章 85: Word of Mouth

"This movie is really well shot. It's unbelievable that someone can shoot the scene from 1984 so well. Have you read the novel 1984? I bet the director must have been thinking about that movie when he made this movie. Tribute to the idea."

"It's amazing that a novice director can make such a good work. I almost cried when I saw Wiesler send the letter at the end. No wonder Kevin Spacey said this movie is a better movie than L.A. Confidential, and he's really good at acting; he can embody coldness and tenderness at the same time."

Compared with popcorn movies, art movies will touch people more. Even after the film has ended, the people walking out of the movie theater are still talking about the details of the movie.

"It would be nice if the two male protagonists met and talked in the end. Dreyman should thank Wiesler. The two of them have never spoken a word in their lives..."

"Didn't Thomas Hardy say, 'Of things we had done ere days were dim,

But they spoke not to me?' The two of them originally influenced each other and saved each other; one saved his life, and the other saved his soul. They thanked each other but didn't meet at the end. I prefer this ending."

"Anyway, it's It's a good movie—such a slow-paced, well-lit, and beautifully composed good movie is really rare, and it's not easy to show all the solemnity and solemnity that a political film should have."

The audience's discussions were all praise for this movie. And the evaluations of the audience are all like this, how can the media make different evaluations?

***

When the morning of December 6th arrived, people discovered that on the entertainment pages of major media, the comments on the movie "The Lives of Others" all occupied the most important position, and this situation continued for several days. On this day, the media from all over the world are reporting all the news about The Lives of Others.

After the movie's screening, comments from major media naturally appeared immediately.

***

"The best movie of the year, with a clear structure and vivid characters, it is a classic that cannot be missed."

The "Los Angeles Times" commented very highly on the movie. They directly used the last film of this year to describe this movie, and they were full of all kinds of compliments.

"Kevin Spacey's another masterpiece after 'L.A. Confidential.'

Some time ago, one of the leads of the movie, Kevin Spacey, took on a new role with little rest. Many people are even worried that Kevin Spacey's success in 'L.A. Confidential' will be affected because he took over the film. However, after the film was released, people never thought of it again: the film brought Spacey as much success as L.A. Confidential.

***

"Incomparably profound, with warmth in a depressive atmosphere."

The New York Times pays more attention to political themes and obviously pays more attention to the background era. And they also have to admit that this movie, no matter in terms of novelty or thickness of the times, has already done a very good job.

***

"Every actor in the film is an actor of an outstanding level. The quality of the actors is amazing." The "San Francisco Chronicle" focused on the performance of the actors. Several actors in this movie performed very well. After Kevin Spacey finished acting in the movie, he immediately started discussing whether he should win the Oscar for Best Actor. Hugh Jackman and Charlize Theron's excellent performances in the movie that fit their identities also made them famous overnight.

"The only fly in the ointment is that the film does not discuss the social system in-depth but stays at the level of good and evil. Although this film shines with the beauty of human nature, it ignores the analysis at a deeper level."

***

Of course, not all the media praised it. The Houston Post had some different opinions on Levi's film. They seem that the movie is still a bit too shallow and not deep enough. However, with such words, Levi just smiled and passed.

The person who said this is full of pride now, but wait until later. Snowden must be smiling at such words now, right? If East Germany's monitoring is not good, then what about the NSA's monitoring in the democratic US?

Originally, Levi was not discussing those, so why bother with this person? The director's intentions were not fully understood, and he had to use his own set of views of right and wrong to comment, and there was no need to pay attention to these people.

***

Compared with those, some comments related to Levi deserve more attention.

"The meticulous and steady film outlines the theme of solemn beauty. The film's lens language is good and can be used as an audition language teaching material. In many places, rigorous research needs to be carefully studied to taste the flavor. The lighting, soundtrack, and composition are all first-class. The director's ambition is not small."

The Chicago Sun-Times is different from other newspapers. They focus more on the director of the movie. This movie is destined to be a classic, but how can the director who made such a classic be an idler?

