Chapter 751

In the Movie Palace on Lido Island, Venice, "focus" has already started showing. Everyone's eyes are fixed on the big screen, and they want to see what this very topical movie looks like!

The story of the film began in 2001 when the Boston Globe ushered in a new editor in chief, Marty Baron, who suggested that the "focus" team should restart the investigation of the reported case of sexual assault on children by priests, because in Marty Baron's view, the case is not over.

As a result, the four reporters of the "focus" group began to sweep away the dust of this dusty case and re start to investigate the deeper truth behind the case.

Of course, the results are amazing. There are several or dozens of priests involved in the case, private victim groups, important evidence of the court's unseal, and the truth that everyone knows but keeps secret

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI is still standing at the window. He seems to be looking down at the crowd coming and going in the small square below. In the face of Hollywood, a community of interests with an output value of hundreds of billions of dollars, modern media and all pervasive Internet viral hype, even the Catholic Church, even as the current Pope, he has a sense of responsibility A deep sense of powerlessness.

This society is no longer Catholic after all.

"Sir..."

The middle-aged pastor suddenly said, "if Murphy Stanton's film is extremely influential, it's hard for a marquis Costello Archbishop to satisfy everyone in the church."

Benedict XVI stood there, not saying a word, as if in thought.

"Some of the things previously reported by the US media have spread all over the world."

In today's society, it is very difficult to block news, especially in the west, so the middle-aged priest said, "the influence is very bad! If this film is successful, I'm afraid... "

"I know." Benedict XVI sighed.

The middle-aged pastor continued, "Sir, an archbishop of the Central South Diocese of California, I'm afraid it will be difficult to calm the feelings of believers and the church."

Benedict XVI didn't say anything. Knowing that the middle-aged priest was telling the truth, he just waved his hand to the back and let the middle-aged priest leave by himself. After the sound of opening and closing the door sounded, he turned and looked at the special office of the Pope. He fell into thinking again.

Lido Island, Venice Film palace, "focus" screening is nearing the end.

The screening hall has always been very quiet. During the two hours, there was no applause, no laughter, no discussion. Everyone was just shocked to watch the film.

Among them, there are many judges of the Venice Film Festival.

They have known for a long time that since last winter, the Catholic Church has encountered a series of criticisms in the United States, which have not yet subsided. One scandal after another revealed by the American media seems to have no end, but they just watch it as a good play.

But when they saw this film, they were silent, some didn't know what to say, and some were lucky.

Many of the judges had children and believed in Catholicism

Alexander Desplat, the French president of the jury, is one of them.

"Maybe it's time to wake up the children." He muttered to himself, "the church can go, but it must not be alone with the priests!"

Compared with those written reports, the impact of video images on Alexander Desplat is too great!

As the chairman of the jury of the Venice Film Festival, Alexander Desplat soon put aside Catholicism and children, and put all his energy on the film itself.

There is no doubt that Murphy Stanton has brought a masterpiece! Even if he is a French filmmaker who doesn't like Hollywood very much, he admits it.

The first feeling of "focus" is a classic film, which comes partly from the calm narrative style of Murphy Stanton, partly from the non pursuit of dramatic rhythm, but more from the nostalgia for the traditional print media contained in the story itself.

On the one hand, this feeling is reflected in the presentation and expression of the daily work of the newspaper. During the whole investigation process, the most important thing that the "focus" group does is to interview the parties, collect information, and screen news. The film shows this repetitive and monotonous process, a large number of newspaper clippings cut into small pieces, a mountain of documents, and cost notes, After repeated phone calls, people almost doubt how far such work is from the real core of the case.

One of the most representative is that the investigation team found the list of priests in the area. It found that all the priests who had sexual assault were transferred from the original parish by the church with various excuses. In the face of a vast amount of information, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack to find out the priests who had violated the law.

Looking at focus from this perspective, Alexander Desplat finds that the delicate balance that Murphy Stanton makes between the shocking story itself and the professionalism that simple and simple style tries to show is too rare.Even though he already knew that the story came from a real event and that all crimes would eventually be announced to the world, he was still shocked when the priest involved in the case went from the reported cases to 13 in the statistics of victims' groups, to 90 estimated by folk researchers, until the "focus" group finally determined the list of 87 on the computer screen.

This film has no Hollywood mode, no action drama, no love and sex, and no big scenes. It is bound to become a good work, even a classic!

Whether it's Murphy Stanton or the Stanton party members who turn around from comedies and commercial films, they repeatedly give the best shortcut to realize their ideals in and out of the play, which may be to keep their original intention persistent and firm.

The big screen suddenly turned black, and the subtitles fell down. Alexander Desplat was the first to stand up from his seat and clap his palm with the greatest strength. Even if it hurt, he didn't want to stop!

Then all the judges on both sides of Alexander Desplat stood up and applauded.

Everyone behind the standing ovation, including hundreds of reporters and ordinary audience sitting in the back!

Alexander Desplat was not surprised to hear the burst of applause from behind. What kind of attitude those reporters will have in the face of such a film praising the power of the media can completely imagine.

As for those ordinary fans

For focus adapted from real events, in the face of the scandal of Catholic priests' sexual assault on children, the indignant audience has seen the development of the whole story in the endless reports. When they buy tickets and walk into the cinema, they may have preset the drama code of exposing the darkness of the church again in their mind, so as to stand with the protagonists of the film They are on the same front.

On Alexander Desplat's left hand side, the famous Chinese American female director Joan Chen Bian applauded and sighed in her heart that Murphy Stanton's "focus" is simply the best film textbook!

In the eyes of her director for many years, focusing is very suitable to learn the most basic and universal film audio-visual means. However, Murphy Stanton chose to complete the narration by enriching the scenes and emphasizing the dialogue.

The whole film is composed of a well-designed script with simple scenes. The huge amount of lines, rich scene switching, and strong character initiative make the rhythm of the film unimpeded and very smooth. Let the viewers follow the reporters of the Boston Globe to investigate together. There are basically no outstanding and emphasized scenes, and all the creative emotions are closely related Suppressed in the story, let the emotional torrent be released in the narrative.

So, all the characters in this movie are talking constantly, they are talking in the office, at home, outside the house, in the office corridor, in the kitchen, on the baseball field, on the golf course, on the roadside, in the cafe, at the party In fact, from a certain point of view, this is not a normal for media workers?

She has lived and worked in the United States for a long time. She knows that Murphy Stanton is not an academic director. But this time, she uses a very academic technique. Her shooting technique is very traditional. She makes every conversation scene compact, delicate, stable and plain. There is no scene with strong conflict, no one's performance goes too far, and no camera is special.

It is this seemingly ordinary technique that completes a beautiful story with calm surface and ups and downs inside; Murphy Stanton has no new ideas in film skills, but it is precisely because of this that he appears to be very solid. The whole film is very wonderful, with prominent contradictions, compact rhythm and distinctive characters.

In fact, it's more difficult for the director to cover up the style of the film in a certain sense.

How to tell a wonderful story honestly? This requires Murphy Stanton to have strong self-confidence and stable control ability

now, when she goes back to think about the story of this film, I'm afraid it's impossible to shoot it in other ways.

Murphy Stanton's solid and steady academic style is also the most suitable way for focus.

The applause continued for a few minutes. The film may be a bit dull, but this is the Venice Film Festival, not the summer festival in North America.

Murphy and the main members of the crew also went to the stage in front of the screen to make a curtain call.

Later, there is a very important press conference, and the impact of focus has just begun!