Chapter 515 Tragedy packaged as comedy
The day before the Spring Festival, the Berlin Film Festival officially opened.

Many people in the circle and on the Internet paid attention to it. As early as the beginning of December last year, when the Berlin International Film Festival announced the first batch of shortlisted films, the organizers of the Berlin International Film Festival announced it.

Mainland Hong Kong director Wong Ka Wai serves as chairman of the jury for the main competition unit of the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.

The festival's president, Dieter Kosslick, described Wong as "one of the most celebrated contemporary film directors" and praised his works as "distinctive and poetic."

"Since the 80s, the Berlin International Film Festival has presented itself as a showcase for contemporary Chinese films," Koslick said. "This is another reason why we are honored to invite Wong Kar-wai to serve as president of the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival jury."

Wong Kar-wai expressed his honor to be the chairman of the jury for the main competition unit of the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. He said: "I am very happy to return to Berlin and see the latest works of directors from all over the world. This is a fulfilling experience for any filmmaker."

After the opening ceremony, a lot of news came back from Berlin.

"Wong Kar-wai and his wife and the jury members made a great appearance!"

"The crew of "The Grandmaster" appeared at the Berlin Film Festival, and the big flower Zhang Ziyi attracted a lot of attention!"

"The crew of 'Black Coal, Thin Ice' was surrounded by the media in Berlin, and Liao Fan and Gui Meilun were 'favored'."

.........

New Year's Eve passed smoothly with the family reunited.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Gu Wei and Liu Yifei talked on the phone for a long time, while his parents watched the Spring Festival Gala and talked about their meeting.

This year, Liu Xiaoli and An Shaokang both had to meet, but they couldn't be together, so they had to meet on separate days.

This operation was decided after Gu Wei discussed it with the young lady.

Originally, Gu Wei planned to have everyone come together to have some fun, but Liu Xiaoli disagreed, so he had no choice but to make this choice.

Fortunately, Dad and Mom Gu understood and didn’t say much about it.

After Gu Wei finished his call and came to the living room, he heard his father complaining.

The chief director of this year's Spring Festival Gala is still Ha Wen.

Originally, Ha Wen was planning to give Gu Wei some good tickets to watch the show in person, but Gu Wei felt that it would be more cozy to eat at home, so he refused.

It has to be said that the biggest star tonight was naturally Celine Dion, who sang "My Heart Will Go On" solo and "Jasmine" in a chorus.

"What the hell is this? Zhao Bensan didn't appear, the skit wasn't good enough, but they even had to find a foreigner to sing. Sigh."

"Son, is this the person who sang on the stage at your movie party last time? I think he looks a bit like her, and he sang the same song." Mother Gu suddenly asked as if she had discovered something.

But the word "movie party" made Gu Wei's mouth twitch slightly.

"Yes, it's one person." Gu Wei replied weakly.

"Old man, see, our son is still capable."

"Not even one person is enough. It's no big deal to invite foreigners to our Chinese Spring Festival Gala." Dad Gu continued to complain.

"Dad, now the Spring Festival Gala is popular with young people and international people, so naturally we have to invite some international big names." Gu Wei explained.

"Humph, if this continues, the traditions of the older generation will be lost." Father Gu was not happy with his son.

To be honest, there is nothing wrong with what Dad Gu said. After all, the Spring Festival Gala is being criticized more and more nowadays, and fewer and fewer people watch it.

On the second and third days of the Chinese New Year, the Gu family and the An family arranged a meeting and dinner, and the engagement was finally settled.

And then there comes another problem.

That is, the meal meeting can be separated. You can't hold the wedding ceremony and wedding banquet in two parts. There will always be a time when they have to meet together.

"Xixi, my father-in-law and mother-in-law can only rely on you, come on!"

Hearing what Gu Wei said, the young lady rolled her eyes, and in the end she had no choice but to bite the bullet and persuade them one by one.

.........

Following "Lost in Thailand", "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" once again ignited the Spring Festival box office.

His unstoppable momentum made the entire film industry once again realize Zhou Xingchi’s box office appeal, which is unmatched!

Huayi Company also struck while the iron was hot and issued a number of new press releases to promote the film:

“Surpassing Lost in Thailand and setting a new box office record for Chinese-language films!”

Many filmmakers and media from all walks of life in the production, distribution, and theaters are eagerly waiting.

Because the slogan and goal that Huayi shouted out this time really has a great chance of being achieved, it just depends on the future box office trends to see whether they can be maintained stably.

At the same time, "The 101st Proposal" starring Huang Bo and Lin Zhiling, and "Together" starring Zhen Zidan, Yang Ying, Chen Yanxi, and Ke Moumou were also released on the same day.

Another domestic blockbuster, "Perfect Match 2", was released on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day.

The Spring Festival holiday is coming to an end soon, and many companies in the circle have already started working. At Xingchen Film and Television, Gu Wei specially gave everyone a few more days of vacation, and they will resume work on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year.

"We just happen to have some time, let's go watch a movie, let's watch Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, it has pretty good reviews online."

Liu Yifei suggested.

I ran back and forth several times these days, but it was quite tiring, but finally I got everything done.

