Chapter 59 Just Praise Her for Being Beautiful and Graceful

At this year's Venice Film Festival, besides Cao Yang, only Fruit Chan from Hong Kong had a film selected for the main competition unit with *Hollywood Hong Kong*.

Coincidentally, the leading actress of *Hollywood Hong Kong* was Zhou Xun.

This was their second encounter in Europe this year.

Under Zhou Xun's deliberate arrangement, members of the two film crews gathered together in private, and Cao Yang also got acquainted with Fruit Chan, an alternative figure in the Hong Kong film industry—a director who had always persisted in making arthouse films.

Fruit Chan's films were very similar to those of Mainland China's Fifth Generation directors, both pointing their lenses at ordinary people at the bottom of society, and every one of his films carried a strong sense of realism.

His style was characterized by realism, rich social criticality, and a focus on the fates of marginalized individuals at the lower rungs of society.

In recent years, Fruit Chan had a penchant for casting Mainland actresses. Last year's released *Durian Durian* starred Qin Hailu, and this year's film cast Zhou Xun again.

It was worth mentioning that the female protagonists of both films were low-class prostitutes who had moved from the Mainland to Hong Kong.

This was a unique imprint of that era.

Perhaps many people in Hong Kong at the time subconsciously thought: What else could these "Northern girls," who crossed the border either by smuggling or for various reasons, do besides working as low-class prostitutes?

Zhou Xun had a very heavy workload in *Hollywood Hong Kong*, and many people believed she had a shot at coveting the Venice Best Actress award.

Cao Yang did not deny Zhou Xun's acting skills, but winning the Venice Best Actress award would be rather difficult.

It was not because Zhou Xun acted poorly.

If it were a director from the Beijing Film Academy shooting a film about helpless and desperate marginalized individuals at the bottom of society with a strong critical edge, it might indeed be possible for Zhou Xun to make a run for the Venice Best Actress award.

However, a Hong Kong director lacked the resources and connections of the Beijing Film Academy and would find it very difficult to break into major awards at the European Big Three film festivals.

Even Wong Kar-wai, who had lingered among the European Big Three for so many years, had only managed to capture a Best Director award at Cannes.

Since parting ways at the Berlin Film Festival just over half a year ago, Zhou Xun never expected that Cao Yang would direct another film so soon and even make it into the main competition unit of the Venice Film Festival.

Zhou Xun was truly astonished.

However, thinking about how she had followed Wang Xiaoshuai to Berlin last time and now followed Fruit Chan to Venice, Zhou Xun felt she was quite remarkable herself.

Moreover, she felt there was still some possibility of her winning the Venice Best Actress award; weren't subjects like this always very popular with the European Big Three?

On September 2nd, Fruit Chan's *Hollywood Hong Kong* premiered in Venice, Italy. Cao Yang brought Yu Feihong and Liu Ye along to show their support.

Fruit Chan was overjoyed to see Cao Yang and shook his hand, expressing his gratitude endlessly.

With no other choice, as a director still "unknown" in Europe, the premiere was said to be a grand ceremony, but in truth, very few people came to show support, and most of them were overseas Chinese.

Cao Yang took a look around; in such a small theater, the audience occupancy rate was not even fifty percent.

Not to mention the media. Apart from the official journalists of Venice, only domestic reporters had come to show their support. Cao Yang didn't even spot any reporters from Hong Kong, wondering if they hadn't bothered to come to Venice at all.

In fact, Fruit Chan's reputation in Hong Kong and Taiwan was quite significant.

With *Made in Hong Kong*, he won Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards in 1997, and Best Director and Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1998.

Yet *Made in Hong Kong*, which won countless major awards, grossed less than two million at the box office.

Could it be that his film box office was so dismal that Hong Kong reporters couldn't even be bothered to report on it?

The film screening began shortly. As the plot unfolded, Cao Yang found himself temporarily at a loss for how to evaluate it.

On the surface, a Mainland prostitute had an American backer, cheated money out of the people of Hong Kong to live a life of ease in America, while the cheated Hongkongers could only rely on a quack Mainland doctor for medical treatment.

Yet once one understood the metaphors within the film, it became clear that the political undertones of the movie were far too heavy.

