The sudden release of a Chinese-language movie at the end of December is not something worth noting to most North American movie fans.
In some cinemas, there are not even posters for The Sixth Sense.
Of course, although Zhou Yan is not well-known in North America, not a single person knows him. After the release of "The Flying Piano Boy", a small number of music lovers still noticed his name .
Jessica is one of them.
After watching "The Flying Piano Boy", Jessica not only bought the soundtrack of the movie, but also bought Zhou Yan's two albums, "Mysterious Country" and "The Piano Boy".
So when she saw Y-chou's name in the cinema, Jessica's eyes suddenly lit up.
“Is there another movie with Y soundtrack?”
This was Jessica’s first reaction.
When Y's name appeared in the movie information, she took it for granted that Zhou Yan was the soundtrack for the movie.
This is also true, the soundtrack director of "The Sixth Sense" is indeed Y.
But Jessica later discovered that things were not that simple. In addition to the soundtrack, the director and screenwriter were actually Y. This was a movie written, directed and starred by Y.
It was then that Jessica remembered that Y was still a director, and the original version of "The Flying Piano Boy" was directed by Y. If she hadn't seen Y's name on the director column, she would have even forgotten about it.
After reading the movie information, Jessica bought two movie tickets without hesitation, the other one was for Hardison.
Her relationship with Hardison has gotten much better recently, and they often go out to watch movies together.
And now the two of them have a common hobby, that is, they like Y. Today, they agreed that she would invite Hardison to watch a movie.
Originally, they planned to watch the new movie "Dumb and Dumber" that had just been released, but now that "The Sixth Sense" was released, she changed her mind.
Hardison naturally has no objection to this. He just wants to watch a movie with Jessica. It doesn’t matter what he watches. Besides, he is also a fan of Y.
Although Hasson just wanted to get close to Jessica at first, as he learned more about it, he really liked Y's music, especially the song "Awakening" in "The Piano Boy". Especially like it.
After entering the theater, the two found that the attendance rate of this movie was really low, even lower than when "The Flying Piano Boy" was released. There were many empty seats in the theater.
Although "The Flying Piano Boy" is unknown from the director to the actors, after all, it has European and American faces, and it is highly accepted by North American audiences.
Chinese-language movies are different. Audiences here in North America are only interested in Chinese martial arts movies, and other movies are either a bit curious.
"Farewell My Concubine" has a box office of more than 5 million US dollars. On the one hand, it is the blessing of awards, and on the other hand, it is also because the movie tells the story of homosexuality and has a relatively high topic.
In addition, movies like "The Wedding Banquet" are also in this category.
In recent years, the social trend can be seen from the award-winning films at film festivals. Gay and female themes are very popular.
In fact, even Jessica doesn't have high hopes for "The Sixth Sense". She mainly wants to listen to the music in it.
But the movie had only played for more than two minutes, and Jessica discovered that her previous understanding of Y was not enough.
Y is definitely not a musician who occasionally makes movies. The rhythm of the movie is very good. Although Jessica does not understand the shooting techniques in the movie, these shots in the first two minutes of the movie made her feel very comfortable. .
Although there is no story happening, every shot entices the audience to continue watching.
Who is this woman? Why is she in the cellar?
What is the purpose of the tense atmosphere created by the soundtrack and light?
For the audience, just the right amount of foreshadowing is very wonderful, but if it is overly foreshadowed, it will consume the audience's patience.
The "Sixth Sense" did not make this mistake. The previous foreshadowing did not last long, and the first conflict of the story appeared.
A naked man appeared in the home of the male and female protagonist and scolded the male protagonist.
Those foreshadowing shots at the beginning of the movie are not only to create a tense atmosphere, but also to explain a lot of things.
From the seemingly messy but orderly shots in the front, Jessica and the others learned that the male protagonist is a psychiatrist and is very famous. He just won an award recently.
So after the man appeared, Jessica and the others quickly understood that this man should be a previous patient of the male protagonist.
Obviously, the male protagonist’s previous treatment of this patient failed, which is why the current scene occurred.
Later, the male protagonist was shot and fell in a pool of blood. Jessica and Hardison looked confused.
The male protagonist died right after he came up?
In other words, this is not the male protagonist at all?
Or is this actually a female-led drama?
Just when they were confused, one year later, the male protagonist appeared in the picture again.
Jessica couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, "The male protagonist is still lucky."
Hardison also nodded, "It's indeed lucky. The shot hit the abdomen. It's normal. It’s difficult to survive under such circumstances.”
The subsequent story developed normally. The male protagonist seemed to want to make up for his regrets, so he paid special attention to a case similar to the patient who shot him.
The other person is a very good-looking little boy.
But the little boy didn't seem to welcome him. He was very resistant when he saw him.
Jessica can probably understand that this boy has a mental illness and must be very withdrawn. He is probably very reluctant to have contact with strangers.
And many people with mental illness are very resistant to doctors.
