Chapter 282: Long-lasting applause

In the Lumière Theatre today, some audience members were focused on the plot, some on the acting, and some couldn't get into it at all.

During the viewing, there was quite a bit of whispering, but even more intense concentration.

Unknowingly, more than half of the film had passed.

And it was finally time for the various twists that Bong Joon-ho and Chen Nuo had conceived together for a long time.

Liu Liu Xiaoli never expected that the real culprit the mother was desperately tracking down was actually her son.

Just as Liu Liu Xiaoli was still immersed in this unexpected twist,

the film's story, like a suddenly rising, magnificent mountain peak, once again ushered in a dark development.

That mother, just like her, in order to cover up the fact that her son had committed murder, picked up a wrench from the scrapyard and dealt a heavy blow to the skull of the only person who knew the truth, leaving the entire Lumière Theatre in dead silence.

The mother hammered the old man's skull into a pulp, one blow after another. Finally, she wiped her face, washed her hands clean, and expressionlessly used a torch to ignite the scene, burning all the sins to ashes.

When Kim Hye-ja on the silver screen walked into that wasteland filled with withered wild grass,

Liu Liu Xiaoli recalled the dance before the film opened and no longer felt it was funny.

In the subsequent plot, the mother gave up on clearing her son's name, but the police, in order to keep her from causing trouble, caught a mentally disabled person as a scapegoat and released Lu Sang-woo from prison.

The twisted humor of the two screenwriters was fully displayed at this moment.

Clearly, they wanted to tell the audience: you can never guess what my next move will be.

Is this an art film?

Liu Liu Xiaoli didn't know.

However, she now felt this movie was a bit interesting.

Including the Korean actress playing the mother, who acted very well.

She completely portrayed the mindset of a single mother who would stop at nothing for her children, making her go from dismissive to finally being almost completely immersed in it.

The worries before watching the film were completely reversed at this moment.

She no longer worried about whether the director would ruin this movie; instead, she felt that Chen Nuo acted in such a ghostly way that it made people feel uncomfortable just looking at him—would this movie be ruined in his hands?

The final segment of the film was Kim Hye-ja taking Chen Nuo onto a bus for a parent-child trip.

During the journey, the passengers on the bus started dancing and reveling. Kim Hye-ja joined them, but Chen Nuo sat in his seat, motionless.

The camera pulled away, moving toward darkness amidst a golden light.

The Lumière Theatre fell into a silence without a single ray of light.

The movie seemed to be over.

But just when everyone was waiting for the credits to appear, the music started again.

When the huge silver screen lit up again.

From the darkness, a patch of golden sunlight slowly appeared. It was like a grand sunrise.

That fool, who sat motionless in the original ending, stood up from his seat,

and in this light that made the entire Lumière Theatre feel like broad daylight, he walked to the middle of the bus in a dazed posture,

and started dancing.

This dance could be called bizarre and grotesque.

Because the golden halo was on the man's head, his face was hidden in the strong light and couldn't be seen clearly, and even his figure had blurry edges,

only the outline of his limbs could be seen.

Chen Nuo never expected that Bong Joon-ho's final arrangement for his improvised performance would be completely uncut.

He let him dance a solo dance for a full two minutes and thirty-two seconds in front of over 2,000 audience members and countless professionals.

By the end, no matter how thick-skinned he was, he felt a bit like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Until the man on the screen completely and utterly merged into the white light.

The movie ended, the screen went black, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Amidst the soft music, the credits began to play on the silver screen.

At this moment, Bong Joon-ho didn't speak, and Chen Nuo also awkwardly didn't speak.

Even the entire audience seemed to be frightened by this ghostly thing Chen Nuo danced, and for a time, no sound was made.

In the darkness, Chen Nuo didn't know how Bong Joon-ho felt, but he was a bit nervous.

He was now a bit afraid that his impulsive decision to dance this dance, wanting to create a callback with Kim Hye-ja, had backfired.

The key was that it lasted too long, and the placement was also very strange. If you call it a post-credits scene, it's too early. If it's not a post-credits scene, it's too late.

But things had reached this point, and he couldn't undo it.

While Chen Nuo was feeling uneasy, Liu Qi Yifei was also looking around, feeling a bit nervous herself.

She thought the whole movie was quite good, except for the dance Kim Hye-ja did at the beginning and the one Chen Nuo did at the end, which she didn't quite understand.

What did the director want to express?

Why was the dancing so ugly?

Sigh, Liu Qi Yifei sighed in her heart; if she had known it would be like this, she could have gone to Korea to help out.

