Chapter 176: The Dispute of the Jin Xiong

Having experienced the three major film festivals many times, Gong Li knew that a score of 3.6 was likely the highest for this year's festival, and it was unlikely that any higher rating would appear later.

Seeing Zhou Xun's anxious expression, Gong Li said calmly and lightly:

"What are you panicking about? A high rating in the trade journal means our film is popular; that's a good thing! The score doesn't affect the awards, so there's no need to use it to predict the results."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen immediately smiled: "Sister Li is right. The trade journal jury and the actual film festival jury are two different sets of people. Besides, the 'curse of the frontrunner' is just a matter of probability; there's no need to worry."

Hearing Gong Li and Wu Yuchen say this, Zhou Xun and the others felt a sense of relief.

Once the others had walked away, Gong Li and Wu Yuchen gathered together again: "Wu Dao, what do you think about this?"

Although both had said it didn't matter, past data showed that films receiving the highest trade journal ratings rarely won Best Film—the probability was less than 20%. Receiving a mid-to-high ranking score was actually more conducive to winning. Of course, this was a statistical issue, and every year's situation was different.

Wu Yuchen sighed: "A high score is still better than a low score for winning, but I'm worried that some jury members might have a contrarian streak. Human psychology is hard to predict."

Gong Li nodded at this. She had served as a Cannes Film Festival juror the year before last and knew well that jury members were all artists, making them more prone to eccentricities.

To say nothing of others, the jury president for her year, Adjani—that actress hailed as a French national treasure—was seen by the other jurors as an absolute drama queen.

Off-site, Adjani fought with another female juror over the bodyguard arranged by the organizers and occupied the Cannes mayor's private box; during the judging period, Adjani demanded that the jurors eat breakfast with her at 7:45 sharp every day and accompany her on a diet meal plan, making everything revolve entirely around her. Furthermore, her views on films changed daily, with a new idea every morning.

The final result was that Adjani annoyed all the jurors, and they united to sideline her as jury president. This became a joke circulating at the Cannes Film Festival, and subsequent jury presidents took it as a warning.

Therefore, Gong Li knew Wu Yuchen's concern was not without merit; it was possible some jurors would specifically want to go against the frontrunner, and it was hard to say what might happen.

Sometimes, the more you worry about something, the more likely it is to happen.

Paulo Branco, a veteran actor and producer from Portugal, had long been active in the independent film scene and was one of the jurors for this year's Berlin Film Festival. After watching *Don't Fool Around*, he held a high opinion of the film internally, but he did not like Wu Yuchen as a director.

As a filmmaker who had always supported art-house cinema, he believed that since Wu Yuchen had started with art films and made a name for himself at the Berlin Film Festival, he should stick to art films. He was very displeased with Wu Yuchen's behavior of betraying art-house cinema to go to Hollywood to shoot commercial films; it was simply a waste of talent and genius!

Fine, he admitted he was jealous that Wu Yuchen had achieved so much at such a young age. Why should he be able to jump back and forth between Hollywood and the three major film festivals? Earning money shooting commercial films in Hollywood while simultaneously racking up honors at the three major festivals—how could he get all the good things?!

Seeing the trade journal give *Don't Fool Around* the highest rating and such high praise for Wu Yuchen, he was even more annoyed. The awards of the three major festivals should not be given to people tainted by commercial films; they should all be reserved for art-house filmmakers like them!

However, Paulo Branco was smart. He knew that given the quality of *Don't Fool Around*, it was clearly impossible to leave it empty-handed, but he could certainly obstruct it from winning the Jin Xiong.

By this time, the Berlin Film Festival was more than halfway through, and the jury was already discussing and evaluating various awards.

When they reached several important awards, Paulo Branco broke the silence first and spoke up:

"I want to state my suggestion first. I believe this year's Best Actress is indisputable; it must go to Gong Li! Her performance in *Don't Fool Around* is unparalleled. No matter who else wins, I will not accept it!"

