Chapter 228: Stunning on the Red Carpet, Shocking at the Premiere

Just moments ago, while socializing with Liang Jiahui, Boss Lu had carefully observed Zhang Manyu's features.

Looking at her current skin condition, her mental state, and adding in her superb acting skills, playing a woman in her late twenties wouldn't be too jarring.

After all, the traces of time on one's face can be resolved in many ways through makeup and styling.

The key is the actor's mindset and state, and whether they can command their performance across different age spans with ease.

Upon learning of his other purpose for being here today, Zhang Yimou gladly acted as the intermediary.

In *Hero* and *House of Flying Daggers*, the two had already collaborated closely.

"Director, hello."

Zhang Yimou responded with a smile, then turned to introduce Lu Kuan and Liu Yifei.

Zhang Manyu greeted him with a radiant smile: "I just witnessed Director Lu's style; it truly is extraordinary."

"You flatter me."

Boss Lu let Liu Yifei go off with Zhang Yimou to meet people, while he invited Zhang Manyu to a private booth for a detailed talk.

"Does Director Lu have something on his mind?"

Lu Kuan got straight to the point: "There is a film I would like to invite Sister Manyu to star in."

If it were someone else, he might have used all sorts of build-ups and persuasion, appealing to both emotion and reason.

But Zhang Manyu was not some naive girl; having debuted as a Miss Hong Kong and risen from a "vase" to an award-laden Best Actress, she was already somewhat beyond worldly desires.

Even at this stage in 2004, Zhang Manyu had already won one Golden Bear, four Golden Horses, and five Hong Kong Film Awards.

If nothing unexpected happened, she had almost no competition at Cannes this year and would become the first Asian Best Actress in Cannes history based on her ex-husband's film *Clean*.

She lacked neither honor nor money, and Boss Lu couldn't come up with much to persuade her.

Only the film and the role.

And a certain burden on her heart.

Zhang Manyu smiled gently: "Director Wong Kar-wai's films are too grueling; I intend to take a break after Cannes."

"How about this, Sister Manyu, let me tell you a story in a few minutes. If you are interested after hearing it, we can continue our chat."

"If you aren't interested, then you can just consider it as having listened to a free storytelling session, right?"

Zhang Manyu curled the corners of her mouth slightly, finding this young director quite interesting.

The one who had been at daggers drawn while arguing with Wu Yusen just moments ago was a completely different person.

"Wow, a Golden Lion-winning director telling me a story? I must listen to that."

Lu Kuan gathered his thoughts and concisely narrated his adapted script for *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*.

He expounded on the female lead's scenes and core spiritual essence, describing the life of love and hatred of a woman from Shanghai and Hong Kong spanning several historical periods.

It wasn't until the end of the story, when he wrote of the female lead holding the male lead Li Ming—now shrunk to the body of an infant—passing away in a rocking chair, that he finally stirred a trace of emotional fluctuation in Zhang Manyu, who had been listening intently.

Zhang Manyu's life experience was similar to the female lead's; her parents were from Shanghai, and she later immigrated to Hong Kong. The story was attractive enough.

It was just that her personality was somewhat laid-back and devoid of desire, especially after the twists and turns in her relationships; after divorcing her ex-husband—the very director who helped her win Best Actress at Cannes—her life was as carefree as a wandering crane.

"Director Lu, let me consider it. Perhaps I'll have to wait until the Cannes Film Festival is over."

Boss Lu thought to himself that this was bad; if she won another crown after Cannes, she would probably really want to retire from acting for a while.

It seemed he could only use Zhang Ziyi as a stepping stone...

"Sister Manyu, for this film, I have my eye on two actresses domestically who meet the requirements in terms of acting and box office appeal."

"One is you, and the other is Zhang Ziyi."

Boss Lu paused and smiled: "Therefore, I hope you can give me an answer as soon as possible. If it is truly difficult, I can only look forward to our next collaboration."

Zhang Manyu's expression changed slightly, which was keenly captured by Lu Kuan sitting opposite her.

There was a chance.

Zhang Manyu and Zhang Ziyi had some minor friction during their collaborations on several films.

This conflict was fully exposed at the 2013 Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, where Zhang Ziyi won the Best Actress award for *The Grandmaster*.

The organizers very graciously had Andy Lau and Zhang Manyu present her with the award, but unexpectedly, Zhang Manyu's face turned cold the moment she saw her name at the event.

In the end, Andy Lau awkwardly maintained order; by the time he presented the award to Zhang Ziyi, Zhang Manyu had already retreated from the stage to the backstage.