Su Sisi felt she wasn't very professional, but regardless, any random dance moves she could think of would definitely look better than what Chen Nuo was doing now.

What to do? No one is applauding. Liu Qi Yifei frowned tightly; should she just take the lead herself?

Her thoughts hadn't finished turning in her mind when she suddenly heard a few crisp claps of applause beside her.

Ah? Liu Qi Yifei turned her head in surprise and saw that it wasn't anyone else, but her mother, Liu Liu Xiaoli. For some reason, amidst the silence where no one else had moved, she actually clapped twice.

Liu Qi Yifei was currently astonished,

never expecting that Liu Liu Xiaoli's two claps would be like a torch thrown into a pile of dry thatch; within just a few seconds, it turned into a part of a raging fire, and it was no longer possible to distinguish where it had started.

The applause that subsequently rang out in the dark Lumière Theatre was very loud.

Chen Nuo relaxed slightly amidst the applause that arrived as expected. He didn't know if it was because he was sitting downstairs instead of in a box this time, but in any case, he felt the decibel level of the applause at this moment exceeded what he had heard three years ago.

This finally made him feel that he hadn't messed up, and hadn't lost the suspense of the 5 million dollar bet.

What is the concept of over 2,000 people applauding together?

Bong Joon-ho said something to him with a face full of joy, but Chen Nuo didn't hear a single word.

After several minutes, the applause slowly died down.

But just at this moment, a beam of light descended from the sky, circling the seats of the four main creators in a beam of light.

This was the reason why they didn't sit in a box this time.

After Thierry Frémaux took office as Artistic Director in 2007, he made several reforms to restore traditions and apply new technologies, and this was one of them.

After the film ended, in the spotlight, the entire audience paid tribute to the film's creators.

It must be said that Chen Nuo felt that under such strong light, feeling over 2,000 people watching him, the feeling was truly a bit heart-stirring.

At least Kim Hye-ja and Jeon Mi-sun started wiping away tears. Fatty Bong also grinned wide, laughing like a fat version of Lu Sang-woo.

This time, Chen Nuo felt the applause was even more persistent than the first time.

It probably lasted over 3 minutes before it died down again. But the lighting technician seemed to be a master of guiding the rhythm; he had long been waiting for this moment.

As soon as the applause died down, the lights in the entire hall turned on.

The entire Lumière Theatre returned from night to day. Many people were dazzled by the lights and couldn't open their eyes, but when they opened their eyes, the applause, which had just died down a little, became intense again.

It was even more intense than before.

Because Chen Nuo, Bong Joon-ho, Kim Hye-ja, and Jeon Mi-sun all stood up, waving to the entire hall from in front of their seats.

Everyone in the hall also stood up one after another. Regardless of what they were thinking in their hearts, at this very moment, everyone faced that direction, paying tribute to the film artists with attentive gazes and polite applause.

Bold people started to take action at this time.

For example, a graceful figure walked toward the creators from a side aisle; it was Mo Nika Bellucci in a golden dress.

She wore a string of pearl necklaces and a small diamond hair clip on her head, her dress outlining her beautiful figure.

Her goal seemed quite clear, because she hadn't even shifted her gaze, staring at one place from beginning to end.

She walked straight up to Chen Nuo, and amidst the cheers of the entire hall, gave him a deep hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I love your final dance to death; it was simply amazing!" the Italian actress said loudly in Chen Nuo's ear in slightly awkward English.

Before Chen Nuo could speak, Mo Nika Bellucci added, "I think you are even better than three years ago. Chen, this time I don't think anyone else has the qualifications to take away your trophy!"

"Thank you, thank you, Mo Nika, thank you for your blessings." Chen Nuo didn't use any hypocritical polite handshakes; he directly wrapped his arms around her waist and said loudly in the ear of the former "ball flower," the posture perhaps a bit ambiguous, but otherwise, he truly couldn't hear what the other person was saying.

Mo Nika Bellucci also said in his ear with a hint of reproach, "I gave you my business card, but you never called me once."

Chen Nuo said, "Yes, because I was too busy. But I'm planning to take a long vacation next year; we'll see each other in Rome then."

Mo Nika Bellucci nodded with satisfaction. After shaking hands with Bong Joon-ho and Kim Hye-ja, she turned and left. It was a bit awkward because she missed Jeon Mi-sun.

At this time, the film's subtitles finally finished rolling, and the screen turned to broadcast the scene on-site.

Seeing that after Mo Nika Bellucci, more acquaintances were surging toward them.

Bong Joon-ho was flushed with excitement, Kim Hye-ja was all smiles, and Jeon Mi-sun, not knowing if she was nervous because of Bellucci's small mistake earlier, had movements even stiffer than the dance Chen Nuo performed.

