372. Art? Does He Deserve It?

Also watching the trailer was Ms. Merritt Rice, who was in France.

She is a freelance writer and film critic who started her career as a theater critic before moving into film, television, stage plays, opera, and other fields. In a French tradition, women are often seen as stronger than men, and she is also one of the judges for the Palme d'Or.

Ms. Merritt is known for her harsh criticism and scathing eye. She once publicly dissed an actress who tried to switch from film to Broadway, which led to attacks from the media and audiences, and she subsequently retired from the entertainment industry.

Therefore, some people call her the "Queen of Cannes," meaning that as long as she speaks, it is basically determined whether a film will win the Palme d'Or.

As a film critic who works in theater, Ms. Merritt naturally occupies the upper end of the social hierarchy.

In this industry, it's normal for filmmakers to look down on television actors, and for stage actors to look down on filmmakers. Most people just leave room for maneuver; even if they have opinions, they won't say them out loud. But Ms. Merritt is different. What she hates most are those who originally made cheap entertainment projects like popcorn movies trying to get involved in the theater or art film fields that she loves.

Without exception, any director with a "previous record" received a very low score from her.

Not only did she give it a low score, she also wrote articles to criticize it, criticizing it in front of the director and actors.

Therefore, when she heard that Lu Ban was going to participate in the Palme d'Or selection, her first reaction was that another arrogant and conceited guy had arrived.

"These people don't understand art at all. I've said it before: they think they're great because their clichéd films can fool the public and make money. They're trying to use one or two awards to gild their image. Ha, how ridiculous."

Ms. Merritt scoffed.

In her view, many commercial film directors are clueless, thinking that if they can make blockbuster movies, they can make artistic films. In fact, Ms. Merritt believes that these people do not understand art at all, and their actions are defiling art.

Lu Ban was one of them.

This up-and-coming young director from the East achieved the fifth highest-grossing film in global film history with a single movie, and also won widespread acclaim.

Ms. Merritt hadn't seen that movie. She never went to see commercial films on her own initiative; the better they sold and the higher their box office, the more she disliked them.

She believes that art should be noble, unrelated to money, and pure.

Therefore, when the director of an award-winning art film passed away due to poverty and illness, Ms. Merritt even wrote an article praising the director highly, believing that he refused to associate with those businessmen and defended art with his life.

Some people think that Ms. Merritt's ideas are extreme and morbid, but that is exactly what her persona is.

After the trailer for Lu Ban was released, Ms. Merritt had no intention of watching it, but everyone around her was praising the trailer.

For example, Ms. Merritt's colleague, Michael Weaver, who is also a film festival judge, praised the atmosphere presented in the trailer.

"Let me tell you, this movie can captivate everyone just from this trailer alone. I haven't seen a work that can touch my heartstrings just from the visuals in a long time!"

Hearing this, Ms. Merritt felt even more strongly that Lu Ban couldn't be allowed to be so arrogant.

"You're getting this high expectations based on just one trailer? Has the film industry really gotten this bad lately?"

She muttered to herself and clicked on the trailer.

In an instant, Ms. Merritt felt a warm breeze.

She had been to the island nation before and witnessed the sight of cherry blossoms falling all over the streets, but what she saw now was an even more magnificent cherry blossom rain.

Among them, a young girl is walking among the falling petals.

The moment Ms. Merritt saw her, she sensed a youthful vitality and a gentle, kind temperament, as if anyone could be kind to her and become her friend.

As time went by, Merritt, though he had never met the girl before, felt that if he could meet her in real life, the two of them would definitely be able to talk about anything.

Before she knew it, the trailer had ended. Although it only presented the life of a young girl, it had given Ms. Merritt endless anticipation. She wanted to see what the girl's experiences would be like afterward, to learn more about her, and to become a character in the film to connect with her.

Staring blankly at the computer screen, Ms. Merritt momentarily forgot that she had originally come to watch the film with a critical mindset.

"It must be because that actress's acting skills are too good."

Ms. Merritt said to herself.

"These kinds of short films can be made simply by choosing a good location and finding a good actor; they're just visually appealing."

After thinking it over, she felt even more strongly that Lu Ban's practice of shooting beautiful scenery and using pretty actors to add hype to his work was a disgrace to art!

Thinking about this, Ms. Merritt could hardly contain her critical spirit.

She immediately opened the document and began writing about the trailer and her thoughts on Lu Ban.

"Although director Lu Ban has achieved commercial success, he has only a superficial understanding of art. He thinks that using beautiful actors, beautiful scenery, and slow-motion shots constitutes art, but in my opinion, he is defiling art. He is trying to deceive the audience with commercial methods. However, there are still people with discerning eyes. As for ' Spring No War,' I think it is just a clichéd romance film. Let alone winning the Palme d'Or, it will not even get a nomination!"

"He thought that the tricks he used to please audiences with no taste in commercial films could also fool experienced judges, but unfortunately, he failed."

"Art? Does he deserve it?"

This was a review article updated on a personal website, and within a few hours, it had received over 10,000 views.

This article was quickly reposted on major domestic forums, and machine translations were also provided.

Many people who are not optimistic about Lu Ban regard this as gospel and use it to criticize Lu Ban's new movie. After all, some people just repeat what others say without having their own subjective opinions. Some people even believe that foreigners are always right. If foreigners criticize domestic things, then it must be because domestic things are not done well. Since foreign bigwigs are saying that Lu Ban is no good, then Lu Ban must be no good!

Under these circumstances, Lu Ban's complete master tapes of "Spring No War" were sent to distant Europe, into the hands of the Palme d'Or jury.

Within a week, the jury members will review the film and make their evaluations.

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