But as the story developed, Jessica suddenly found that the development of the story was a little beyond her expectation. She originally thought that the so-called ghosts and gods in the movie were just the delusions of the little boy, but there were many details that showed that , the boy can actually see the dead.
Is this a supernatural movie?
If this is a supernatural horror movie, Jessica thinks it is unqualified. Although the movie does reveal a bit of horror, it is obviously not enough. At least Jessica did not find it very scary.
This is more like a warm redemption film. Because of guilt, the male protagonist chooses the young male protagonist as the treatment object, and gradually uses his sincerity to untie the knot of the young male protagonist's heart.
The more she watches the end, the more Jessica can feel the warmth between the big and small male protagonists.
As the young male protagonist's heart is opened, the movie not only lacks a sense of horror, but the light of the camera becomes brighter.
Especially when she saw the conversation between the young hero and her mother about the young hero's grandmother, Jessica almost couldn't help crying.
The misunderstanding between the mother and the grandmother for many years was solved because of the young male protagonist's ability. The moment when the mother cried and burst into tears, it was hard not to be moved.
When the movie got here, Jessica felt that it was almost over.
Everything that needs to be explained should have been explained. The little male protagonist’s heart has been opened, and the male protagonist’s knot in his heart is no longer there.
But she guessed wrong. The movie was not over, and the camera turned to the male and female protagonists again.
When the ring in the heroine's hand fell to the ground, Jessica felt her head buzzing and her whole body froze.
At this time, the most exciting soundtrack of the entire film also appeared. The soundtrack here also has the greatest emotional fluctuations among the soundtracks of the film, directly pushing the emotions to the highest point.
Jessica watched this movie for its soundtrack, but when she saw the twist in the ending, she had no intention of studying the music at all, because all her thoughts were on the storyline.
“The male protagonist is actually an undead?!”
No wonder the young male protagonist was so afraid of him at first.
No wonder the heroine feels cold every time the hero appears next to her.
No wonder the heroine never said a word to the hero after that.
There are too many "no wonders". Jessica didn't think much about many details when she saw it before, but now that she sees the reversal, these details suddenly come to mind, making the reversal here become It's logical.
Jessica suddenly heard someone in the audience say a word starting with f. It seemed that at this time, only this word could express the audience's surprise.
Hardison, who was sitting next to Jessica, actually wanted to say something dirty to express his surprise, but considering that Jessica was next to him, he still refrained from saying it.
There were not many viewers in the theater, but there were a lot of surprises, and everyone had the same experience watching the movie.
The twist at the end is so unexpected and wonderful. Jessica has seen many movies with reversal endings, but there are very few that handle it as well as "The Sixth Sense".
Reversal itself is not a very difficult thing, but making the reversal reasonable is particularly difficult.
Amid the shock of the audience, the movie began to close.
The other audience members walked out while discussing the plot of the movie, but Jessica did not move because she wanted to finish listening to the curtain call music.
The music at the curtain call was very nice, and it gave me a feeling of relief. After the intense baptism just now, the audience's souls also received some solace.
She didn't move, and Hardison naturally didn't move either.
When there were only two of them left in the theater, the screen turned and a figure playing the piano appeared from behind.
The man played a piece of music that Jessica had never heard before, and it did not appear in the movie. The camera slowly turned, and the face of the man playing the piano appeared in the camera.
"It's Y."
Jessica saw Zhou Yan's photo and recognized it at a glance. Zhou Yan should be one of the few Asian faces she could recognize.
Jessica was quite happy to see Zhou Yan playing the piano. She didn't expect that there were Easter eggs in the movie. Fortunately, they didn't leave, otherwise they wouldn't be able to see the Easter eggs.
At this time, the camera was still rotating and captured a mirror next to it.
When Jessica saw the mirror, her eyes widened, because there was only a piano in the mirror and Zhou Yan did not appear.
At this point, the Easter eggs came to an abrupt end and the screen went dark.
Jessica couldn't help but roll her eyes. She didn't expect to be frightened by Y after watching the movie.
......
When she came out of the cinema, Jessica was still discussing the plot of the movie with Hardison.
There are many details in this movie, which are not something they can notice after watching it once.
After some exchanges, they also discovered that they had overlooked many things while watching the movie.
"How about we watch it again." Jessica suggested.
Hardison immediately agreed, "I have no problem at all. Do you want to watch it today?"
Jessica smiled and shook her head, "I can't do it today, because there is only this one today. I When I bought the ticket, I asked the conductor. If you want to see it, you have to wait until tomorrow, still at this time." "Oh." Hardison was a little disappointed. He wanted to stay with Jessica for a while. , "Such a beautiful movie, but only one scene was scheduled."
"Although I also think this movie is very good, its schedule will definitely not be high. You can watch it for only one show, and the attendance is only so small."
"Thompson must like this movie. Looking back, I Recommend him to come and see it.”
“How about asking him to come with us tomorrow?” Jessica suggested.
