Cheng Peng sat in the office, his fingers kept tapping on the table of his face, his mind was as difficult to calm down as this unsettling finger.

That day, Dou Wei promised him to finish the soundtrack as soon as possible, but by the seventh day, the soundtrack still couldn't be completed.

Cheng Peng was helpless, so he could only send the movie without a soundtrack to Wang Changqing's station. But it's been two days since the movie was delivered, and there is still no news at all.

Wang Changqing usually stays for about ten days before leaving, and it is now the tenth day. If you don't wait for news today, I'm afraid there will be no hope.

Is it really not okay to do without a soundtrack?

Cheng Peng stood up and began to wander around the room, thinking in his heart, if Berlin can't work, go to Venice, the chairman of Venice, Mark Muller, has been a film selector in China, and he has a lot of feelings for Chinese films, so it's not bad to go to Venice.

Meanwhile, in a screening room in Beijing, Mr. Wang and his assistant were sitting in front of a screen watching the film that had been delivered.

The movie was only halfway through, and Wang Changqing couldn't watch it anymore: "This kind of film has been sent, and I don't have self-knowledge, is this film watched by people?" He shook his head helplessly and asked the assistant beside him: "Hasn't Lu Luo's "Beauty Grass" been delivered yet?" ”

The assistant nodded, "Sent this morning!" ”

Wang Changqing nodded and said, "Just send it, and put "Beauty Grass" immediately!" ”

He has watched more than 70 movies in the past ten days, and so far he has not seen a particularly satisfactory film, and Lu Luo's "Beauty Grass" may be the last hope.

Lu Luo used to be Zhang Yimou's photographer, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and has a great influence in the circle, so Wang Changqing attaches great importance to his films.

But after watching "Beauty Grass", Wang Changqing sighed, Lu Luo gave full play to the characteristics of his photographer, the picture of the movie is very beautiful, the lens is used very well, and Liu Ye's performance is also good, but the story is relatively rough, lacking touching places, and the whole movie is relatively mediocre.

He shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Lu Luo seems to be still suitable for being a photographer, and he can't become Zhang Yimou!" Forget it, how many movies do we still haven't watched? ”

"Only Feng Xiaogang's movie "Mobile Phone" remains."

Wang Changqing leaned on the sofa and said helplessly: "Feng Xiaogang's film is a purely commercial film, and it is almost impossible to be shortlisted for the competition unit, at most it will go to the screening unit." It seems that this year's Chinese film will go home empty-handed at the Berlin Film Festival, hey, what's wrong? In the past two years, there have been fewer and fewer high-quality Chinese films. ”

The assistant is also very helpless, and now there are a lot of bad movies sent, and some people want to vomit: "In the past two years, Chinese films have been transforming and beginning to develop commercially, and even Zhang Yimou has begun to make commercial films, people's hearts are becoming more and more impetuous, and they all want to make money, and there are naturally fewer and fewer people who make movies with peace of mind." ”

"Commercialization is both a good thing and a bad thing, why did Xiangjiang Films become what it is now, over-commercialization is an important reason, everyone wants to make money, who will make movies seriously?" Wang Changqing was a little distressed, after saying this, he suddenly remembered something, "By the way, the day before yesterday, Mr. Luo from the Film Academy recommended a movie to me, called "Call the Two of Us", hasn't the film been delivered yet?" ”

The assistant thought for a while and found that he had forgotten the film: "The film was sent the day before yesterday, but the director of the film said that the soundtrack of the film has not yet been completed." The director was very young, and there was no soundtrack, so I put the film aside, but I didn't expect to forget it. ”

Wang Changqing didn't blame him, there are very few excellent young directors, and there are a lot of self-righteous ones: "It's not that we haven't seen movies without soundtracks, hurry up and find out, I know Mr. Luo better, he won't recommend indiscriminately, the movies he recommends should be good." ”

Because the International Association of Film Producers (ICFI) stipulates that if a film is contested at one of the "A-category film festivals", it cannot be selected to compete at other film festivals, so the competition between the major film festivals is very fierce. Many big-name directors' movies have just been cut out, and Wang Changqing and other filmmakers rush to watch them, not to mention the soundtrack, sometimes they don't even adjust the colors.

The forgotten "The Two of Us" was finally found, and the lights in the screening room soon dimmed, and then the picture on the screen lit up.

The white streets are empty, and only a green figure riding a bicycle is struggling to move forward. She walked through the streets, through the alleys, and stopped at the door of the courtyard.

The old door was pushed open in turn, revealing a face wrapped in a black scarf, with only eyes exposed.

