Chapter 1979: Release

For most employees of Future Group, their boss Zhao Fusheng was an extremely mysterious presence.

He almost never appeared in public, and most media reports about him were very official in tone, with little negative news leaking out.

Even his family kept a very low profile.

The entire company showed no signs of becoming a family business.

Many people even felt that, unless necessary, the boss might not be willing to come to the company for meetings.

An absentee boss—that was the kind of boss Zhao Fusheng was.

But everyone acknowledged that without Zhao Fusheng, there would be no Future Group today.

This was an indisputable fact.

For Ning Hao, Zhao Fusheng was his patron.

Back when no one had faith in him, it was Zhao Fusheng who insisted he direct that film, "Crazy Stone," and afterward always trusted him.

To be honest, Ning Hao knew well that without Zhao Fusheng, it wouldn't have been easy for someone like him to make a name in the film industry.

In this circle, seniority, connections, and status mattered; even if the lead actor looked down on you, they could replace the director.

But because Zhao Fusheng was there, Ning Hao didn't have to worry about those issues.

No one dared to challenge Zhao Fusheng's authority.

In this circle, everyone knew who stood behind Future Film and who stood behind Ning Hao.

The recent case of Huayi had perfectly illustrated what happened when you offended Zhao Fusheng.

For a figure of his level, even a mere gesture was enough to destroy a company's foundation.

At the very least, even if Huayi hadn't yet shown signs of decline, most people clearly knew that Huayi had lost its most powerful partner.

Ning Hao didn't tell Zhao Fusheng about the release of "Crazy Racer." His thinking was simple: after the film came out and did well at the box office, he would report it to Zhao Fusheng—that would be more impressive.

For now, in Ning Hao's view, this was just the first step of a long march.

Artists all have a bit of pride.

A scholar dies for his confidant.

In Ning Hao's eyes, Zhao Fusheng had given him this opportunity, and if he had the chance, he must repay that regard.

But he still hadn't expected that on the first day of release, the premiere, Zhao Fusheng would actually show up.

"Chairman, why are you here?"

Although Ning Hao had never seen Zhao Fusheng's car, he recognized Zhao Fusheng's new assistant, Liu Yiming.

When Liu Yiming appeared at the premiere, Ning Hao knew Zhao Fusheng had arrived.

After dealing with the media and acquaintances in the circle, he hurried to find where Liu Yiming and Zhao Fusheng were.

"Go about your business."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand with a smile: "I'm just here to watch the fun."

That was the truth.

He wasn't very interested in such occasions anyway; coming today was just to support Ning Hao.

"Thank you for giving me the opportunity."

Ning Hao said seriously.

"Why thank me?" Zhao Fusheng waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's because you truly did well and were worth my investment."

Of course, he said that, but in his heart, Zhao Fusheng was still very happy, after all, not everyone had the chance to earn Ning Hao's gratitude.

This man was one of the most successful commercial film directors in China for the next decade or more.

For Zhao Fusheng, this feeling was really quite nice.

"Come on, let's go in and watch the movie."

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Liu Yiming.

Then he said to Ning Hao: "Go ahead with your work. I'll head straight back after watching the movie."

"Okay."

Ning Hao quickly nodded in agreement.

He also knew Zhao Fusheng's temperament; he had never liked such public relations occasions. Coming today was already a great show of respect for him, and if word got out, it could easily become news.

After all, for those media outlets, having the opportunity to report on such a tycoon was undoubtedly very attractive.

But unfortunately, Zhao Fusheng never gave the media that chance.

Basically, whenever there was a report about him, Future Group would keep a close watch and had already given the media a heads-up in advance.

With sufficient benefits, no media outlet would be foolish enough to provoke Future Group.

Everyone knew this well.

Entering the cinema, Zhao Fusheng and Liu Yiming found a secluded spot to sit, surrounded by bodyguards.

"See, this movie is quite interesting."

Zhao Fusheng said to Liu Yiming with a smile.

Liu Yiming nodded and sat there watching with Zhao Fusheng.

It had to be said, *Crazy Racer* was a very good film. In Zhao Fusheng's view, it continued Ning Hao's style of black comedy, with multiple storylines progressing simultaneously, and a structure more complex than *Crazy Stone*.

Some media had previously written sensational articles claiming that Ning Hao had transformed from Guy Ritchie to Quentin Tarantino. Fortunately, Guy Ritchie was out of the picture, or fans would have had plenty of arguments. Besides, whether form is the only key factor remains debatable.

Form is just appearance; there are plenty of people who handle it well or poorly.

That said, *Racer* still resembled Guy Ritchie's network narrative style: eight groups of people with their own goals, four independent stories unfolding separately and intersecting at several points. It was still different from Tarantino, let alone which was better or worse. Compared to *Stone*, which centered on a single prop, it had certainly leveled up.

"The so-and-so of China" was hardly a first-rate compliment. Besides being skilled in conventions, Ning Hao also excelled at localization, making good use of expressions, body language, and speech—including dialects—to create laughs, thereby giving the characters depth.

Ning Hao was also adept at various elements of commercial films: fight scenes, car chases, and negotiations in gangster films, all handled with ease. The occasional special effects and quirky music were quite fitting, especially the contrast created by mixing elements from different narrative contexts, which was highly comedic.

Returning to localization, *Racer* integrated the absurdities of grassroots reality into the film. The relationships among the groups of characters, formed through a series of mishaps, were mostly related to this, interesting and not forced. The segment where Huang Bo impersonates a driver to infiltrate the race even added a touch of sentiment to this manic comedy.

The whole film actually had a similar narrative line to *Crazy Stone*, only the Hong Kong assassin was replaced by Taiwanese gangsters, and Huang Bo's acting had improved even more.

As a film that could make people laugh from start to finish, *Racer* had too many laugh points, some even excessive, bordering on being talkative. After all, there was too much crammed into the film; with such a broad scope, telling the story well was already no easy feat.

But it had to be admitted, judging from the laughter in the cinema, this film was very successful.

There were always directors saying that Chinese audiences lacked taste and couldn't understand certain things.

That statement could be interpreted in different ways.

Sometimes, the audience's appreciation level indeed couldn't keep up with the creators' pace.

But the question was, did that mean the vast majority of audiences lacked taste?

For example, Kaige's films had been criticized ever since *The Promise*. Although we admit that in terms of artistic and aesthetic level, he is indeed a top-tier director.

But it's really hard to agree with his filmmaking approach.

Like the segment he directed in the patriotic tribute film—frankly, it was just to promote his own son. As for any artistic depth...

Zhao Fusheng couldn't even be bothered to complain.

It's often said that film art originates from reality and transcends it, but if creators are severely detached from reality and only make films according to their own ideas, the result is that no one but the creator can understand what they produce.

This is no joke.

Old Jiang's films after *Let the Bullets Fly* all flopped at the box office and with critics, largely because he habitually mixed his own ideas into the films.

Sometimes audiences might accept it, sometimes they wouldn't.

The natural result was a collapse in both reputation and box office.

By the same token, Kaige's films were much the same.

"Chairman, this movie is not bad."

After watching the film, Liu Yiming said to Zhao Fusheng as they walked out of the cinema.

"Yeah, not bad."

Zhao Fusheng smiled and nodded: "The laughter in the cinema says it all."

On this point, Zhao Fusheng and Ning Hao shared some common understanding: no matter what, as long as a work satisfies the audience, it's a good work.

As for artistic pursuit, that comes later.

Zhao Fusheng would certainly not agree to sacrificing box office for art.

He was an investor, not a director, screenwriter, or actor.

One's position determines one's standpoint; that's always true.