That severed right hand had a left hand grafted onto it by a doctor from the Mainland; "he" tried to chop off this grafted left hand and failed, and moreover, this left hand proved unexpectedly useful...

Alas, left and right... During this period, many people in Hong Kong must have harbored pessimistic and skeptical attitudes.

If any ordinary commercial film director from Hong Kong had shot this, it would have been a pure comedy.

But when an arthouse director filmed it, it was hard not to interpret it through the lens of political systems.

In this film, the director's personal emotional venting was overly intense and somewhat out of control in places. Coupled with the heavy reliance on heavy symbolism and allegories, alongside insufficient presentation and reflection, the overall film felt somewhat extreme and fragmented.

Once the movie ended, during a gap in Cao Yang's conversation with Fruit Chan, Zhou Xun and Yu Feihong started chatting.

"Your acting is so natural, simply marvelous. You brought the character completely to life. Unlike me, who was scolded by Cao Yang to the point of almost being autistic at the beginning, told that everything I acted out had the exact same expression and showed not a shred of acting skill."

Yu Feihong showered Zhou Xun with praise, genuinely believing that Zhou Xun acted wonderfully and possessed great spiritual depth.

"Thank you, Sister Feihong."

Zhou Xun's eyes curved upward in high spirits; she also felt she had performed rather well.

"I think you have a great chance this year. Films that deeply explore ordinary people at the bottom of society are easily recognized by the jury committee. Keep it up, I'm rooting for you."

Yu Feihong smiled and offered words of encouragement.

Zhou Xun knew that Yu Feihong was also the female lead in Cao Yang's film.

Having watched quite a few television dramas starring Yu Feihong, she was well aware of what Yu Feihong's acting capabilities were like.

Furthermore, since Yu Feihong had candidly revealed that Cao Yang scolded her for poor acting, Zhou Xun didn't have the nerve to say things like "your acting is also wonderful and you might win the Venice Best Actress award too."

Zhou Xun was afraid Yu Feihong would think she was being sarcastic.

She could only offer continuous expressions of gratitude while endlessly praising Yu Feihong for her beauty and poise.

Well, if one couldn't praise acting skills, praising beauty and poise was the right way to go.

As they were leaving, Cao Yang casually commended Zhou Xun's performance as well, making her smile so broadly that her eyes nearly vanished.

"Hope we have a chance to collaborate."

Cao Yang offered a polite remark.

"Alright, I hope I can work with Director Cao."

Zhou Xun grew even happier, momentarily feeling that the Venice Best Actress award was not entirely out of reach.

On the way back, Liu Ye, who had recovered his composure, asked Cao Yang, "Director Cao, what do you think of this movie? Why do I keep feeling like there's something rather eerie about it?"

"Oh, why eerie?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it, but it just feels a bit off." Liu Ye shook his head as he spoke.

Cao Yang thought for a moment and smiled. "Perhaps the director himself is lost."

"Then is there any possibility of winning an award?"

Liu Ye lowered his voice and pursued the question, "Will it affect our film? Aren't critical films reflecting marginalized people at the bottom quite popular at film festivals over here?"

"He criticized without truly criticizing; he's completely lost himself and can't let go of his constraints. This vacillating attitude won't be acknowledged here."

Cao Yang shook his head. "Forget about this. Instead of wasting time thinking about such things, you'd better practice your acceptance speech more. Don't be like Li Xiaoran, who got so nervous on stage that she stammered 'I' for ages and forgot everything else."

"Hey, why should I bother memorizing that stuff? Could I possibly win an award? Even if I speak in Italian, will they award me another prize for linguistics? If we win, we'll follow Li Xiaoran's example and deliver our acceptance speech in Chinese."

Mentioning this got Liu Ye immensely excited, launching him into full chatterbox mode. "Besides, last time in Berlin, didn't you also deliver your acceptance speech in Chinese, Director Cao? It's not like they snatched the Silver Bear back from you."

Cao Yang was left somewhat amused and exasperated. "What I meant was for you to memorize a Chinese acceptance speech."

Liu Ye suddenly leaned in close to Cao Yang and asked in a low, mysterious tone, "Director Cao, did you get some insider information? Don't string me along—do we really have a hope of winning an award in Venice? To be honest, before coming to Venice, I wouldn't even dare to dream about it."

"Then you can let your imagination run wild right now."