When reporters interviewed her afterward, they asked Zhang Manyu if she had any advice for Zhang Ziyi as a senior.

Zhang Manyu laughed and said she didn't dare, as her own style was already outdated, and Zhang Ziyi probably wouldn't care for it!

As for the reason, it should go back to their collaboration starting from *Hero*, including the subsequent *House of Flying Daggers* and *2046*.

In *Hero* and *2046*, Zhang Manyu was originally the female lead, but in the final editing, Zhang Ziyi's role as the second female lead clearly had more screen time than hers.

If it were just in *Hero*, that would be one thing; after all, it was Zhang Yimou's film, and promoting his own mainland actors was understandable—it was just an industry convention.

But in Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's *2046*, Zhang Manyu filmed for four years, and in the end, her footage was cut to almost nothing in the final film.

Those who didn't know would have thought Zhang Ziyi was the female lead and that she, a Best Actress, was just a cameo to boost the film's status.

Lu Kuan didn't know the reason, but the conflict and rift between the two were obvious, and they hadn't collaborated even once since then.

Zhang Manyu's emotions were very complex; she had some grievances against Zhang Ziyi, but it hadn't reached the point of hatred—it was just that their paths were different.

Here was a private item brought in by Boss Lu:

"Zhang Ziyi is actually quite suitable for this role; her age is a great advantage."

Zhang Manyu deliberated for a few seconds before giving this answer.

Lu Kuan pushed further: "Ziyi is indeed one of the more outstanding mainland actresses, but during the filming of *Foreign Land*, she caused some trouble for both me and Director Zhang due to scheduling issues. That is my biggest concern."

"Sister Manyu might not know, but Spielberg is a friend of mine. A film he is producing this year, *Memoirs of a Geisha*, is about to start filming, and he might invite Zhang Ziyi and Gong Li."

"I am worried that the issue of overlapping filming schedules will happen again. That is not the result I want to see."

Boss Lu feigned distress and sighed deeply: "I have prepared for this film for a long time, and it will participate in the Berlin Film Festival next February—the same place where you, Sister Manyu, first won the Best Actress award as a Chinese actress."

"So the filming schedule is very tight, and I must require the actors to be fully committed, but Ziyi, she..."

The scheming Boss Lu planted two hooks for Zhang Manyu.

One was comparing her to Zhang Ziyi, showing her the script first, and if it didn't work out, then finding the latter, gaining the upper hand in terms of impression.

The second was that Zhang Ziyi was going to break into Hollywood, while *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button* would be exhibited at the Berlin Film Festival, which was an invisible confrontation.

It just depended on whether Zhang Manyu's competitive spirit against Zhang Ziyi was that strong.

The Berlin Best Actress bit her lip and smiled gently: "Director Lu, give me some time to consider. I will give you an answer in two or three days."

Zhang Manyu was actually already wavering; she just needed to observe this young director a bit more.

Over these four years, Wong Kar-wai had tortured her enough, but it was, after all, the tempering of an excellent director.

At the very least, she wanted to see this Director Lu's true skills at tomorrow's *Foreign Land* premiere to see if it was worth her taking on this role.

Perhaps it was because her jet lag hadn't adjusted, perhaps it was some worry about the premiere the next day, or perhaps it was because she had no bed partner.

In any case, Boss Lu tossed and turned that night.

On May 12, 2004, local time in France, the 57th Cannes Film Festival opened, and the first process was still the most eye-catching red carpet ceremony.

Lu Kuan got up early to stroll around the Palais des Festivals and was pleasantly surprised to find many fans holding cardboard signs with "secretregion" and "Leonardo" written on them, begging for tickets.

The viewing procedure at the Cannes Film Festival is different from other film festivals.

Generally speaking, the first screening of a Cannes film is for film companies and the media, to facilitate press releases and preparations for distribution.

The official public screening usually happens a day later, for ordinary film audiences.

At this screening, actors and directors usually have to walk the red carpet outside the Palais des Festivals to build momentum and grab attention for their film.

At the same time, Cannes films are not open to the public.

Ordinary fans who want to see the films can only rely on connections.

For example, finding someone to get them a press pass, or knowing a film distributor, or faking an identity as a distributor's employee or an invitation.

Otherwise, they can only hold up signs like this to beg for tickets.

At least from the popularity of the ticket-begging scene early in the morning, Boss Lu felt the previous advertising bombardment had been effective.

At 9:00 AM, the red carpet ceremony officially began, with the jury including Quentin and Tsui Hark entering first.

The first Asian actress to appear was Gong Li.

