Chapter 529 - Teacher He, You Really are My Guiding Light! (1/2)

After reading the post, Pei Qian fell into a long silence.

How the f*ck did this happen? I would tolerate this if Tomorrow is Beautiful had won the Palme d’Or and you wrote this post.

Yet, you’re writing this post even though it did not win the Palme d’Or, and the conclusion of your analysis was that the film could have won the Palme d’Or, but it didn’t need to?!

I can’t take this anymore!

There was only one message between the lines of the post: Tomorrow is Beautiful definitely had what it took to win the Palme d’Or, but it only fell short because of a few specific factors!

One had to admit that putting it this way worked much better than awarding the film the Palme d’Or directly.

The comments section proved this.

“I see! Thank you for your explanation, Big Boss!”

“It’s no wonder… there’s so much to it.”

“That’s right. Locals would understand the final post-credits scene very well. In fact, it upholds the meaning behind the entire film. However, to foreigners, and especially to overseas judges, that scene would have been uncomfortable to watch.”

“Perhaps the judges felt that the final post-credits scene had ruined the entire film’s artistry.”

“Yes, you can’t say much. We understand.”

“Tomorrow is Beautiful won the Jury Prize even though there were so many factors going against it. Doesn’t that prove all-the-more that the film was well-produced?”

“What a pity. The production team should have just cut the second post-credits scene away before submitting the film!”

“I think that the production team already knew about this problem but chose not to do anything.”

“Why? Do they have something against the award?”

Everyone shared their own opinions until another film critic who had watched countless films spoke up. “I also think that the production team did that on purpose. It’s actually not hard to understand.

“First, the production team was definitely clear on the message that the film was trying to convey and the meaning of the pistol-throwing post-credits scene. Otherwise, why did they film it?

“If they were clear on the meaning, they would also have expected that the judges would not find that scene palatable. Cutting that scene out would have been simple, but they did not do that.

“I think there could only be two reasons.

“First, they knew that Cannes preferred films that premiered at the film festival, and they did not expect Tomorrow is Beautiful to win an award, much less the Palme d’Or. They participated in the film festival with a cavalier attitude and had no intention of pleasing the judges.

“Second, they knew they would be penalized for it, but they insisted on expressing their full message through the movie.

“If they had cut off that last post-credits scene, the film would have been lacking in something. Maybe the production team stubbornly insisted on keeping the film whole and refused even to cut away an unimportant post-credits scene.”

After reading the analysis, a realization dawned on all the bystanders.

So that was why! That was true—how could the production team not have realized what the film critics could see?

Yet, they still submitted the entire film without any worries. That was akin to entering someone else’s territory and competing on their rules, and then winning second place based on one’s own abilities, without attempting to cater to the judges at all.

Was this… the pride of an artist?

The netizens could not help but feel moved. Indeed, heroes were cultivated from a young

age!

Many old artists in the film industry were respectable, but many of them also tried hard to cater to judges’ tastes to win awards at international film festivals. On some level, they had given up their own self-expression.

That was not just sad for certain filmmakers, but also for the entire local film industry in general.

However, everyone in the production team at Fei Huang Workspace—from the director to the scriptwriter-was young.

It felt almost like a young knight, proudly participating in a Sword Appreciation Conference with top practitioners of martial arts, using a sword that he had painstakingly sharpened. What’s more, despite knowing how to cater to the judges, the young knight insisted on remaining true to himself and ended up defeating everyone else based on his own capabilities.

Suddenly, it did not seem to matter whether the film won first or second place. Although it had not been awarded the Palme d’Or, the production team had still brought far more meaning to the local film industry than a Palme d’Or ever would!

The post became extremely popular and triggered passionate discussions!

For some reason, someone else posted the film’s ratings from various major websites.

“A foreign website released the film’s rating yesterday—8.2. Some of you might think that that’s no big deal, but judging from other films’ ratings on that website, very few movies throughout history have gotten a rating of 9.0 and above. An 8.2 puts Tomorrow is Beautiful among the top 250 films on the database!

“If we look at the rating as a percentage, we would have no choice but to lash out at our local websites.

“Before this, Tomorrow is Beautiful had gotten a rating of 8.5 and below on multiple websites. That’s especially amusing given that a good domestic movie can easily get a score of 9.5 or more on those websites.

“Everyone can easily see that Tomorrow is Beautiful’s rating on TPDb has remained consistent at about 9.1. Although it has been fluctuating slightly, it’s still considered very stable!

“I think that low scores are not representative of how strict a rating website is. You don’t have to keep a close eye on the film’s ratings on foreign websites. After all, Tomorrow is Beautiful was produced by locals. The message that it conveys can only be fully understood by locals.

“I hope that this film represents a good beginning for domestic films. We no longer have to strive for recognition at international film festivals. Instead, we can focus on telling our local story well!

“At this point, I urge everyone to register an account at TPDb and watch Tomorrow is Beautiful one more time on Aili Island. Let us always remember this meaningful and monumental day!”

After reading the netizens’ comments, Pei Qian quietly closed the browser.

Alright, that’s all. I’ll give up fighting now. Pei Qian realized that netizens were getting increasingly ridiculous. Every now and then, they would pull off a new trick again. He would never have thought that the final comment would push everyone to TPDb and the online version of Tomorrow is Beautiful again.

He wondered how many people would purchase Tomorrow is Beautiful on Aili Island this time and how many people would add more bullet screen comments like ‘play it a billion more times’, ‘treasure of the site’, and ‘pulling the entire world together’ to the beginning of the movie. Pei Qian could almost see how things would go when he met Zhu Xiaoce next. The latter’s expression would be filled with excitement as he rushed to Pei Qian’s side, saying ‘Boss Pei! Your decision to share profits with Aili Island was wise and correct!’

Just thinking about it made Pei Qian extremely depressed.