Xie Fei, the juror from China, felt happy upon hearing this. Before he had even opened his mouth, a supporter of *Don't Fool Around*—or rather, Gong Li—had jumped out. It seemed the situation for *Don't Fool Around* in this awards cycle was looking great!

"I agree. Gong Li's performance is fantastic, absolutely at the level of a Best Actress winner!" another juror said.

Xie Fei naturally followed up by speaking in support of Gong Li. Just like that, the Best Actress award was decided with almost no controversy, falling into Gong Li's hands. *Don't Fool Around* had gotten off to a good start.

Next was the discussion for Best Actor. After some arguing, this award went to Michael Gwisdek for the German film *Night Shapes*.

Then came the evaluation for the Best Director award. One juror proposed first:

"I think it should go to Terrence Malick, the director of *The Thin Red Line*. This film is anti-genre and subverts the Hollywood model. Although the film features big stars like Sean Penn, George Clooney, and Travolta, the true star of the film is the director's unique technique."

Paulo's eyes flashed with a sharp light upon hearing this, feeling that the opportunity had arrived, and he immediately raised his hand:

"I strongly agree with your statement. Terrence Malick has brought us a great film after a 20-year hiatus. I believe it deserves more than just Best Director; this film should win the Jin Xiong!"

The other jurors were stunned. Weren't they talking about Best Director? How did it suddenly shift to the Jin Xiong?

At this point, jury president Angela Molina reminded them: "Paulo, let's discuss the director award first."

"Oh no, Angela, now is the right time to discuss it. Otherwise, can you guarantee that if you give Best Director to Terrence, you will also give it the Jin Xiong? *The Thin Red Line* is absolutely the best film for this year's Jin Xiong!"

Seeing Paulo bring up the issue of dividing the pie, the other jurors simply joined in:

"No, I propose the Jin Xiong go to *The Celebration*!"

Paulo countered directly: "*The Celebration* is not bad, but it is a love film. We are the Berlin Film Festival, which prefers political and social themes. A war reflection theme like *The Thin Red Line* is the most fitting and the undisputed Jin Xiong film!"

Xie Fei spoke up at this moment: "I propose giving it to *Don't Fool Around*!"

"Same logic. I haven't seen any political nature in *Don't Fool Around*, and it already has Best Actress; isn't that enough?" Paulo said, spreading his hands.

Xie Fei's mind turned, and he understood. Good fellow, you proposed Best Actress for Gong Li first just to wait for this!

However, Xie Fei was not panicked and said with a smile:

"Oh no, no, no, Paulo. If you say this film has nothing to do with politics, then I can only say you haven't understood this film. Please allow me to give you a proper briefing on the background of China in 1942..."

This was only because Xie Fei was here. If it had been Michelle Yeoh, she wouldn't have known how to explain the background either.

After Xie Fei finished his explanation, he said:

"Therefore, *Don't Fool Around* contains many political metaphors. Mr. Paulo, you cannot say it has nothing to do with politics just because you don't understand China. Moreover, the China of that time was also part of the World War II battlefield."

Before Paulo could speak, another juror, Ken Adam, spoke up: "Oh, Xie, thank you very much for your explanation. I didn't realize that *Don't Fool Around* contained so many subtle political metaphors behind it!"

Then he turned to the other jurors: "*Don't Fool Around* is truly a great film and the biggest surprise of this film festival. Humanity, politics, and feminism are perfectly integrated into it. It is hard for me not to vote for it for Best Film."

Xie Fei looked at Ken Adam with surprise and returned a friendly smile.

Upon hearing this, Paulo immediately emphasized: "Mr. Adam, *Don't Fool Around* is just a comedy!"

Ken Adam did not back down at this moment:

"But it is not an ordinary comedy. It satirizes corruption, it satirizes the bureaucratic system, it satirizes society's oppression of women, and it satirizes the contradictions and darkness of human nature! *Don't Fool Around* is an absurd comedy rich in black humor that successfully combines comedic elements with political satire. If you don't understand it and simply dismiss all comedy films, then I think you should go read *Pride and Prejudice*."