"I'm going too." Su Chang next to him suddenly said, and then said pitifully: "Is it okay? Xixi."

This year during the Spring Festival, Su Chang did not go back to her hometown. That home was dispensable to her, so she stayed with Liu Yifei. In her words, "After the New Year, the filming of Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy will start soon, and I don't want to go back and forth."

"Let's go together." Gu Wei said with a smile.

"Together, together. I'm so annoyed by you. You like to be a light bulb." The young lady said to Su Chang unhappily, but the other party pretended not to see it.

"Go to a private theater?"

Speaking of watching movies, Gu Wei thought of Dadi Cinemas. It had been such a long time since he acquired it, and he had invested so much money in upgrading and renovating it. However, apart from two meetings, he seemed to have not been to the cinema to take a closer look.

Take this opportunity to go shopping.

"No, it's too boring. The movie has to be watched with the audience to be interesting."

"Okay, let's go then."

Holding his coat, Gu Wei nodded, got up and drove.

Liu Yifei and Su Chang each carried a bag, wore masks and hats, and followed him fully armed.

...

The Spring Festival movie season is becoming more and more popular. When Gu Wei, Liu Yifei and Su Chang arrived at the Dadi Cinema, they found that it was really packed with people.

Major shopping malls were packed with people, and cinema halls were even more crowded.

It’s really not easy to come and watch a movie, but fortunately in this cold winter, no one thinks there is anything wrong with wearing a mask, hat, etc.

It was a little dark inside the cinema.

Gu Wei, wearing a mask, looked around and found that the attendance rate was indeed good. Even though it was a time for visiting relatives, the entire theater was almost full, and most of them were young people.

It has to be said that today's movie-watching group is getting younger and younger.

Currently, the screening rate of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" has increased from 34.43% at the beginning to 45%.

Originally, all major theater chains thought that this year's Spring Festival movie would be a bit bleak, but unexpectedly, Stephen Chow's movie is in no way inferior to several blockbusters of last year's Spring Festival movie.

Since the first day box office release before the New Year, major cinema chains have begun to increase their screening rates.

After buying some popcorn snacks, Gu Wei, Liu Yifei and Su Chang walked into the theater as if they were going to watch a movie normally.

After a while, the lights dimmed and Liu Yifei and Su Chang carefully took off their down jackets. After all, the heating was still on in the theater, and it was still a bit hot after being inside for a long time.

In this way, the three of them watched movies and ate snacks.

The audience nearby didn’t recognize many of them either, as everyone focused their attention on the movie.

“I don’t know how many people came here for the movie A Chinese Odyssey which was shown more than a decade ago.”

Watching the beginning of the movie, Gu Wei suddenly thought of this question.

More than a decade ago, on New Year's Day in 95, the much-anticipated new movie "A Chinese Odyssey" by "Box Office King" Stephen Chow was released. It was thought to create a new box office miracle, but it suffered a Waterloo.

Although the box office in Hong Kong and Taiwan was dismal, what was even worse was the mainland box office, where it only earned 40 after its release.

Well-known film producer Cai Songlin even publicly complained about Zhou Xingchi. The audience in Shenyang left cursing before the show was over, and the audience in Hebei complained that it was "too noisy" and "particularly boring."

"A Chinese Odyssey" received a lot of negative reviews and its dismal box office performance caused Stephen Chow's image to plummet, and it was hailed as a "bad Hong Kong movie."

However, the magical thing is that starting in the autumn of 96, the reputation of this movie suddenly reversed and it even became more and more popular. From BBS forums to large and small websites, excerpts and discussions about the lines of "A Chinese Odyssey" were everywhere. As for the classic lines in the film, such as "Do you need it or not?" and "I surrender to YOU", they became "common words" that were popular among young people.

So much so that now when people see the words "Journey to the West", they will think of "Supreme Treasure" and "Zixia".

But now, so many years have passed, Zhizunbao and Zixia Fairy have become a thing of the past, and there is no "There was once a true love in front of me but I didn't cherish it."

To be honest, this movie is a little different from the previous "A Chinese Odyssey". I don't know if it's because of the change in style or to be more in line with the original work.

During the filming, Stephen Chow restored Sun Wukong, Sha Seng, and Bajie into the "demons" in the novel, and then used his wild imagination to upgrade them, making them ugly, cunning, and fierce.

The first half of the movie is a bit scary when combined with the special effects.

But even so, everyone in the theater, including Liu Yifei and Su Chang, was still very moved by the movie.

Maybe it’s because this movie has something in common with “A Chinese Odyssey”. For example, the theme song is still “Love of My Life”.

For example, the heroine "Miss Duan", like Zixia, actively pursues love and devotes her whole life to her lover.

But when her lover Chen Xuanzang said "I will love you for ten thousand years" before she died, Miss Duan responded:
"Ten thousand years? It's too long. I only want now."

It immediately brought tears to the eyes of the audience.

The movie is indeed in Stephen Chow's style, with all the signature funny elements.

During the movie, the audience would laugh out loud or smile knowingly from time to time, and many clips had traces of metaphors.

"It's packaged as a comedy on the surface, but it's still a tragedy at heart."

After the movie ended, this was Gu Wei’s intuitive opinion of the film.

.........

(End of this chapter)