Chapter 2170: The Problem with Jiang Wen's Films

Many things in this world cannot be judged by reasonableness.

Just like some people can drive a car into the Forbidden City, while others have to queue up to buy tickets to visit.

Zhao Fusheng had already become completely disillusioned with certain things.

He loved this country, loved this nation, but at times, we have to admit that the country and the nation are different from individuals.

"Don't overthink it."

In the end, Zhao Fusheng said to Liu Yiming, "Some things are not for you to worry about."

Liu Yiming was stunned. He hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to say that to him after the conversation had reached this point.

Zhao Fusheng smiled but didn't continue.

Perhaps Liu Yiming didn't quite understand his words, but if he saw more of the world, he would probably know what was going on.

The greatest benefit of internet development is that it makes people's thinking increasingly active.

You can no longer confine people's thoughts like before.

Just like when he was a child, Zhao Fusheng always thought the world was beautiful. When he grew up, he realized that life is actually like a dark, shapeless mass—you can't tell if it's chocolate or shit until you taste it.

Life has four major illusions:

I am very charming!

My parents might have secretly saved a large sum of money for me!

This time it's not a loss!

Failure is the mother of success!

Zhao Fusheng didn't want the people around him to still hold naive and ignorant ideas.

People can have dreams—after all, they're just thoughts.

But life still needs to be lived with a firm footing.

Just like now.

...

On the day Future Films went public, Zhao Fusheng was not in Hong Kong.

He simply stayed at home, played some music, held a glass of red wine, listened to light music, hummed a tune, and enjoyed a moment of tranquility.

He had actually adapted to his current life. In Zhao Fusheng's view, life was just like this.

Whether everything now was a dream or real, it was all the same.

People are often like this.

On the first day, they are devastated, crying and shouting about suicide; on the second day, they lock themselves in their room and ignore everyone; on the third day, they are taciturn; and by the fourth day, they might have already recovered.

Time can change everything and make people forget many things.

A few days later, good news came.

Let the Bullets Fly had finally been edited.

That old guy Jiang Wen had come out of seclusion.

When Zhao Fusheng heard the news, he went specifically to see him. Old Jiang looked scruffy, with a bit of a migrant worker vibe.

"Hey, did you have to go this far?"

Zhao Fusheng said helplessly to Jiang Wen, "I specifically told Ye Jing to remind you to balance work and rest."

"What do you know!"

Jiang Wen glared at Zhao Fusheng. "I'm doing this for art..."

Zhao Fusheng shrugged. He expressed that he really couldn't understand this answer.

"I just know that your art has almost driven your wife to take the kids back to her parents' house. Old Jiang, let me tell you, if you keep this up, I won't ask you to make movies next time."

Holy shit!

Jiang Wen was instantly stunned.

He stared at Zhao Fusheng with a look of utter disbelief, feeling that he had just been casting pearls before swine.

This guy was a pure businessman who didn't understand art at all.

At that moment, Zhao Fusheng looked at Jiang Wen and said in a philosophical tone:

"Women are always right—that saying is correct. According to evolutionary theory, one type of man believes women are always right, while another type doesn't think so."

"Do you know what happens to the second type?"

"They go extinct!"

"Because no woman would marry the second type!"

Jiang Wen was dumbfounded. He never expected Zhao Fusheng to say something like that.

This guy had absolutely no底线 or integrity!

"Alright, enough nonsense. Go home now and spend time with your wife and kids."

Zhao Fusheng couldn't be bothered to waste more words with Jiang Wen. He directly had his driver take Jiang Wen home.

As for himself, he took the team to watch the complete edited version of Let the Bullets Fly.

Two hours later.

In the meeting room of Future Films.

Zhao Fusheng exclaimed with admiration, "This film really has something to it."

Indeed, the version Jiang Wen had edited truly pleased Zhao Fusheng.

Whether it was Zhang Mazi or the other characters, they were all very prominent. It could be said that the film perfectly interpreted the essence of the screenplay.

To be honest, only Jiang Wen could edit a film like this; anyone else would be incapable.

"Yes, Teacher Jiang's skill is really beyond compare."

"Only Jiang Wen could do this; others wouldn't have the ability."

"But don't you think the scale is a bit too much?"

"That is indeed a problem."

"Chairman, what do you think?"

Everyone started discussing, as in the end, this matter had to be decided by the boss, Zhao Fusheng.

Especially since Ye Jing and Yu Feihong were not around.

"Let me think about it."

Zhao Fusheng frowned slightly, nodded, but didn't say anything.

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng had been worried about the scale of Let the Bullets Fly.

Jiang Wen's films were always like this—always pushing the boundaries in terms of scale, which was quite frustrating.

With films, you either win awards or earn box office.

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng didn't really care about these things, but he knew that the people at Future Films valued them highly.

But it was understandable. Even the queen of bad movies wanted to be a performance artist, so why couldn't Future Films aspire to the Golden Rooster or Golden Horse?

The three major awards in the Chinese-language film circle are the Golden Horse, the Hong Kong Film Awards, and the Golden Rooster.

Future Films hadn't been making a push in recent years, but that didn't mean they weren't interested.

Since the birth of cinema, awards and box office have been tacitly regarded as two evaluation systems, lurking in the dark corners of film history.

Awards usually come with an artistic aura, fostering an attitude seemingly截然不同 from box office. They have stricter requirements for ritual: red carpets, evening gowns, red wine, flashbulbs, tears, acceptance speeches—all of these constitute a more authoritative standard for film criticism.

Many people firmly believe that award-winning films are good films, or that directors and actors with awards are good directors and actors. To some extent, this is true, but these people obviously selectively ignore another factor in film: audience word-of-mouth!

And Jiang Wen's films are competitive in both word-of-mouth and awards.

The only problem is that the guy is too self-centered.

Zhao Fusheng remembered a film critic saying: "Film has several elements: thought, emotion, luck, technique, and finally, personality. And Jiang Wen's films are all personality!"