I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

The entire trailer consists of a girl's monologue. She walks in the spring when cherry blossoms fall, practices archery in the scorching summer, brews tea with an elegant posture as maple leaves turn red, and looks up at the fluttering snowflakes like willow catkins in the snowy winter.

Bai Qiquan was so captivated by the sight that he was completely mesmerized.

Not only because he had seen the film they produced and learned about the girl's later experiences, but also because of the film's powerful expressiveness and immersive feel.

The background music, accompanied by soft and gentle piano sounds, makes the listener feel as if they are a family member who grew up alongside the girl, watching her grow step by step and become an outstanding person.

The trailer perfectly captures the essence of a young girl's spirit. Although it consists of everyday scenes and trivial daily matters, the fact that all the tasks are done by a beautiful young girl makes it a delight to watch.

"Director Lu is really amazing to be able to create such a girly scene."

In Bai Qiquan's view, male directors generally pay more attention to the visual presentation within the overall framework. Their shots are more purposeful, and each shot must have a meaning and a function, either to express something or to explain something. Just like when men browse shopping websites, they usually directly search for the target product, place an order, and pay in one go.

Such shots appear very "hard" and are easy to analyze and deconstruct.

For female directors, emotion is more important in their shots. Sometimes, the shot is just a vehicle, and even meaningless shots will appear in the film. In these cases, emotions will be expressed through music, the mood between the preceding and following scenes, etc. When you feel that a shot is meaningless, the director may not have thought about anything at the time and simply felt that it should be placed there.

Such shots would be a bit "softer".

For example, in this trailer, the transition between the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter could be directly switched, making people think, "Oh, this is to show the female lead's past experiences." However, Lu Ban cleverly inserted a lot of scenery, many shots of insects, plants and flowers that no one else appeared in. These shots would not have felt out of place if they were replaced with other ones, and it would have looked like they were just filling up the runtime.

But in reality, these scenes successfully eased and prepared the audience's emotions. After watching clips from all four seasons, the audience could only sigh, "She's so beautiful, so cute, so gentle."

I have to say, after watching this trailer, Bai Qiquan felt that he had completely fallen in love with amber.

Chapter 372 Art? Does he deserve it?

Also watching the trailer was Ms. Merritt Leslie, who was in France.

She is a freelance writer and film critic who started her career as a theater critic before moving into film, television, stage plays, opera, and other fields. In a French tradition, women are often seen as stronger than men, and she is also one of the judges for the Palme d'Or.

Ms. Merritt is known for her harsh criticism and scathing eye. She once publicly dissed an actress who tried to switch from film to Broadway, which led to attacks from the media and audiences, and she subsequently retired from the entertainment industry.

Therefore, some people call her the "Queen of Cannes," meaning that as long as she speaks, it is basically determined whether a film will win the Palme d'Or.

As a film critic who works in theater, Ms. Merritt naturally occupies the upper end of the social hierarchy.

In this industry, it's normal for filmmakers to look down on television actors, and for stage actors to look down on filmmakers. Most people just leave room for maneuver; even if they have opinions, they won't say them out loud. But Ms. Merritt is different. What she hates most are those who originally made cheap entertainment projects like popcorn movies trying to get involved in the theater or art film fields that she loves.

Without exception, any director with a "previous record" received a very low score from her.

Not only did she give it a low score, she also wrote articles to criticize it, criticizing it in front of the director and actors.

Therefore, when she heard that Lu Ban was going to participate in the Palme d'Or selection, her first reaction was that another arrogant and conceited guy had arrived.

"These people don't understand art at all. I've said it before: they think they're great because their clichéd films can fool the public and make money. They're trying to use one or two awards to gild their image. Ha, how ridiculous."

Ms. Merritt scoffed.

In her view, many commercial film directors are clueless, thinking that if they can make blockbuster movies, they can make artistic films. In fact, Ms. Merritt believes that these people do not understand art at all, and their actions are defiling art.

Lu Ban was one of them.