Hardison waved his hands repeatedly, "He seems to have a date tomorrow, let him see it later."
Just kidding, he didn't want to let that guy Thompson ruin his relationship with Jay. Sika's private meeting.
...
The premiere performance of "The Sixth Sense" in North America was very unsatisfactory, with only 270,000 US dollars in the first weekend and an average daily box office of only 90,000 US dollars.
Even if this movie has very few releases, this box office figure is very pitiful.
Based on this opening weekend result, the final box office of "The Sixth Sense" is probably between US$500,000 and US$1.2 million, which is 520% higher than that of "Farewell My Concubine" The score of 120,000 is very different.
Domestic media have been paying close attention to the box office performance of "The Sixth Sense" in North America. They are all concerned about whether Zhou Yan can create another miracle. The performance of this film in Neon is really good.
As soon as the movie's first weekend box office came out, several domestic media got the news.
The media feeds on traffic. It is quick to praise someone and even faster to despise someone. The box office of "The Sixth Sense" was poor, and the denigration came immediately.
【Acclimatized, are cross-border directors being praised too highly? 】
【A genius director encounters Waterloo, is Hollywood a dragon pit and a tiger's den? 】
[Half a million dollars in the first weekend, Neon box office became a fig leaf for Zhou Yan. 】
These news that trample people are all normal, and there are some that trample people more harshly.
【The film imitates the West and imitates the West, but in the end it is not recognized by the West. 】
A piece of news from "Film Perspective" directly criticized Zhou Yan's film for deliberately imitating the West, abusing techniques, and having no core content. In the end, it was backlashed and not recognized by the West. It is very ridiculous.
Zhou Yan did not pay attention to the news that criticized him, but when he went to Yanjing Studio, Han Sanping specifically showed this news to him.
“Do you think this argument sounds familiar?”
Zhou Yan nodded, "Do you think this article was written by Xie Fei?"
"That shouldn't be the case, but I suspect it may have something to do with Xie Fei. Some of the reports even contain Xie Fei's original remarks at the meeting. It’s such a coincidence.”
“So, it’s probably related to the people who were there that day.”
“It’s indeed possible.” Han Sanping sighed, “I. I thought "The Sixth Sense" might not do very well at the box office in North America, but I didn't expect it to be so bad. You were so famous before, and some people must have disliked you, but your movies and records sold very well. Those who don’t like you can’t find a chance to step on you. Now, with this box office data, they finally have an opportunity.”
Zhou Yan actually understands that so many media come to step on you. There must be someone behind it, and there may be more than one party.
In a circle, friends are always the minority, while opponents are the majority.
Zhou Yan has stolen the limelight from so many people in the past two years. These people's interests have been affected, and they have automatically stood against Zhou Yan.
But Zhou Yan doesn’t care too much. These monsters and monsters can only make him a little sick, but they can’t defeat him at all.
No matter how hard they try, they can't change the fact that "The Sixth Sense" makes money. Even if "The Sixth Sense" doesn't make a dime at the box office in North America, it won't hurt him and Tomson half a cent.
And this incident also allowed him to see the faces of some media.
Some media outlets that had often approached him for interviews also joined the "defeat" army this time.
At the same time, a friend in need is a friend indeed, and some media came out to support Zhou Yan this time.
For example, Yanjing TV station said a lot of good things to Zhou Yan in its report, and Sun Qin even called him specifically to tell him not to take the criticism to heart.
Needless to say, "Yangtze Evening News", although Zhou Yu has left "Yangtze Evening News", they still stood up to speak for Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan himself did not pay attention to the news, but Zhang Youan recorded it one by one for these media.
"What exactly does Xie Fei have with me?" Zhou Yan was a little curious.
Han Sanping said in a deep voice, "I probably know something, it should be related to you not joining the Film Directors Association. Because of this, many people in the association have opinions on you. Xie Fei is the vice president, It’s normal for him to react.”
“Is it because of this?”
Han Sanping said with a half-smile, “Isn’t that enough? I didn’t know that they took the initiative to invite you to join. Association, you rejected it. To them, your move is equivalent to telling them that you are a dissident. If you, the director who rejected the association, can still prosper, then their association will still be in the industry in the future. What kind of authority can it have? If other directors follow suit and refuse to join the association, then this association will not survive."
Zhou Yan also knew that his refusal to join the Film Directors Association might disappoint those in the association. People have opinions, but they didn’t expect the other party’s reaction to be so big.
Seeing Zhou Yan's silence, Han Sanping narrowed his eyes and smiled, "If you want to ease the relationship with them, I can help you mediate."
Zhou Yan waved his hand and said very simply, "No, now I I don’t even want to join the Laoshizi Association.”
Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Han Sanping laughed, “I knew you would say that, and you probably don’t care about mediating with these people. I didn’t say it, but if you want to retaliate against them, I won’t come forward.”
Zhou Yan shrugged, “I don’t want to put too much energy into it yet, as I have things at hand right now. I've been busy enough." (End of Chapter)