CHAPTER 645: CHAPTER 438 AWARD PREDICTIONS

After the premiere ended and Wu Mu finished dealing with various media interviews, they finally returned to the hotel.

By then, it had already become a trending topic domestically.

f.(r)eew ebnov\ll.com

Shu Mei, who had been closely following public opinion back home, excitedly showed her phone to Wu Mu, "Brother, look, our movie is trending back home."

Wu Mu flicked her forehead lightly and took the phone to check.

It indeed had made it to the trending list.

The first was.

#Will Wu Mu win Best Actor at Cannes?#

This topic was too eye-catching, combining both Wu Mu and the Cannes Best Actor trophy.

It was like merging two completely unrelated things together, making anyone who saw it have to click in and take a look.

The comments and discussions inside had long exploded.

"When the first person said Wu Gou might win Best Actor at Cannes, I thought they were joking with me; when the second person praised Wu Gou’s acting as explosive, I thought they were paid off; when the third person said Wu Gou’s movie premiere stunned everyone, I thought maybe they were bewitched by Wu Gou. But then when Six Princess joined in on the praise... the sky is falling!"

"To the person above, is it possible that Six Princess was also paid off? Obviously, after the Japanese fan parade, Wu Gou became politically valuable, and the officials started promoting him."

"Yeah, the hype is too fantastical. If you said the audience clapped, I might believe it, but crying on the spot that much, who would buy that? The movie’s language isn’t even the same. At most, subtitles might have that effect, right?"

"I also think it’s exaggerated. If you said Wu Gou won a Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Award, I’d believe it. It might even be possible to win a Golden Horse or Golden Statue, but Cannes is just too much."

There were massive doubts.

But there were also some attendees and believers from the premiere audience.

"Although I also can’t believe it, as someone who attended the premiere, I have to say that’s really how it was... Wu Gou’s movie truly has substance."

"I can’t say about others, but I can say I actually cried watching Wu Gou’s movie. Also, Six Princess’s footage is real, not patched from elsewhere."

"Six Princess wouldn’t use this kind of thing to deceive; after all, it’s an official major media outlet."

The discussion was unusually intense.

In any case, whether they believed it or not, it all boiled down to one question.

What exactly did Wu Gou’s movie show, and when can we see it?

Shu Mei was already lost in thought, "Hehe, Cannes Best Actor, hehe, Cannes Best Actor!"

Wu Mu looked at her speechlessly, "It’s not even certain yet, why are you so happy so early?"

Although the atmosphere at the scene was indeed enthusiastic, many factors influence an award.

"At least our chances are very high!" Shu Mei was optimistic.

Handing back the phone to Shu Mei, he went to find Lin Qingyue, only to find Lin Qingyue also on her phone.

"Our movie’s Douban premiere score came out, 9.1."

"So high?" Wu Mu was surprised.

The movie’s rating and word-of-mouth are becoming increasingly important for films nowadays. Many audiences are now accustomed to checking the rating before watching a film; if it’s bad, they might easily decide not to watch.

Similarly, a high rating can easily attract viewers and organically promote the film through word-of-mouth.

Therefore, ratings are becoming more valued in the industry, with particular attention paid to first-wave reviews by premiere audiences.

Domestic movie rating sites, like Maoyan and Taopiaopiao, often give overly high ratings, casually above nine points.

Douban is stricter. An 8 is considered a world-class masterpiece, and anything above 9 is almost standard for a legendary work, similar to The Godfather at 9.3, Flipped at 9.1, Let the Bullets Fly at 9.0, and Silence of the Lambs at 8.9 on Earth.

All well-known masterpieces.

Lin Qingyue nodded, "Premiere scores might be slightly higher due to a smaller sample size. After public screening, they might drop slightly, but by routine, it should still hold around 8.8."

The original version of their film, Five Centimeters per Second, scored 8.3 with six hundred thousand ratings on Earth.

In Blue Star, a parallel universe version will definitely differ from the original, plus with Wu Mu’s performance, the score would naturally be a bit higher.

Wu Mu curiously leaned over to check the premiere audience reviews on Douban.

Hmm, speaking of which, Douban has always been a gathering place for his haters and fans of his exes.

This was reflected in the reviews a bit.

"4 stars, hard to imagine this is his movie. Love, regret, and... loneliness. Suddenly feel like we didn’t really know him before."

"5 stars, the overwhelming emotion and loneliness, can no one find their imagined love in this life?"

"5 stars, this is a movie about distance, about love, about life, about loneliness. The difficulty of love is portrayed too realistically, just like the line in the movie, ’That vast life, that distant time, all inevitably stand in our way.’

"4 stars, sigh, although in the movie he’s the male lead with that woman director, his first love was probably that woman, right? He must have integrated his past with her into the film, that’s why it feels so genuine, just like his Queen of Heaven. The woman, whom he once regarded as a Queen, they eventually separated due to various reasons, leaving regret in his heart."

Hmm??

Wu Mu glanced over the last review, quickly turning his head nonchalantly, "I didn’t expect there were quite a few people from the premiere on Douban."

But it seemed his turn was a tad slow.

Lin Qingyue chuckled, "Relax, I’m not mad. I never saw her as a competitor."

Wu Mu casually responded, "Oh... by the way, what should we eat later?"

