobin's old movies were all very stiff and exaggerated in terms of fighting. But it changed starting with his last movie, 'A Bittersweet Life.' The fighting felt very realistic and exhilarating."

"I hope this movie will be in that style too."

"Didn't the publicity say it would have the same style as 'A Bittersweet Life'? And it's the same director, so it definitely won't change."

Shi Qi glanced at Luo Ka and whispered, "The promotion for the last film, 'A Bittersweet Life,' mainly focused on its award at Cannes. It was only through word of mouth that more young people were drawn to the theaters. This time, the situation is clearly different."

Luo Ka also sighed softly, "Young people are the main force in watching movies. As long as we can attract these people, we can easily break 20 million in box office revenue."

Judging from today's main audience, they know that as long as this movie can maintain the same fighting style as "A Bittersweet Life", the box office of "The Man from Nowhere" is guaranteed.

At this moment, the lights in the theater went out, and the movie was about to begin.

"See?"

""

The two said it almost in unison.

In the same theater, two rows away from the two, sat a young couple. The man was called Alang, and the woman was called Amei. They didn't work for the same company, but they were both white-collar workers.

In Amei's mind, her boyfriend Alang has loved watching art films since college, especially those that explore marginalized people and human nature.

Judging from the publicity, three highly anticipated films are being released simultaneously in different theaters today.

One is the romantic comedy "The Lover's Confidante", which stars Tony Leung, Rosamund Kwan, and Anita Yuen.

One is Qin Keqing's "Uncle," which doesn't sound artistic at all, nor does it seem like a commercial film.

One is the art-house romance film "Moonlight on the Rooftop," which combines artistic flair with light comedy elements. It stars Leung Ka-fai, Ye Yuqing, Kent Cheng, Lui Leung-wai, and Liu Chia-ling, boasting a strong cast.

What Amei really wanted to see was this art-house romance film with its strong cast, because she thought her boyfriend would also like this kind of art-house film.

Furthermore, The Wedding Banquet, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, has only been released for less than a week.

Amei thinks her boyfriend, Alang, will choose "The Wedding Banquet," a Golden Bear-winning film that they haven't seen yet since its release.

Actually, this movie is quite good. At least when talking about movies with colleagues, discussing "The Wedding Banquet" is more sophisticated than discussing action movies, horror movies, or romance movies.

So Amei decided to listen to her boyfriend and watch "The Wedding Banquet" would be a good idea.

To everyone's surprise, Ah Lang led her into the affiliated cinema of Oriental Cinema without hesitation. He asked about all the other movies showing that day and directly bought two tickets for "The Man from Nowhere," even though the seats weren't great.

This made Amei somewhat unhappy.

The name "Uncle" sounds so low-class, doesn't it?

Director Qin Keqing? I think I've heard of him somewhere before, but he doesn't seem to be very famous.

Lin Guobin? Is that the ex-boyfriend of Anita Mui, the woman who lives off her boyfriend?

Zeng Zhiwei? That short, fat guy talks in weird ways, and he's playing a supporting role.

None of the remaining actors are famous.

Amei was a little confused as to why Alang would choose to watch a movie with such a small cast and relatively unknown actors.