Along with two famous models walking together: Indian model Aishwarya Rai and French model Laetitia Casta.

"Is she pretty?"

Liu Yifei was standing with the crew waiting to enter, seeing Lu Kuan staring straight at the three on the red carpet.

"Huh? She's alright!"

This really wasn't Boss Lu being lecherous; this French model Casta had a story.

In his past life, Lu Kuan was a fan of the Premier League team Arsenal, and this currently popular European French model Casta was the girlfriend of the King of Highbury, Thierry Henry.

He didn't know if the King of Gunners, Henry, had come today; getting a group photo would also be excellent.

He had a sense of disillusionment between his past and present lives.

Leonardo had just finished his makeup and came out, hugging and greeting Lu Kuan and Liu Yifei.

"Oh, Crystal, you look truly beautiful today!"

"Are you wearing your panda's food?"

Liu Yifei unhappily explained the design concept of this bamboo-themed dress to him, which Leonardo listened to without understanding but feeling it was impressive.

The young girl turned her head and said to Lu Kuan in Mandarin: "You were right, these foreigners are like wild boars unable to eat fine bran!"

On the Cannes red carpet, actresses vied for beauty, with most exposing their chests and breasts to grab attention.

The bamboo-themed style Boss Lu designed for Liu Yifei became popular in later generations after Armani launched it, but fashion is a cycle, and he didn't know if the current aesthetic could accept such a style.

But it was quite suitable for Liu Yifei; she was only just seventeen, and it wasn't appropriate for her to take a route that was too sexually suggestive; it was better to interpret a gentle, fresh Chinese style well.

The *House of Flying Daggers* crew was in front, and as soon as they appeared, they were met with a fierce assault from the cameras.

Zhang Manyu, Zhang Ziyi, Tony Leung, Andy Lau, and other domestic big names took turns appearing, and the domestic and Hong Kong/Taiwan media on the scene were thrilled.

Now these reporters were hoping for some big news, like Zhang Manyu and Zhang Ziyi, who were rumored to be at odds due to filming, having a catfight or something.

Even if they were at odds on the red carpet and had no eye contact, they would still have something to write about.

Fortunately, Zhang Ziyi didn't let the reporters down.

Gong Li was accepting an interview from reporters on the other side of the red carpet, and when asked about Zhang Ziyi's acting, she replied: Very good.

When the reporter asked again if Zhang Ziyi could win Best Actress, Gong Li replied: I haven't seen other films, so it's not convenient to say.

When Zhang Ziyi walked over, Gong Li nodded and left, without hugging or shaking hands.

Han Lu from Sina Entertainment had also arrived at the scene.

She wrote rapidly in her sketchbook: Zhang Yimou's new and old flames meet on a narrow road; grudges remain on the Cannes red carpet.

Han Lu was actually looking forward to the *Foreign Land* crew; after all, at the 2002 Venice Film Festival, Liu Yifei's purple pleated skirt had left a very deep impression on her.

The shouts of "Chinese princess" and "lolita" from countless foreign media at the time had left a deep impression on her.

Two years had passed, and things had changed; now Liu Yifei was also among the most popular actresses in the country, and she wondered if today's makeup and dress would bring any surprises.

Han Lu quietly turned her head to look at the traditional Chinese shorthand of the Hong Kong media, and the wording was quite sharp:

The new "Mou Girl" looks like a black date, no match for the former "peach milk."

She silently adjusted her camera to the group photo of the *2046* crew and observed the two's attire.

Hmm...

Black date and peach are quite fitting!

Han Lu, at 1.6 meters tall, was struggling while squeezed among a group of tall, fat white people, when she suddenly felt her foot being stepped on.

"Sorry!"

Han Lu looked back and saw a young Chinese-American man with flowing long hair and handsome features.

Her heart couldn't stop racing; she had the illusion of love at first sight.

Looking at his attire, a well-matched mix of designer brands, if he were to walk the red carpet like this, he wouldn't be any worse than some celebrities.

"No... no problem. You're not a reporter, are you?"

The man told the truth upon meeting a fellow countryman: "I am a fashion designer; I had someone get me a pass to sneak in and observe."

He glanced at the camera in Han Lu's hand and said earnestly: "Miss, could you lend me your photos to look at later?"

"No problem."

"By the way, my name is Han Lu, a reporter from Sina Entertainment in China."

"Hello Han Lu, my name is Alexander Wang, a fashion designer."

Han Lu said in surprise: "You're a designer, that's great. I didn't recognize the clothes worn by several domestic stars just now; could you help me take a look?"