Lin Qingyue teased him, pulling his hand, "But occasionally, I do feel a bit annoyed. All your significant firsts were experienced by someone else and I’ve never seen them."

As she spoke, she suddenly looked up and called, "Baby."

Wu Mu almost choked on his own saliva, looking at Lin Qingyue with amusement, "I don’t have any particular feelings about this nickname; you can use it if you like."

Lin Qingyue leaned over to kiss him, "Hmm."

...

After the premiere, let’s not talk about the buzz back home, here at Cannes, the excitement is also high.

It might not be entirely accurate to say Wu Mu was just a small face in the crowd, but calling their movie unnoticed wouldn’t be far off.

People might have only paid attention because of Wu Mu’s looks and his performance in the opening film.

But after watching the premiere, everyone suddenly realized that Wu Mu’s movie is indeed a dark horse.

Leaving aside Wu Mu’s astonishing performance, the movie itself is of extremely high quality.

So their film quickly went from unnoticed to a major contender for awards, even overtaking the pre-festival buzz surrounding "Death Mail" and "Sad Train."

The direct manifestation of this excitement is that every time they go out, a flock of media and journalists start paying attention to them.

And the festival’s trendsetter, in the pages of major magazines...

The next day, as soon as Wu Mu got up, he saw Shu Mei coming back with a pile of newspapers.

"Brother, look, we’re dominating the Cannes bulletins!" she exclaimed excitedly upon seeing Wu Mu.

Indeed, they were dominating.

Randomly picking one up, it was his cover poster.

After his last secondary page treatment, he finally had cover treatment, and it was full cover treatment in mainstream bulletins.

Like the most authoritative "International Screen" bulletin.

The cover showed him standing in the exhibition hall, receiving the audience’s warm applause, some audience members even had tears in their eyes.

The cover title — "The Most Primitive Movie Emotion, A Journey of the Soul, Wu Mu Lin Qingyue’s "Separation"

Upon flipping inside, the cover article was written by the bulletin’s chief editor, Scott, occupying more than two pages.

Wu Mu curiously looked over.

"On the third day of the opening ceremony, Hua Country actor Wu Mu and Hua Country director Lin Qingyue gave us the biggest surprise of this Cannes, bringing us the mid-length romance film "Separation."

"To be objective, the film’s shortcomings are obvious, with a weak storyline and monotonous scenes, many parts, rather than being a movie, are more like a music video."

"But corresponding to its shortcomings are the film’s strengths, which are equally obvious and strong — the actor’s stunning performance that will make viewers tremble, extremely atmospheric shots and filming techniques, emotions with strong involvement, filled with universality and core..."

"What is the most significant meaning of a movie? There might be endless answers, an exploration of human nature, a critique on society, a study on cinematic techniques, and so on."

"But for most audiences, one major reason why the art of film continues to thrive after over 120 years is undoubtedly because watching movies lets them experience a different life, triggering reflections on regrets and beauties in their own lives."

"The film "Separation" has obvious shortcomings in other areas, but in this aspect, it is exceptionally excellent..."

The article of two to three thousand words mainly discussed the strong involvement of the film, talking about universal themes of love and loneliness.

It was overall very objective.

Their film indeed has very striking upsides and downsides.

Besides the cover article, there is also the bulletin’s own predictions and ratings for the main competition films.

The "International Screen" bulletin gave their film a score of 8, and in award predictions, anticipated them winning the Gold Photography Award, Best Director, and Best Actor.

In terms of the significance of Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Palm Award is undoubtedly the top, awarded to the best film of each festival.

Then the Jury Prize is second in significance, customarily given to the second best or relatively more controversial masterpiece movies.

These two are the highest awards at Cannes.

Next, the Best Director Award ranks third, awarded to directors with strong authorship and distinctive personal style.

Best Actor needs no explanation.

There is also Best Screenplay and Special Mention Awards, considered the second tier.

Then there’s the Gold Photography Award, which is the Best Debut Award, as this is Director Lin’s first feature film, it can be evaluated.

Overall, it’s considered a relatively optimistic prediction.

Although it doesn’t include the most prestigious two awards, it still has Best Director and Best Actor, which for a film not expected to achieve much at entry, is already very good.

Aside from "International Screen" bulletin, there’s also "Variety" bulletin, with Wu Mu also on the cover.

Cover title — "Performance that Conquered the Audience, Hua Country Actor Wu Mu’s "Separation"

The "Variety" bulletin mainly discussed his expressions, having a very hopeful view of his performance, thinking it tremendously enhanced the film.

Even to an extent, the entire film seems to serve his personal image, with all shots and stories crafted to shape his image in the movie.

And his performance supported and strengthened this shaping, making the entire film like his personal monologue, his individual solo.

In any case, it was extremely flattering, very optimistic about him.

But interestingly, despite praise in the cover article, he wasn’t included in the award predictions.

The "Variety" bulletin also gave a score of 8, and in award predictions, anticipated them winning the Jury Prize and Gold Photography Award.

The film’s award expectations were elevated, predicting the Jury Prize, which is second in significance.

But the praised actor, on the contrary, was predicted less favorably than "International Screen," completely removing Best Actor.

Wu Mu was quite surprised, what’s the reason for this?

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ps: Combined, the two Chapters are five thousand nine hundred characters, longer than yesterday.