Paulo opened his mouth, not expecting this old guy to defend *Don't Fool Around* so vigorously. Did you take money, damn it?

His mind turned, and he immediately said: "Terrence Malick is making a comeback after 20 years of retirement, and the work he brought is also master-level, holding high the banner of anti-Hollywood. This also represents the attitude of our European cinema. From any angle, we should support *The Thin Red Line*!"

Ken Adam sneered: "Oh, you are right. I support Terrence Malick very much; giving him Best Director is reasonable. As for *The Thin Red Line*, don't you know its investor is Sony Columbia? According to your theory, we should even less give it the Jin Xiong!"

Xie Fei looked at Ken Adam, who was singing the praises of *Don't Fool Around* and clashing with Paulo, and was greatly surprised. He didn't expect this old man, who had been quiet before, to be so fierce, working harder than he, the Chinese juror. It seemed he was truly in love with *Don't Fool Around*!

"Little guy, you should go improve your appreciation skills!" Ken Adam, nearly 80 years old, said bluntly to Paulo, who was 30 years his junior.

Seeing that he couldn't win a verbal battle against this old guy, Paulo could only call for reinforcements. He was relatively close to the jury president, Angela Molina, and cast a pleading look at her.

Angela Molina actually wanted to support a film from her own country, Spain, but it wasn't good enough and had no qualifications to participate in the competition for the Jin Xiong. The only films proposed for the Jin Xiong this time were three or four: *The Thin Red Line*, *Don't Fool Around*, *The Celebration*, and *8mm*.

Looking at the few people arguing fiercely in front of her, Angela knew her preference was very important to the final result, and she had to step out to maintain order...

For this Berlin Film Festival, because of the participation of Wu Yuchen and *Don't Fool Around*, several domestic media outlets like *Film Weekly* and *China Film News* gritted their teeth and sent reporters here for real-time reporting.

After all, the lineup of *Don't Fool Around* was truly luxurious. Wu Dao Yuchen goes without saying, Gong Li leads the cast, and Li Xuejian, Zhang Guoli, and Ding Jiali are absolute powerhouses. There were also Zhou Xun, Fu Dalong, and Sun Honglei, who had started to emerge in the last two years. Therefore, *Don't Fool Around*'s expedition to Berlin was naturally pinned with high hopes.

And now, the reporters from several media outlets gathered together, holding a complete trade journal rating table for all the main competition units of this year's film festival, and couldn't help but feel excited.

"Sure enough, there is no rating higher than *Don't Fool Around*. 3.6 points, ranking first, the highest trade journal rating!"

"Is *Don't Fool Around* a lock now?"

"Pretty much. Look, the second-place *The Thin Red Line* is only 3.2 points, a full 0.4 points lower than *Don't Fool Around*. The gap is obvious!"

Several Chinese reporters were extremely excited. As first-timers at the Berlin Film Festival, they were actually novices and didn't know many things, completely treating the trade journal ratings as authoritative, and immediately faxed this news back to China.

In China, the Spring Festival had just ended, and it was only the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Newspapers and magazines were still on break, but the news agencies and magazine offices that received the news still called people in to work overtime to write the relevant articles.

On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, people who had finished their Spring Festival holidays went back to work, and the newsstands on the streets returned to their bustle. The front page of *China Film News* displayed there read:

"*Don't Fool Around*'s super-high rating leaves others in the dust, becoming the biggest favorite for the Berlin Jin Xiong and highly sought after!"

This headline naturally attracted many film enthusiasts who bought the paper to read. After seeing that *Don't Fool Around* had received the highest rating, the readers were overjoyed. With the trade journal rating leading by so much, wasn't this a lock!

Consequently, those who finished reading the paper started telling their friends and colleagues, and for a time, the whole country was full of anticipation for *Don't Fool Around*.