"No problem."

"Li is wearing a green open-chested cheongsam that fuses Chinese and Western styles, paired with Chopard jewelry. Hmm, charming and sexy, it suits her very well."

He flipped to Zhang Ziyi: "This set is a black Givenchy sheer lantern dress, paired with Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry. It's just that she wrapped her figure too tightly."

"Like..."

Han Lu remembered the shorthand from the Hong Kong reporter just now and had a flash of inspiration: "Like a black date?"

Alexander Wang was stunned for two seconds and burst into laughter: "Very vivid, but it's a bit offensive to write it like that."

As the two were chatting and laughing, they suddenly heard exclamations from the white people around them!

"Leo! This way!"

Han Lu and Alexander Wang turned to look; the director and actors of the *Foreign Land* crew were strolling onto the red carpet.

Leonardo was the face of the brand, walking at the very front, stopping every few steps to accept the greetings of the flashbulbs.

The reporters reluctantly watched him walk away, then looked up and were pleasantly surprised to find a very bright green figure among the crowd in suits.

Liu Yifei was wearing a gentle and subtle bamboo-themed dress, forming a sharp contrast with the other European and American actresses on the scene who were exposing their chests and breasts.

It made these entertainment reporters, who were used to eating greasy feasts, suddenly chew on a piece of fresh and timeless mint.

"What style is that?"

"A stunning design! Oriental charm!"

"It looks a bit like the kind of green plant that Chinese people love!"

Liu Yifei walked side by side with Lu Kuan, the green tones setting off the young girl's tender white skin, which was whiter than snow.

Today's makeup was also moderate in intensity, perfectly tailored.

She held Lu Kuan's arm, slightly raising the corners of her mouth, her slender neck making her look upright and delicate, with a cold, detached style like light clouds emerging from a mountain peak.

It complemented the design concept of the bamboo-themed dress she was wearing.

(Author's note: The picture does not represent the actual item, for reference only)

It was just that her posing was still a bit clumsy, but it won out with the natural and approachable feel of a lotus emerging from the water.

A tall, fat white reporter shouted: "Sir, single portrait, please!"

Boss Lu tactfully stepped aside, giving Liu Yifei the opportunity to be in the frame alone.

Suddenly, another shout in Chinese came.

"Director Lu! Look here!"

Boss Lu looked up and saw Han Lu, the Sina reporter from Venice two years ago, and smiled and waved at her.

He also saw the long-haired man next to her staring blankly at Liu Yifei's dress, thinking to himself how this guy was here too.

Alexander Wang had a close relationship with the domestic entertainment industry in later generations; he was a fashion designer disguised as a celebrity, and Boss Lu had naturally met him.

"Han Lu, do you know this director?"

Alexander Wang was immersed in the bamboo-themed dress Liu Yifei was wearing, trying to deconstruct the unique design style of this dress with his naked eye; he was simply too curious!

Wasn't this the fusion of Eastern and Western styles he had been pursuing tirelessly?

It was simply too beautiful!

Fashion design emphasizes the echo of color and texture, the echo of lines and form, and the echo of patterns and colors.

This Oriental-style dress had perfect echoes in patterns, colors, and lines, with perfect rhythm in the shoulder, chest, and waist lines.

Seeing Han Lu didn't respond to him, he asked again.

"Huh? He is a famous young director in China, and that young lady is Liu Yifei, the female lead of his film."

"We don't really know each other; I've just interviewed him, and he's quite approachable."

Alexander Wang said eagerly: "Can you take me to find him for an interview? I have something very important I want to ask him."

He wanted to ask in detail about the origin of this dress; this was an important source of inspiration for the Chinese-Western fusion clothing concept he had been researching recently!

"Alright, I'll try my best."

The directors and actors who had finished walking the red carpet entered the venue in an orderly fashion, and Gong Li waited specifically at the entrance to hug and greet Lu Kuan and Liu Yifei.

"Xiao Lu, every time I see you, it's at a film festival; you are too outstanding."

Boss Lu smiled: "Sister Gong Li, you are also praising yourself by saying that!"

Gong Li patted his forearm affectionately and turned to grab Liu Yifei's hand: "Yifei, this outfit today is too beautiful. I watched you walk over from the end of the red carpet just now, you look like a little fairy."

"Which haute couture house is this dress from? Which designer's work is it?"

Liu Yifei covered her mouth and chuckled: "It's the very excellent young person you mentioned."

Gong Li was stunned for two seconds and looked at Lu Kuan in disbelief: "You? No way? You even understand fashion design?"

