Chapter 28: Xiao Wu

Two days later, Liu Zhou was invited to dinner by Jia Zhangke again.

The location was Donglaishun Hotpot where Liu Zhou and he first met.

When Liu Zhou rushed there, he found that there were more than just Jia Zhangke, there were four in total including him.

In addition to the three people he met for the first time, there was another guy who looked humorous and funny. Liu Zhou felt that if he were to act in a comedy, he might be able to become a golden supporting actor.

How to put it, this guy looks like Mr. Bean, with a small face on the top and a big face on the bottom, a receding hairline, and a mustache. He looks very funny.

But after listening to Jia Zhangke's introduction, he realized that this person was his classmate Gu Zheng, who was only 27 years old this year.

Liu Zhou felt that he grew up a little too hastily.

The other two people Liu Zhou had met last time were Wang Hongwei and Yu Liwei.

These people are Jia Zhangke’s core creative team.

After greeting a few people, Liu Zhou took a seat directly.

"I heard from Lao Jia that you are from Yangcheng, Liu Zhou?" Yu Liwei asked with a smile.

"Yes, it's an honor to meet you, Brother Yu." Liu Zhou replied in Cantonese.

"Haha, no need to be so polite."

Yu Liwei is from Hong Kong, and he felt very close to meeting someone who speaks Cantonese in Beijing.

In fact, Yu Liwei speaks Mandarin quite well and he came to Beijing a few years ago.

In 92, he had just graduated from the Photography Department of the National Film School of Belgium and came to Beijing to shoot a documentary short.

It was the time when Beijing was just hosting the Asian Games, and his theme was the caravan performances around Beijing, with tickets costing two yuan each.

Moreover, his parents were patriotic overseas Chinese, and later in the 1960s, their family came to Hong Kong.

Influenced by his parents, Yu Liwei was full of curiosity about the mainland and always wanted to explore it.

He had a special affection for the city of Beijing. Later, he met his wife in this city. In 04, he and Jia Zhangke filmed the Beijing-themed movie "The World".

After chatting for a while, Jia Zhangke said:
"Junior brother, when do you think we can sign the contract?"

"I'm available anytime, but before that I want to ask Brother Yu for a favor."

"You tell me what you want, and I will do my best to help you."

"It's not a big deal. I just want to ask Brother Yu to help me register a studio in Hong Kong. Then I will invest in this movie in the name of the studio."

Liu Zhou did this not to evade taxes or anything like that, but because he was worried that his superiors would notice him.

The movie "Xiao Wu" is destined to fail to win a bid. It is a typical underground movie.

And because someone complained, the General Administration passed a "Film Management Regulations" in 1996 and banned a number of directors.

Article 36 of this regulation clearly stipulates that participation in international film festivals or exhibitions abroad must be reviewed and approved by the film authorities.

"Xiao Wu" is targeting overseas film festivals. How can it be approved by the department to participate in the exhibition without a bid? So it will have to go against the wind when the time comes.

Liu Zhou doesn't want to be noticed by the higher-ups for investing in banned films, as he still has to make his living in the mainland.

For safety reasons, Liu Zhou had to put on a vest.

Obviously, several people understood Liu Zhou's intention, but no one cared.

"I'll take care of registering the studio. It's very easy to register a company in Hong Kong."

After finishing the serious talk, Liu Zhou quickly became familiar with these people. They knew that Liu Zhou didn't drink and didn't force him to drink.

"Liu Zhou, thank you so much. It took Hongwei, Gu Zheng and I several years to get into the Beijing Film Academy. Last year, we scraped together everything we had and almost sold our pants to make a short film. If it weren't for you and Brother Yu this time, we don't know when we would be able to make a real movie." Jia Zhangke said emotionally, his eyes a little moist.

Yu Liwei patted Jia Zhangke on the shoulder without saying anything. He felt the same way. If he didn't love movies, he wouldn't have traveled all over the country for the sake of making movies.

"Brother, please stop being sentimental. Everything will be fine. I can see that you are all very passionate about movies. You will definitely succeed in the future."

"I am a little hypocritical. I will use your good words to achieve fame through this movie."

After that, they clinked glasses.

"By the way, Senior Brother Jia, did you bring the script?"

"I brought it, but we are going to polish it a little more."

"Can you let me take a look first?"

"no problem."

Jia Zhangke pulled out a notebook with about ten pages from the bag behind him and handed it to Liu Zhou.

Liu Zhou took a sip of water, took the script, turned to the first page, took a closer look, and couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of water.

I only saw the name of the movie written on the first page of the script:
"Jin Xiaoyong's buddy, Hu Haimei's boyfriend, Liang Changyou's son: Xiao Wu"!
Damn, is this a movie title made up by someone?
Liu Zhou didn't know whether this was too artistic or too rustic.

"Brother, are you serious about the title of this movie? It's 21 words, it takes a while to pronounce it."

Jia Zhangke was a little embarrassed. This name is indeed not what a normal person would choose:
"Take a look first, this name is only tentative."

Liu Zhou knew that when it came to movie names, there were all kinds of them, and there were many weird movie names around the world.

For example, the famous movie trilogy, "Red", "White", and "Blue", but these were translated in China, and their foreign names are "A", "B", and "E".

As for why the last film was not called "C", Liu Zhou didn't know, but what Liu Zhou was sure of was that the audience would definitely want to beat the director to death when they saw this title.

The above ones are perfunctory in naming, and there are also some that seem to have put the entire outline of the movie into the title, which is scary.

For example, there is an Italian movie called "In the city of Siculiana, the exile of two men for a widow caused a political upheaval. Love, death, the beautiful Rugana, Tarantella, Tararuccia is wine."

There is also a British movie called "Why should I believe you when you tell me you love me, because I already know you have been lying all your life."

There is a horror movie in the United States called "Demons, mutants, aliens, cannibals, the zombified living dead from the limbo of hell have returned with their wives and children to terrorize from day to night until dawn 3."

There's also an adventure comedy called These Great Men in Flying Machines; But How Do I Get from London to Paris in 10 Minutes?

This movie was also nominated for the Best Picture at the 1966 Golden Globe Awards. Can you believe it?

Liu Zhou ignored the title of the movie and opened the script to read it carefully.

The movie "Xiao Wu" mainly tells a story about a thief in a small town.

Because he was a thief, his childhood friends looked down on him, and even the wedding gifts he gave to his friends were considered dirty by his friends, so he lost his friends.
Then the nightclub girl he loved ran away with the coal boss, and he lost the woman;
When I got home, I had a falling out with my family again, and my home was gone;
He wanted to buy a pager, but was caught by the police while stealing. He was handcuffed to a telephone pole by the police and was watched by many people. In the end, he lost all his dignity.

From beginning to end, the whole movie is filled with sadness.

No wonder this movie failed to pass the review, even the audience doesn’t want to watch such a movie.

It seems that the difficulty they have in finding investment is not only because they are not well-known, but the script is also an important factor.

"Brother, how do you feel?"

"Brother Jia, I'm only a freshman, how can I tell what's good or bad? Just shoot according to your own ideas."

Liu Zhoucai would not comment on the script.

(End of this chapter)