At the Berlin Film Festival, the dozen or so days of screenings were coming to an end. On the closing ceremony red carpet, *Don't Fool Around* was undoubtedly the most watched film. The high quality of the film itself, combined with the super-high trade journal score of 3.6, made it the focus of everyone's attention, and the group was greeted with wild cheers as they walked past.

As for the opening film *Shakespeare in Love*, perhaps knowing there was nothing to gain, Harvey Weinstein and the lead actress Gwyneth Paltrow didn't come at all, having already flown back to the United States to continue focusing on their Oscar campaign.

On the red carpet, He Bing and Sun Honglei watched people on both sides shouting "Pei" and "Zhou" at them. Although the fans didn't remember their names and were calling out the character names, it already made them very happy. One had to know that during the opening red carpet, the two of them were completely invisible, but now they had left a deep impression on these foreign audiences.

Led by Wu Yuchen and Gong Li, the crew walked past the red carpet and entered the venue. Not long after, the awards ceremony officially began.

First, some miscellaneous small awards were presented, among which *Ordinary Heroes*, directed by Ann Hui, won one. This result left Ann Hui quite disappointed. This film was a political film wrapped in love, telling the story of the awakening of local intellectuals in Hong Kong in the 70s and 80s and their challenge to the British Hong Kong government, but unfortunately, it was not favored by Berlin. The lead actress was Cecilia Yip, who came from Category III films, and her performance was excellent; in her past life, she won the Golden Horse Best Actress award for this role.

After the small awards, it was time for the Silver Bear awards. This time, the organizers still gave *Shakespeare in Love* some face, giving it an Outstanding Artistic Contribution Silver Bear, which served as a fig leaf to prevent Hollywood films from not coming in the future. The rest were all highly anticipated major awards.

"Best Actress... Gong Li, *Don't Fool Around*!"

Suddenly, on the *Don't Fool Around* crew side, Sun Honglei, He Bing, and Zhou Xun burst into cheers.

Wu Yuchen and Gong Li looked at each other, then smiled and hugged her: "Congratulations, Sister Li! A double Best Actress winner of the three major festivals!"

Gong Li had already won Best Actress at Venice in 1992 for *The Story of Qiu Ju*, and this time she had won Best Actress at Berlin, becoming a double winner. Among the actors of the three major European festivals, she was one of the few who could be counted on one hand.

"Thank you, Wu Dao!"

Gong Li did not show wild joy but accepted the congratulations from those around her with a faint smile. She knew that if the theory of dividing the pie were true, then her winning this Best Actress award would reduce the possibility of the film winning the Jin Xiong. Therefore, although she was happy internally, she still considered Wu Yuchen's feelings first.

Subsequently, amidst cheers and applause, Gong Li walked onto the podium with confident radiance to deliver her acceptance speech.

At this moment, Wu Yuchen was clapping with a smile on his face, but his heart was a bit uneasy. Would this really be cursed by the highest trade journal rating?

Although winning a Berlin Best Actress award meant they wouldn't be returning empty-handed, he had gathered such a luxurious lineup and brought *Don't Fool Around* to Berlin with only one goal: the Jin Xiong. Without the Jin Xiong, other awards meant nothing to him.

Next was the Best Actor award, which was taken by the local German actor Michael Gwisdek. Then came the Best Director award.

"The Best Director of this Berlin Film Festival is..."

At this moment, Wu Yuchen prayed continuously that it wouldn't be him. If it were really him, then the Jin Xiong would definitely be hopeless.

"Terrence Malick, *The Thin Red Line*!"

"Yeah!" Wu Yuchen cheered loudly in his heart, while a sincere smile appeared on his face, and he clapped his hands hard.

*The Thin Red Line* was the Jin Xiong winner in his past life and *Don't Fool Around*'s biggest competitor. This time, it had won Best Director, so at least it was on the same starting line as *Don't Fool Around*. Now both had one award—Best Actress and Best Director—so the probability of winning the Jin Xiong was the same!

Now, it wasn't just Wu Yuchen who was happy; other film crews aiming for the Jin Xiong were also secretly pleased. For example, the directors of *The Celebration* and *8mm*. Since *Don't Fool Around* and *The Thin Red Line* had already won awards, their hopes of winning the Jin Xiong had greatly increased!