Boss Lu told the truth: "A stroke of genius, I didn't expect it to suit her so well."

"It suits! It suits perfectly. Didn't you see the posture of the reporters just now?"

She looked at Lu Kuan with no small amount of admiration: "Are you ready to enjoy your sci-fi masterpiece later?"

Gong Li and Lu Kuan and the others met at the Venice Film Festival, and they were familiar with each other, so they chatted and laughed a few times before taking their respective seats.

Quentin, festival president Jacob, and others took turns giving speeches, and the opening ceremony ended, turning to the film premiere segment.

The main venue of Cannes is called the Palais des Festivals, which has four large-scale screening halls.

The largest screening hall, the Lumière Theatre, is similar to a top-tier theater, divided into two levels, and can accommodate about 2,500 spectators.

Generally speaking, the opening ceremony and premiere will take place in the Lumière Theatre.

Therefore, almost none of the guests and reporters attending the opening ceremony left, all waiting for the start of *Foreign Land*.

Lu Kuan gave a brief speech on behalf of the crew, the dragon logo flashed across the screen, and the film began.

The opening of a film is extremely important; for a commercial film, the opening sets the tone for the entire film.

This is like the difference between a classic novel and a web novel.

A classic novel can have a plain opening, letting readers slowly chew on the flavor in a sea of words.

But if the first few chapters of a web novel cannot grab the reader's attention and throw out a hook, it will basically be discarded like worn-out shoes.

The situation for commercial films and art films is similar.

The opening of *Foreign Land* was naturally that car chase and fight scene that integrated Yuen Woo-ping's new-style action design and top-tier special effects shots.

The directors from various countries present today all knew a little bit about Lu Kuan—the 2002 Venice Golden Lion-winning director, the 2003 Cannes Jury Prize-winning director.

But whether they were familiar with him, had heard of him, or had never paid attention to him, just from this one opening, they could roughly assess this Director Lu's strength.

Just as the screenwriter of *Star Wars*, Arndt, once described to the media:

I will never forget, in August 1979, Coppola's *Apocalypse Now* was released.

I saw the first few minutes at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D. C.

Martin's face lying down, the subjective perspective staring at the ceiling, the burning jungle, and other imagery overlapped.

Accompanied by the huge roar of helicopter rotors and The Doors' *The End*, it left all the audience inexplicably shocked.

Now, Zhang Manyu, who was present, had the same feeling.

The car chase was still that car chase, and the martial arts went without saying; she was a Hong Kong actor, how could she not be familiar with action films?

But...

Why did the ten-plus minutes of combining the two look so dramatically tense?

She watched the power of Liu Yifei's punches hitting flesh on the screen, feeling as if every elbow strike and straight punch was hitting the audience, or perhaps her own face.

It wasn't strange for Zhang Manyu to have such a feeling; she wasn't a professional director and didn't understand the mysteries of the lens.

There were many close-up shots and continuous filming combinations here, just to highlight the realistic impact effect of this new-style action scene.

Lu Kuan sat in a slightly rear position, which is the habit of every film director.

The further back one sits, the easier it is to observe the audience's reactions and expressions.

Especially those present now, who were all professional directors, actors, and other film practitioners.

After the fifteen-minute segment ended, the feedback from the scene made him feel slightly relieved.

Quentin was sitting with a director he liked—Park Chan-wook from South Korea.

He liked the *Oldboy* that the Koreans brought this time, and during the viewing process, he even shed tears for the male lead Choi Min-sik's plight.

"Park, what do you think?"

Park Chan-wook nodded silently: "I saw a trace of Akira Kurosawa's shadow."

Quentin stroked his chin and agreed: "The switching between subjective and objective shots at the beginning is very fast, seemingly messy, but it gives the audience a very strong sense of impact."

"The special effects are also up to standard. Honestly, I haven't seen a car chase with such visual tension in the last two years."

Park Chan-wook's subject matter had always been based on reality and revenge, and he didn't know much about special effects technology.

"Quentin, why can his car chase in the air shoot out a sense of speed? It reminds me of that slow-moving shot in Luc Besson's *The Fifth Element*."

Quentin chuckled.

"I asked Lu, and he said they first filmed with a green car on the ground, and after filming, they keyed out the green and then synthesized it."

"This way, it can shoot out a sense of speed in the air, but they used up four cars to film this scene."

Park Chan-wook shook his head with a bitter smile; how much money must that have cost!

It wasn't just Hollywood directors who felt amazed and curious about this scene; Tsui Hark was also drooling.