This up-and-coming young director from the East achieved the fifth highest-grossing film in global film history with a single movie, and also won widespread acclaim.

Ms. Merritt hadn't seen that movie. She never went to see commercial films on her own initiative; the better they sold and the higher their box office, the more she disliked them.

She believes that art should be noble, unrelated to money, and pure.

Therefore, when the director of an award-winning art film passed away due to poverty and illness, Ms. Merritt even wrote an article praising the director highly, believing that he refused to associate with those businessmen and defended art with his life.

Some people think that Ms. Merritt's ideas are extreme and morbid, but that is exactly what her persona is.

After the trailer for Lu Ban was released, Ms. Merritt had no intention of watching it, but everyone around her was praising the trailer.

For example, Ms. Merritt's colleague, Michael Weaver, who is also a film festival judge, praised the atmosphere presented in the trailer.

"Let me tell you, this movie can captivate everyone just from this trailer alone. I haven't seen a work that can touch my heartstrings just from the visuals in a long time!"

Hearing this, Ms. Merritt felt even more strongly that Lu Ban couldn't be allowed to be so arrogant.

"You're getting this high expectations based on just one trailer? Has the film industry really gotten this bad lately?"

She muttered to herself and clicked on the trailer.

In an instant, Ms. Merritt felt a warm breeze.

She had been to the island nation before and witnessed the sight of cherry blossoms falling all over the streets, but what she saw now was an even more magnificent cherry blossom rain.

Among them, a young girl is walking among the falling petals.

The moment Ms. Merritt saw her, she sensed a youthful vitality and a gentle, kind temperament, as if anyone could be kind to her and become her friend.

As time went by, Merritt, though he had never met the girl before, felt that if he could meet her in real life, the two of them would definitely be able to talk about anything.

Before she knew it, the trailer had ended. Although it only presented the life of a young girl, it had given Ms. Merritt endless anticipation. She wanted to see what the girl's experiences would be like afterward, to learn more about her, and to become a character in the film to connect with her.

Staring blankly at the computer screen, Ms. Merritt momentarily forgot that she had originally come to watch the film with a critical mindset.

"...It must be because that actress's acting skills are too good."

Ms. Merritt said to herself.

"These kinds of short films can be made simply by choosing a good location and finding a good actor; they're just visually appealing."

After thinking it over, she felt even more strongly that Lu Ban's practice of shooting beautiful scenery and using pretty actors to add hype to his work was a disgrace to art!

Thinking about this, Ms. Merritt could hardly contain her critical spirit.

She immediately opened the document and began writing about the trailer and her thoughts on Lu Ban.

"...Although director Lu Ban has achieved commercial success, he has only a superficial understanding of art. He thinks that using beautiful actors, beautiful scenery, and slow-motion shots constitutes art, but in my opinion, he is defiling art. He is trying to deceive the audience with those commercial methods. But there are still people with discerning eyes. As for 'All Quiet in Spring,' I think it is just a clichéd romance film. Let alone winning the Palme d'Or, it will not even get a nomination!"

"...He thought that the tricks he used to please audiences with no taste in commercial films could also fool experienced judges, but unfortunately, he failed."

"Art? Does he deserve it?"

This was a review article updated on a personal website, and within a few hours, it had received over 10,000 views.

This article was quickly reposted on major domestic forums, and machine translations were also provided.

Many people who are not optimistic about Lu Ban regard this as gospel and use it to criticize Lu Ban's new movie. After all, some people just repeat what others say without having their own subjective opinions. Some people even believe that foreigners are always right. If foreigners criticize domestic things, then it must be because domestic things are not done well. Since foreign bigwigs are saying that Lu Ban is no good, then Lu Ban must be no good!

Under these circumstances, Lu Ban's complete master tapes of "All Quiet in Spring" were sent to distant Europe, into the hands of the Palme d'Or jury.

Within a week, the jury members will review the film and make their evaluations.

Chapter 373 Lu Ban is nothing special!

When Ms. Merritt Leslie, who was in France, received the copied discs, she had already watched several of the major works to be selected.

