Tokyo Literary Godfather

Unfortunately, Naoki Yamazaki's film career started at this time.

The weather is not right... But what can I do? Do I have to keep bowing down and keeping my point?

At the same time, Hollywood movies in the United States were developing in full swing at this time, and there was an overwhelming number of classic movies that could almost leave a mark in history. Yes, American cinema is having a golden age right now.

Yamazaki Naoki does not have the perspective of the future like Kei Fujiwara. Otherwise, if he were to count the past Oscar-winning films as a person in the future at the time point of 2022, he would find that the award-winning films around 1995 are the most classic. There are even years when gods often fight.

Films such as "Titanic", "Braveheart" and "Forrest Gump" are all from this period.

The prosperity of American films has further compressed the development space of Japanese local films.

Thinking of this, Naoki Yamazaki couldn't help but smile bitterly. The Japanese film industry was still developing in full swing in the 1980s, but now it has declined like this. Are movies also tied to national destiny?

Becoming a professional director is only the first step in Yamazaki Naoki's career plan. In fact, he has greater ambitions - he hopes to use his own strength to reverse the decline of domestic local films and once again heat up the local film market.

It is difficult to realize this ideal, and it can even be said to be very slim, but Naoki Yamazaki still regards it as his goal.

The clock hanging on the high wall of the ticket hall made a "click-click" sound as the hands turned. Naoki Yamazaki looked up, then raised his wrist to check the time with his watch, and then walked to the ticket office.

After passing the ticket inspection, Yamazaki Naoki walked towards the target theater, and faintly heard the ticket inspector discussing behind his back: "Only two people can watch this show."

"After all, it is a niche art film. Other theaters are not willing to schedule the film. The boss knows the film supervisor, so I want to save face. Ordinary audiences are not interested, but enthusiasts and professionals often come to watch it."

"Sigh, but there is no way to support the income of movie theaters by relying on these [professionals]... There are fewer and fewer ordinary audiences. If this continues, movie theaters will close down one by one, right?"

"The boss's theater is about to be transferred. I don't know who the next boss will be and whether he will fire us."

"Anyway, I'm just working part-time..."

The voice became fainter and fainter, and when Naoki Yamazaki heard these words, he unconsciously felt a little sad, and his mood became depressed while watching the movie.

After entering the theater, the hall was really empty. Yamazaki Naoki didn't look for his seat according to the movie ticket, but randomly found a seat in the middle.

There was only one person in the entire theater, sitting in front of him. He was a man wearing a peaked cap.

It's better not to be alone... Naoki Yamazaki thought to himself that he hated being alone in a theater watching movies. He would have a feeling that his own appreciation taste was incompatible with the world and inconsistent with the public's taste. For a cultural worker For those, it's not a good thing.

At the same time, Yamazaki Naoki also felt some sympathy for the person in front of him. This person might also be an industry insider. After the film, he would go up and say hello to him - if he didn't leave midway.

The lights in the theater suddenly dimmed and the movie started.

The name of the movie is "Jiro Hirano is Waiting". It is a standard art film without a main story. It is about a man named Hirano Jiro who is looking forward to something under the maple tree. There will always be people passing by who will rest under the tree and chat with Hirano Jiro, while chatting and reminiscing about the past.

However, at the end of the movie, it did not say what Hirano Jiro was waiting for. The protagonist just stood up, patted the dust on his butt and left.

It's so artistic, so artistic...

The entire movie is one and a half hours long. Within half an hour of watching it, Yamazaki Naoki's eyelids started to fight. He went to the toilet two or three times in the middle, but it did not affect the viewing of the movie at all when he came back.

A long hour and a half passed, and Naoki Yamazaki stood up, feeling more relaxed than ever...

However, the person in front of him was still sitting on the chair. Yamazaki Naoki was sure at this moment that this person must be an industry insider, otherwise it would be impossible for an ordinary audience to be so interested in this movie and watch it for such a long time without moving. .

It's simply boring than a textbook... No wonder most commercial theaters don't schedule the film. This kind of film is indeed not suitable for ordinary audiences, but is more suitable for exhibition in some international A-type film festivals. Anyway, the judges of those film festivals like to be boring. Film.

Yamazaki Naoki looked at the man in front of him with great admiration. After leaving the cinema, he said hello to this man. Maybe he was an acquaintance.

However, when he walked slowly to the door, he found that the man was still sitting where he was. He suddenly felt something was wrong, so he walked over in the dark. When he got closer to the man, he heard a soft snoring in his ears.

The young man had fallen asleep leaning against the back of the chair at some point.

Yamazaki Naoki smiled, it seemed that he was thinking too much. But I can't blame this person, the hypnotic effect of this movie is really top-notch...

Naoki Yamazaki just wanted to leave, after thinking about it, he turned around and touched Kei Fujiwara's shoulder lightly: "Sir, sir. The movie is over."

"Uh...ah." The man woke up suddenly, "Is it over? What time is it?"

Naoki Yamazaki looked at his watch: "It's twenty past ten, sir."

"It's a pity that it's only an hour and a half... I thought I could sleep a little longer." The man stretched and stood up, "Thank you... You seem familiar. I've seen you somewhere."

Through the light of the screen, Yamazaki Naoki could vaguely see the other person's eyebrows, but it was not very clear.

At this time, the theater lights came on. Only then did Yamazaki Naoki see the other person clearly and couldn't help shouting: "Fujiwara Kei?"

Fujiwara Kei raised his eyelids and acted relatively calmly: "Oh, Yamazaki-kun, what a coincidence. I didn't expect that the first meeting would be on such an occasion."

He said, raising his hand.

Yamazaki Naoki was stunned and quickly shook hands with him: "Teacher Fujiwara, it's our first time meeting..."

The two of them put their hands back into their pockets, and they were silent for a moment. Yamazaki Naoki was afraid of embarrassment, so he quickly took the initiative to find a topic, "Mr. Fujiwara, are you interested in this movie?"

Kei Fujiwara looked back at the seat where he was just now: "Well, I've been under a lot of pressure at work recently and haven't slept very well, so I came here to relax. This kind of art film... I watch it often, and I can fall asleep every time. "

"Sometimes I really envy these directors of art films. As long as they can make the film so that no one can understand it, they can have an excuse no matter how bad the film is."

Fujiwara Kei rolled his neck and said.

Yamazaki Naoki didn't say anything. In fact, as a practitioner in the film industry, especially a commercial film director, he would not dare to give a bad evaluation to this kind of art film. Otherwise, it is easy to be labeled as "not an artist, but a businessman" and "do not understand the artistic persistence of a true director".

Not only people in the film industry will say this, but even some ordinary audiences will say this, even if these audiences cannot understand these works of art at all.

Although directors are responsible for investors' money, they are essentially an artistic profession, so when faced with these [art films], they are often cautious about what they say and do.