"The winner of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize is... *The Celebration*!"

The director from Denmark was also very happy. Winning a Grand Jury Prize this time was already not bad and had fully met the expected goal.

At this moment, the director of *8mm*, Joel Schumacher, couldn't help but have his heart beat faster. Several competitors had awards; was it their turn for the biggest cake? It looked like the Jin Xiong was right in front of them!

The previous Berlin Best Actress, the Brazilian national treasure actress Fernanda Montenegro, walked onto the podium and said with a smile: "It is an honor to be a guest to present this year's Jin Xiong award. This is an exciting moment, and I am also very nervous."

Wu Yuchen looked at the presenter and, while his heart was racing, couldn't help but feel this was a good omen. Because at last year's Berlin Film Festival, the film she starred in, *Central Station*, had won both the Jin Xiong and the Best Actress award!

At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the presenter Fernanda. She didn't waste any more words, opened the envelope directly, took out the slip of paper, glanced at it, and shouted into the microphone:

"For this Berlin Film Festival, the Jin Xiong award is... *Don't Fool Around*!"

In an instant, Wu Yuchen stood up directly from his seat and raised his arms high. Intense cheers erupted from the *Don't Fool Around* crew.

Zhou Xun pulled on Sun Honglei's clothes and screamed: "Ah, Jin Xiong! We are the Jin Xiong!"

Sun Honglei was also extremely excited: "Jin Xiong! I won the Jin Xiong!"

Zhang Guoli and Ding Jiali no longer had the burden of age at this moment, shouting and hugging the young people around them. Jin Xiong!

Gong Li took the initiative to hug Wu Yuchen and showed a brilliant smile: "Congratulations, Wu Dao! Jin Xiong!"

"Hahaha, congratulations to us both!" Wu Yuchen hugged Gong Li tightly and then continued to open his arms to hug every actor who came with him. Only then did he walk onto the podium amidst the continuous applause.

Hearing this result, *The Thin Red Line* director Terrence Malick let out a long sigh, but internally he also felt that the young people nowadays were truly amazing.

As for Joel Schumacher of *8mm*, he cursed "shit" in his heart. *The Thin Red Line* at least had a Best Director, but he hadn't even gotten a hair this time! He would never come to Berlin again!

On stage, Fernanda handed the golden Jin Xiong trophy to Wu Yuchen and said with a smile: "Congratulations, Wu Dao!"

"Thank you, Fernanda, thank you for the good luck you brought me today!"

Fernanda reacted after hearing Wu Yuchen's words and also laughed, then hugged him and said: "Your *Don't Fool Around* is fantastic. This is what you deserve!"

Subsequently, Wu Yuchen picked up the microphone and said with a smile:

"Dreamy! Perfect! Forgive me for my mind being blank at this moment; I can't think of more words to describe my mood!"

There was a burst of friendly laughter from below.

Then Wu Yuchen took a light breath and continued:

"Honestly, a week ago, after seeing *Don't Fool Around* receive the honor of the highest trade journal rating, I didn't dare to think about the Jin Xiong. After all, the probability of conquering both the media and the jury at the same time is not very high. But the result really exceeded my imagination; it's such a surprise!

Thank you to the jury for the recognition, thank you to the media and the audience for their love, and thank you to Gong Li, Li Xuejian, Zhang Guoli, Ding Jiali, He Bing, Sun Honglei, Fu Dalong, Zhou Xun, and other actors for their wonderful performances. At the same time, I wish Teacher Li Xuejian, who performed while ill, a speedy recovery! Thank you to all the crew members! Thank you to the Beijing Film Studio and Han Sanping for their help, and thank you to my alma mater!

I love you all!"

After speaking, Wu Yuchen kissed the Jin Xiong trophy in his hand, which was snapped by the flash of cameras and transmitted to the whole world! ===== CHAPTER 177 =====