Almost all the star directors who had appeared on the red carpet earlier came over, and at the same time, the entire audience surged toward this position, surrounding the four of them in the middle.

Then those who were qualified came in one by one to greet them.

Although Chen Nuo's paranoia made his whole body tense, he still maintained a smile.

Because this was actually part of the tribute ceremony.

Since 2007, every film premiering at Cannes has had this process, whether long or short.

Perhaps the only difference between "Mother" and other films this year was that just as Mo Nika Bellucci left, Sophie Marceau followed, nagging the same actor.

And, the French goddess lifted her shoulder strap again to make room, and Penélope Cruz went through the same process again.

This even included Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, who followed afterward.

Quentin's enthusiasm was almost too much for Chen Nuo to handle.

Unlike Martin Scorsese, who had seen countless big scenes, the old man didn't say much, just congratulated him, saying that his dance was like something—a religious term Chen Nuo didn't quite understand. Finally, he hoped Chen Nuo could audition for his new film in the future.

After Martin was an old friend, the pride of Taiwan, China, Director Ang Lee.

After the Golden Horse Awards, they met again at Cannes, and the two were exceptionally affectionate, chatting for quite a while.

Then there was Tsai Ming-liang, who came with Ang Lee...

The four main creators of the "Spring Breeze" crew arrived late, sitting relatively further back.

Hao Lei looked at the center of the crowd from afar and asked left and right, "Should we go up and say hello too?"

Qin Hao hesitated, and Chen Chen Sicheng said, "Forget it, they are chatting so enthusiastically with Martin Scorsese and Ang Lee; who are we? Let's just applaud here."

Hao Lei said, "They chat their chat, what does it have to do with us? Qin Hao, Director, are you going?"

The result was that none of them went.

In the end, among the four, only Hao Lei went.

Hao Lei knew what these three were struggling with; after their premiere last night, their media score in today's "Screen" magazine was only 2.4 points, currently ranking second to last, only ahead of a Filipino director's film.

Under these circumstances, they were a bit embarrassed.

In fact, Hao Lei was too, but she had been closer to Zhang Zhang Yiyi and his wife over the past year or two, and had heard about Chen Nuo's temperament from them, so she gathered her courage and came over.

Sure enough, it was exactly as Zhang Zhang Yiyi said; he truly had no airs at all, and terms like "Sister Lei" came right out of his mouth, as if they were truly good friends and old acquaintances.

However, Hao Lei knew he was busy, so she didn't say much, chatted briefly, shook hands with the other Koreans, and returned to Lou Ye's position.

"What did you chat about?" Chen Chen Sicheng's tone was strange, "Does he know you?"

Hao Lei rolled her eyes at him and said, "How fresh! We are all Chinese, can we not know each other? Why don't you go up and try? He definitely knows you too."

Chen Chen Sicheng chuckled, "That's not necessarily true."

Qin Hao, who was struggling in his heart about whether to go over and say hello, heard the cheers and applause of the entire hall ring out again.

Calculating the time, so far, the applause had lasted at least ten minutes.

Although these foreigners are professional applauders, in some symphony orchestra performances, applauding for twenty minutes or even half an hour is not uncommon.

However, at the Cannes Film Festival, everyone probably felt that the time should be enough.

Therefore, it entered the final process of the entire tribute segment.

The film screen began to display the main creators one by one, letting each person receive applause individually.

The photographer filmed them in order.

Jeon Mi-sun, Kim Hye-ja, then it jumped to Chen Nuo, and finally Director Bong Joon-ho.

Whenever a face appeared on the big screen, the applause would reach a peak.

And from Kim Hye-ja to Chen Nuo, I don't know if it was because one person was skipped in the middle, but the photographer took two extra steps, and the interval was a few seconds longer, giving the audience more time to react.

In any case, when Chen Nuo's smiling face appeared alone on the big screen amidst the crowd of audience members, that was when the biggest and most enthusiastic cheer of the night occurred.

The professionals whistling put in all their effort, and the whistling sounds rose and fell, making Chen Nuo hurriedly reveal a V-sign to the camera, and then cupped his hands in a salute.

Not only did Liu Qi Yifei laugh, but everyone present laughed.

When Bong Joon-ho finally appeared on the big screen, everyone could see that this big fat man with curly hair was clearly extremely excited.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you very much." Fatty Bong wiped his tears while saying thank you four times in four languages.

His Cantonese was very standard, actually much better than Chen Nuo's spoken Korean just now.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 283 =====