Among Chinese directors, he was considered the one who liked and was best at using special effects, but thinking of the shabby action design and visual effects in his own *Zu Warriors*,

it couldn't compare at all to the technological sense, modern sense, and lens impact displayed in those ten-plus minutes just now!

He knew that with the current level of special effects in the mainland, it was impossible to achieve such an effect; Lu Kuan could only have learned the special effects filming techniques in Hollywood.

Truly a director who was good at learning.

Tsui Hark remembered the Hong Kong Night yesterday, the argument between Lu Kuan and Wu Yusen.

Perhaps Lu Kuan's point of view was right; Hong Kong filmmakers should uphold a humble attitude and head north to make a living.

Because everyone's true enemy was external, in Hollywood.

Infighting had no future.

As Liu Yifei escaped death for the first time in the film, a gasp broke out at the scene!

All the audience felt a sense of suffocation facing the huge screen.

They stared intently at the young girl with the Oriental face struggling to crawl out of the car window, just one step away from being eroded by the tongues of fire.

Boss Lu watched everyone's reaction with satisfaction; the opening victory was a success!

Around the 15th minute, the film entered the next plot point.

The audience had been stirred to boiling point by the car chase and fighting, and were suddenly introduced to the sci-fi future world by a background introduction.

Twenty years ago, the total world population exceeded 50 billion, facing a situation of food shortages, and Dr. Ximai fundamentally solved this problem.

The human hero scientist played by Gary Oldman established a base that continuously supplied agricultural and sideline products.

Ximai Farm.

At the moment, this large granary had some small problems; originally, every ten minutes, the farm would output a batch of products to the outside world.

But this convention was unexpectedly interrupted a day ago, and the mission of Liu Yifei, Leonardo, and Travolta, who had thrillingly escaped at the beginning, was to go to the farm's management center to repair the equipment.

Liu Yifei, a Chinese-American girl proficient in ancient Chinese martial arts, Leonardo, a top federal special forces soldier, and Travolta, a tail-end soldier, formed a three-person protagonist group and entered the foreign land: Ximai Farm.

The three entered Ximai Farm, as if opening a gate of God, and the slightly flickering light on the screen suddenly turned into dusk.

The lay audience didn't care, but Zhang Yimou could see that this was the effect produced by the special effects technology that Lu Kuan had introduced at Butian Film previously.

At that time, he only saw a glimpse on the console, but now it was truly shocking to see on the big screen.

Too smooth, too natural.

Leonardo considered himself experienced and walked in the front without any scruples.

Travolta was the oldest member of the three, just like most of the muddled Earth citizens of this era; he had twelve children, but he was also the only one of the three who had truly participated in the war.

Leonardo looked at this beauty with unique Oriental characteristics and giggled: "Don't be nervous, No. 1, it's just coming to fix the operating system."

Liu Yifei, tactical squad number 1, turned her head abruptly to look at him: "Talking less might make us safer; this is a foreign land."

Leonardo and Travolta looked at each other speechlessly, not knowing why she was so solemn.

Before leaving, Dr. Ximai explained that their trip was just to eliminate some livestock that had escaped the circle and to inspect the farm's automated operating system.

Because Liu Yifei's father, the Chinese scientist played by Liang Jiahui, had told his daughter a secret.

This was also Liu Yifei's goal in trying every means to mix into the tactical squad.

The three walked through the jungle, the trees were tall and the forest was dense, and a few cattle and sheep would jump out from time to time in the dense vegetation in the distance, running away as soon as they saw people.

The plot had been laid out for about 5-8 minutes, and the impatient audience was already a bit restless.

Foreign land? This is just an ordinary farm, ordinary animals, why is it called a foreign land?

In Hollywood film screenwriting techniques, the plot point is about to arrive, which is called the second act turning point.

Suddenly! The combat watches of the three protagonists vibrated violently; it turned out to be a distress signal sent by the fifth squad.

Liu Yifei, wearing silver-gray heavy armor, took the lead, rushing to the scene of the incident with an elegant posture, followed closely by Leonardo and Travolta.

Before them was a mess, with three members of the fifth squad lying in a pool of blood; one didn't need to look closely to know they were beyond saving.

Because they were actually three bloody skeletons stuck together.

Fragments of blood, muscle, and visceral tissue were splattered all over the ground, and the bones were sticking out white and chilling where they had broken.

The stunning special effects screen allowed the audience to even see the details of the muscle fiber rupture; the film screen was flawless from the overall to the details, giving the viewers a strong sense of immersion.