Wang Changqing couldn't help but nodded, and was more satisfied with the opening of the movie: "The girl's eyes are timid, and the courtyard is closed, and the door opens inside, which means that she will enter this closed world, and this lens is used well!" ”

Sure enough, as Wang Changqing said, the girl quickly moved into the yard and started a common life with the old lady.

A lively girl, a withdrawn old lady, contradictions are inevitable, and the two constantly clash over various trivial things.

It's just that in the conflicts again and again, the relationship between the two people has gradually sublimated, from mutual exclusion to mutual care, friendship, and finally it seems to be dependent on each other. But the girl doesn't belong to this courtyard after all, she has a boyfriend, she has her own trajectory and life, she is just a temporary passerby, destined to leave this courtyard.

However, she has become the only bright color and hope in the old lady's life, and her departure means the fading of hope and living color in the eyes of the old man. The old man soon fell ill and eventually passed away.

The 90-minute film was quickly over, and the lights in the screening room were back on.

Wang Changqing didn't wait for himself to get used to the light, he stood up, after ten days of hard work, when he was about to despair, God gave him a surprise, he couldn't suppress the joy in his heart, and announced loudly: "This is what I want, this film must be brought to Berlin!" ”

The assistant exhaled heavily and said: "This movie is not much artistic, how profound, and the structure is very simple, the content is all trivial fragments of life, but it is difficult to calm down after watching it, and it is really good!" ”

Wang Changqing patted his assistant's shoulder with a smile and said, "Your vision still needs to be exercised, and you haven't seen the power of this film." This film is not only good, but very powerful, do you know who this movie reminds me of? Zhang Yimou! ”

Zhang Yimou, is this evaluation too high? The assistant was taken aback and said, "Is this film so powerful?" And this person's style is completely different from Zhang Yimou, Zhang Yimou is wide open, bold in color, and particularly public, and this movie is restrained and calm, without the slightest sensationalism, it is not a style at all! ”

Wang Changqing shook his head with a smile and said: "I'm not talking about style, but technique, what is Zhang Yimou's most powerful?" is the use of color, last year's "Hero" is obviously a commercial film, why was it shortlisted for the main competition unit in Berlin? Because he blends color with the story perfectly, he's telling a story with color. The same is true of "The Two of Us", not only the color, lighting, but also the position of the characters has a special meaning. Have you noticed a change in the position of the old lady? At first, the old lady sat in the corner of the room, the light was relatively dim, and with the harmony and understanding with the girl, the place where she sat began to move closer to the window, and the sun shone on her face, which looked very warm. In the summer, she became very close to the girl, and at this time, she had a lot of plays in the yard. Do you understand? There is very little dialogue in this movie, and a lot of things are conveyed through the change of light and shadow, the change of color, the change of the position of the characters, these silent words, this is the real power of this movie! ”

After listening to Wang Changqing's analysis assistant, he was stunned, and after a while, he let out an exclamation: "That guy is obviously only twenty-three or four-year-old, how can he be so powerful?" ”

Wang Changqing was stunned when he heard this, and immediately asked, "So young, are you sure it's him?" ”

The assistant nodded affirmatively: "When the film was sent, he said that he was the director, and I was still thinking about what good things I could shoot at such a young age, but I didn't expect him to be so good!" ”

Wang Changqing's eyes flashed with a burst of light: "Being able to shoot at this level at an age, this guy is a genius, I dug up diamonds for the film festival!" ”

……

Cheng Peng's heart began to feel a trace of despair, it was now five o'clock in the afternoon, the day was about to pass, and the hope of going to Berlin was getting slimmer and slimmer.

But at this moment, the mobile phone rang suddenly, he bounced up from the chair, grabbed the mobile phone, didn't even look at the number, and said directly: "Hello, I'm Cheng Peng." ”

"Hello, I'm Wang Changqing, I watched your movie, the movie is very good, I will bring the movie to Berlin!"

"Ah, that's great!" Cheng Peng's right hand waved heavily, and the troubles in his heart disappeared in an instant, and there was only indescribable joy.

After hanging up the phone, Cheng Peng sat on the chair with his butt, and the whole person was about to collapse. It's really from hell to heaven, and it's been waiting for so long to finally arrive.

Of course, being selected does not guarantee that it will be shortlisted for the main competition unit, but the filmmaker will recommend it to the jury and explain in detail what is good about this film and why it is good. Originally, there are differences between different cultures, and some of the things expressed in the movie may not be understood by the jury. At this time, if someone explains it for you, the effect will be different. Now we just have to wait for the final result!

Twenty days later, Cheng Peng received a call from Wang Changqing again, he took a breath and asked in a calmest tone as much as possible: "Mr. Wang, what is the result?" ”

"The film selection committee unanimously determined that "The Two of Us" is the film needed by the main competition unit, and the official results will be announced together with other films in a few days, congratulations, Cheng Peng!";