This includes a film by a Middle Eastern director about a protagonist who goes to jail for debt and gets involved with his autistic son and girlfriend; a film about a father who commits crimes and struggles in his search for his missing son; and a film about a woman who takes a train for an extramarital affair and ends up spending a long time with an Eastern European miner in the train carriage.

These films mostly focus on humanity, family, self, and crime, and have a strong art film style.

Moreover, the vast majority of these films are works by non-European and American directors. Films from developing countries such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South America are the mainstream. In the lenses of these directors, their homelands are shrouded in a mysterious color, and films full of primitive wildness and exotic scenery dominate.

Of course, the narrative of most of these films is relatively dull, usually consisting of one or two people having a conversation that is like a riddle or something, in some very dark setting, and then interspersed with elements such as violence and sex.

According to Ms. Merritt, this year's Palme d'Or should be awarded to one of these films.

As for "All Quiet in Spring"?

Sorry, we're really not that close.

She had even considered fast-forwarding through the movie to show that she had seen it, since in Ms. Merritt's mind, the film was nothing more than a collection of individual heroism and male chauvinism, coupled with the gentleness and tenderness of a beautiful young woman, just like those superhero movies that would make Ms. Merritt vomit at the mere smell of them.

This kind of movie can't even get a nomination, it's not worth wasting your time on.

However, in the evening, her colleague, Professor Michael Vivo, a fellow film critic, sent her a special email.

"My dear Merritt, I think you absolutely must see 'All Quiet in Spring.' This work is simply perfect. If there's any work this year that can be called art, then I think it must be this one. I can't explain it any further. It's a work that can touch your heart and heal you. You absolutely must watch the whole thing. My God, I've never felt such a powerful impact. I assure you, it's a work you won't regret watching, and you'll recommend it to everyone!"

Professor Michael himself is not the typical extroverted and enthusiastic Frenchman, so Ms. Merritt was quite surprised when she saw him describe a work in this way.

He's not the kind of person who would use those words to praise a bad movie.

Could it be that... "All Quiet in Spring" is really that good?

Ms. Merritt went to the projection room in her house, suspiciously put the disc into the computer, poured herself a martini, and then closed the door.

She had no children before her divorce, and after the divorce, she lived alone in a detached house in the suburbs. The dampness unique to the French countryside at this time of year permeated the moss on the walls, and the vast farmland was shrouded in white mist, making it a perfect night for drinking.

After taking a quick look at the view outside the window, Ms. Merritt drew the curtains and pressed play.

The film begins in complete darkness.

In the darkness, something was crawling forward.

In the dim light of the night, Ms. Merritt saw that they were a group of monsters.

These monsters were unlike anything she had ever seen before. Each one was twisted to the extreme, like the kind of paintings a drunken addict would create. Just one glance was enough to shock her soul.

She felt a little dizzy for a moment.

"That bastard Michael..."

Ms. Merritt couldn't help but curse. Was it because of the terrifying opening scene that the old man made her watch it?

Is he really that bored?!

However, the opening monster scene only made Ms. Merritt more certain that this film was just another commercial movie, and one that they, as artists, despised the most.

She picked up her glass, took a sip, and rubbed her temples to calm herself.

Monsters ravage the island villages, devouring humans.

Compared to the violence between humans in ordinary movies, this wild struggle between humans and nature is even more shocking. Even though Ms. Merritt is well-traveled, she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine and gripped her wine glass tightly.

At that moment, a pale flame descended from the sky, like an arrow, and fell upon the monster.

The whole world lit up.

Those hideous and twisted monsters were burned by flames, connecting the grass, trees, villages, and the earth.

Everything vanished into nothingness in those pale flames.

Only a few surviving villagers and children boarded a small boat and drifted away into the distance.

One of the children turned to look at the island where he was born, which was burning fiercely, reflecting the child's profile.

As the scene transitioned, the subtitles briefly introduced the world's background in just a couple of sentences.

Ms. Merritt was not familiar with this work before, but after reading this part, she could roughly understand the background of the story.