Liu Yifei carefully checked the wounds of the three and turned back to say: "They were all eaten."

"Eaten? The cattle and sheep on the farm eat people? What kind of joke are you making?"

Travolta was a bit terrified; he still had a whole family to support, and his personality was the most cowardly.

Rather than saying this was a question for Liu Yifei, it was more like he was deceiving himself.

He didn't want to believe, didn't want to believe that the three had stepped into a dead land, and that what they had previously thought was a farm was actually a foreign land!

Leonardo looked around and then smiled bitterly: "It really is a farm, damn it, a farm!"

The entire film screen suddenly pulled away here; Lu Kuan used a large number of wide-angle and overhead shots to strengthen color contrast and tension through deep depth of field.

The audience looked in surprise as the perspective on the screen changed to an overhead view, composing the picture with the standing location of the three-person squad as the center, placing the truth of the foreign land before the audience!

My God! It turned out that the ordinary-looking trees the three had just passed were crops, and those towering tree trunks were just corn stalks!

If crops could evolve to be so majestic here, then animals...

Then the monster that had just eaten the fifth squad?

The lead actor of *Oldboy*, Choi Min-sik, sighed: "The special effects technology is too realistic, including the previous car chase scene; the special effects in our Korean films look like children playing house compared to this!"

Park Chan-wook nodded silently and said to Quentin beside him: "This guy's editing and scheduling are too brilliant; that sudden overhead shot just now was too extreme at first glance, making the audience's attention quickly withdraw."

"But in the fast-linked screen, multiple composition methods were used, constantly guiding the audience's attention and visual focus to achieve narrative effects."

Quentin didn't answer, because he was also deeply shocked.

The first time he met Lu Kuan, on the set, he proposed the expression method of parallel montage and the narrative innovation of comic book inserts.

The second time in *Drummer*, the stunning editing and ability to train new actors surprised him.

The third time in *Thief*, the scheduling of the ensemble cast and plot design were unique.

This time, he saw his unique lens techniques again in Lu Kuan's pure commercial film.

A large number of foreground construction shots, mirror filming techniques, and matching editing of image trajectories in different spaces!

What was scary wasn't that he could master these techniques; what was scary was that he had been improving!

Every film could bring out new things; this was an almost impossible task for a mature director.

After the plot point, the film's plot accelerated.

The audience had seen the true face of the "foreign land" and were all sweating for the protagonist group.

Leonardo looked solemn: "I'll contact the base and seek help from Dr. Ximai."

Liu Yifei turned around calmly, carefully observing the landmark features according to the orientation method her father had taught her.

Dr. Ximai was once Liang Jiahui's most proud student, and the farm was built by Dr. Ximai using his theoretical results, but Ximai didn't know that Liang Jiahui had hidden a hand.

"Radio waves cannot pass between the base and the farm; give it up."

Travolta also lost his muddled appearance, holding the M42 laser gun in his hand, standing guard for his two teammates.

"Two, look at this."

Liu Yifei took out a note, which was a secret message Liang Jiahui had secretly given her before she left.

Life and death were at stake, and the three had to be united; she only had to reveal a few truths first to get through the difficulties.

Leonardo and Travolta looked intently; on the note was the warning Liang Jiahui wrote to his daughter:

Ximai Farm is strange; flee immediately upon encountering the enemy, do not resist!

The three were speechless for a while, and Liu Yifei walked toward the depths of the jungle with her gun.

"Let's find the management center first!"

The squad members no longer knew whether they were hunters or prey, moving forward in the dense forest with a formation of mutual support, stepping deep and shallow.

Leonardo felt that Liu Yifei seemed to know something.

"Blue Moon, will the base send someone to support?"

Liu Yifei looked at him coldly: "They won't know what happened here unless there is a big problem with crop transportation."

"But we are near the base? They could even know the situation here by sending a drone; it's better than us being like headless flies, right?"

Liu Yifei stopped and looked at them: "It seems like there is only a wall separating this place from the outside world, but on this side of the wall, there are hundreds of meters of crops and unknown creatures that can hunt down a top combat squad in minutes."

"Do you still think this is just an ordinary farm?"

The three finally arrived at the management center.

The door was wide open, and the security system had obviously long since lost its effect.

The protagonist group entered directly through the door, and inside was also dead silence.

The three had never seen such a magnificent building; it felt like the ceiling height exceeded eighty meters, simply like an indoor plain.

Many huge machines were piled up everywhere, like rocks lurking, and for a while, their purpose could not be seen.

The audience at the scene gasped again; they substituted themselves into the real film scene.