In order to prove the excellence of the director, they used half of the page to introduce the movie, and at the same time, they searched for the interlinkages, foreshadowing, and hints of the movie one by one.

The font of the typewriter in the opening title, and Dreyman's typewriter; the red color of the typewriter, and the red fingerprints on the listening manuscript; the minister's sweaty hands at the banquet and Christa-Maria's going out later; Jessica's mention, appearance, and death, posthumous works; newspapers, clothing, and cars reflecting the background of the times; Dreyman's lies and Wiesler's lies... The ambush before and after is everywhere.

In the era of 1984, the protagonist who had never met, from opening the letter to delivering the letter, the one who died was a woman... These places are metaphors one by one.

What a good movie needs is for the front and back structures to be interlocking. The clues can be buried very deep, but they cannot be invisible. The suspense and conflicts of the movie are constantly changing, and many plots can be said to be unexpected, but no matter how unexpected, these plots must be within a reasonable range-and; the reasonable range lies in the fact that the plot is buried in the front. The little details under the structure together make a good movie.

Such a fine structure Levi did. The rhythm responds to the theme, the story shapes the characters, and the structure shapes the film. Being able to weave the film's front and back rhythms meticulously and rigorously shows the director's intentions.

Talented and willing to work hard, such a director can naturally be said to be ambitious. Especially if it is the director's first work, there will definitely be a lot of immature ideas and techniques. Still, even so, the first work can have such a level, which will naturally make people full of expectations, wanting to Know what kind of future he will have in his next movie.

He has his own thoughts and artistic conception, knows how to write scripts and stories, and is hard enough to make movies. What reason is there not to be expected of such a director?

***

"Alex, our movie is a success. Don't always be sullen. You should be happy now."

In the company, watching the comments from the media, Levy and Alexander are talking.

But Alexander just gave him a blank stare: He and Levi have different ways of defining the success of the film.

"The box office is really not very good."

Alexander was more concerned about the box office after the movie was broadcast. One thousand five hundred seventy-two screens were screened at the same time. This is not a small number. He is very concerned about how much the box office can reach. He has no pursuit of art; all he cares about is money.

Since the movie was released on Friday, and after three days, they got the first week's box office results. Three days is not a particularly long time. After just three days, the premiere box office has already reached the results.

"Three days, 12 million—our movie has a box office of 12 million in three days."

"If a movie can get good reviews, you don't have to worry about the box office dropping after it's released. The evaluation of the movie is excellent; with such a good evaluation, the box office of our movie may increase." Levi is already very satisfied with such results, and the box office of 12 million in the first week could be higher, but in Levi's view, such a box office is already considered good.

"It's still a little low." However, Alexander was still a little dissatisfied with this. The box office of the movie is still a bit low. "What's the use of a movie just being well received? What we need is money. A movie that can't make money, even if it has a high evaluation, is meaningless." Alexander didn't know what artistry was and didn't bother to understand what is called artistry. He knew that generally speaking, a movie's box office would drop from the second week onwards, and the box office in the first week was only 12 million. Doesn't that mean that the movie's income is poor, and it might lose money?

What's the point of a money-losing movie, no matter how nice it sounds?

"Alex, don't you understand? Sometimes a good evaluation is money." Regarding Alexander's worries, Levi still smiled. Levi was relatively calm, facing Alexander's dissatisfaction with a look of serenity.

Alexander didn't understand Levi's words immediately, but after the second week's box office statistics appeared, Alexander understood what Levi meant.

"38 million! Our two-week box office has reached 38 million! That is to say, in the second week, our box office figure is 26 million! The box office has not fallen, and our box office has risen against the trend!"

What's the use of a movie with a good reputation? This is what works!

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons Cherif Doghri, Abdishakur Hasan, Adam LV, Danny York, haze2343, Scott DePaepe, Dario Cameruccio, MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999, and The Main Man.

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