Because the special effects screen was truly beautiful.

Under the foil of the top-tier audiovisual equipment in the Lumière Theatre, the imaginative sci-fi scenes in Lu Kuan's film continuously impacted their eyes and ears, achieving resonance at the spiritual level.

Liu Yifei suddenly did a forward roll, her movements extremely agile, clean and neat.

Zhang Ziyi, sitting in the audience, had to admit that her action scenes were indeed better than her own, but her advantage was in acting, and acting required talent.

In this regard, she had absolute confidence.

Perhaps the reason Lu Kuan didn't want to wait for her to recover from her injury was related to his relationship with Liu Yifei.

The mainland actress, the head of the Four Dan Actresses, quietly clenched her fists; she must find an opportunity to get close to this Lu Kuan and take him down.

She didn't believe that she, a mature woman of twenty-four or twenty-five, was not as attractive as a little girl.

Gasps in the screening hall came one after another; everyone looked at the target Liu Yifei pointed out to Leonardo, and a mechanical monster two meters high was exposed to the lens.

It had six hands and two feet, and a sawtooth-like high-voltage electric discharger was installed at the mouth.

"What are you doing?"

Leonardo watched with wide eyes as Liu Yifei took off her heavy armor and ran toward the mechanical monster.

The latter waved its fan-like hands as if it could easily slap this slender Oriental beauty to death.

Looking at the flesh and blood tissue still remaining in the robot's mouth, the audience at the scene knew that Liu Yifei wouldn't die, but they still couldn't help closing their eyes, not daring to watch this scene.

Liu Yifei was seen stepping on the mountain of scrap robot flesh, and with a few leaps, she performed a harrier-like flip and appeared at the back of the robot's head!

Leonardo and Travolta were dumbfounded; was this human jumping?

What other secrets was this Oriental girl from China hiding?

Wire-fu was Liu Yifei's advantage; she was wearing a purple practice suit, completing a series of high-difficulty movements in the air, drawing gasps from the audience!

She finally used the butt of her gun to shatter the power connection at the back of the robot's head, a piece of integrated circuit fell off with electric sparks, and the mechanical giant fell to the ground with a bang.

Leonardo rushed forward to check on Liu Yifei's situation, and the overhead lens gave her a close-up.

Her hair was messy, sweat was beading on her perky nose and smooth forehead, her throat rose and fell with the swallowing action, and her almond eyes were filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.

The audience at the scene highly approved of Leonardo's monologue at the beginning.

This was a heroic and spirited Oriental beauty.

Domestic filmmakers like Gong Li who had seen *Drummer* nodded frequently; such close-up shots were the most demanding of an actor's sense of picture and control over facial expression details.

Done well, the facial features serve the plot; done poorly, the audience is out of the scene in a second.

Her progress was obvious.

"Is it the one that killed our teammates?"

Travolta stepped forward and kicked the robot's face hard, but it hurt so much that he clutched his foot and jumped.

Laughter came from the audience; inserting a small joke amidst the thrilling plot was also a common technique in Hollywood films.

Leonardo checked carefully and shook his head: "It's not it."

"Look, its label says Collector No. 294; this is just an agricultural harvester manufactured by the doctor."

Liu Yifei also discovered some clues: "I just used the butt of my gun to smash its power interface, and its other parts are intact; agricultural machinery will not actively attack humans; there is only one reason for their program disorder."

She didn't continue, and the eyes of the three looked toward the machine room of the management center with the audience's perspective center and lens.

The three lined up in a row and began to walk through the chaotic machine jungle.

The composition here was magnificent and atmospheric, the silver-gray machine meat mountains set off the figures of the three humans as small and abrupt, and the low color contrast and blurred boundaries created a dreamlike sense of a sci-fi world for the audience.

This was the director's aesthetic design; in other words, this was the embodiment of the director's art foundation.

The three arrived at the machine room, all equipment was dead, and Leonardo took out a high-energy battery from his backpack and connected it to the power board.

After a messy flash, the machine started.

Leonardo and Travolta were both reckless, only Liu Yifei was controlling the system alone.

She looked at the jumping numbers on the screen in disbelief, turning a deaf ear to Leonardo's questions.

Leonardo's vigilance exploded, and he grabbed her arm: "What exactly happened! What is strange here!?"

To show Liu Yifei's special status in this conflict, Lu Kuan placed her directly in the center of the screen in the next shot.

First a profile, then an over-the-shoulder shot, and finally a big close-up!

Liu Yifei's "Kubrick Stare" had arrived.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 229 =====