As for the promotion of the movie "Li Xianglan", the commotion is much more lively than the TV series "Dream of Red Mansions".
Unfortunately, the current operating mechanism in the Republic is too slow.
Although Huo Yanping is helping to take care of this matter in China, the process of submitting the film for review has still not been completed.
What content needs to be deleted?
When will the Japanese-edited "Li Xianglan" be released in mainland China?
It is always difficult to have accurate answers to these critical questions.
But Japan can't wait any longer.
In recent years, the business of Songzhu Pictures has not shown improvement, and its film output has been declining year by year. There is now a trend of sluggish production.
So after several requests from President Shochiku Omoto, he even said that he would not hesitate to modify the contract and was willing to give up an additional 2% of the box office share.
Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko had no choice but to abandon the original plan of simultaneous release in both countries, and had to advance the release date of "Li Xianglan" in Japan to March 8.
But speaking of it, although this day is a little hasty, it is quite appropriate because of its special nature.
Don't forget, this day is not only Sunday, but also International Women's Day.
Although the Japanese also have their own local "Women's Day", which is on April 10th.
And they have never paid much attention to this internationally recognized Women's Day.
But after all, legally speaking, March 8th is an internationally recognized holiday for women all over the world.
It is perfect to reflect on the suffering that war brings to women.
Even in Ning Weimin's view, Japan's harm to families and women during the war, as well as the fact that men are still superior to women, can actually be used to make a fuss and turn it into a propaganda gimmick.
So in fact, without much effort at all, Ning Weimin's clever mind came up with a series of publicity plans based on this.
As for his clever ideas, not only did Matsumoto Keiko be greatly moved and admired, but they also successfully gained recognition from Shochiku Pictures, and President Ogimoto readily agreed to fully cooperate.
Just like that, Ning Weimin did what he said.
Next, he and Matsumoto Keiko first contacted Japan's largest women's rights protection organization, the Federation of Women's Groups.
In order to support Japanese women's social activities and promote Japanese society to pay attention to women's rights and status, they want to cooperate with the "Women's League" and use them to promote the release of the movie "Li Xianglan".
By the way, we also take the opportunity to reflect on the harm done to women by old wars and launch a publicity campaign for International Women's Day to the public with the specific goal of fighting for equal social rights for men and women today.
Let’s see if we can get more women to empathize and go to the cinema.
At the same time, it can also make more Japanese people pay attention to International Women's Day, which has always been ignored in this country.
In return, Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko promised that for every movie ticket sold, one hundred yen from the box office revenue would be donated as an exclusive donation, which would be handed over to the "Women's League" after settlement as a token of support for this group.
financial support.
You know, the current average ticket price for Japanese movies released in China is 1,800 yen.
"Li Xianglan" has a running time of nearly two and a half hours, so the ticket price for 150 minutes is set at 2,500 yen.
Moreover, this movie alone had an investment of one billion yen, and it even used heavy weapons such as tanks and regular troops to assist in filming war scenes in mainland China. This is a pioneering thing in the Asian film industry.
So in theory, if it is fully released in Shochiku's existing theaters, as long as the shooting quality is not too bad and the audience doesn't collectively curse after watching it, the box office should reach at least one billion yen.
This means that "Women's League" can earn at least 40 to 50 million yen, and of course it will be more if the film sells well.
So since there are real benefits, why don’t the Women’s League join forces?
These Japanese girls must work hard to promote "Li Xianglan".
So the two sides naturally hit it off and reached a cooperative alliance.
Not only that, but also because of the participation of such a public social group.
Li Xianglan herself, now Representative Yamaguchi Yoshiko, is even more excited, and is more willing to cooperate with the film's publicity work and promote the film.
If nothing else, since she has already entered politics, she will naturally realize that this is a good opportunity to win over supporters and increase her political connections.
In addition, the advertising concept can also be more humanistic and caring. This movie can be equated with caring for women and branded as International Women's Day.
Don’t Westerners always say that the Japanese are not civilized enough? Don’t they always say that the Japanese do not respect women? Don’t they always say that the Japanese still retain a decadent side of their thinking?
Then watch this movie. No matter how you say it, the ability to make such a movie represents a reflection on the old era and sympathy for women who have been harmed and oppressed by war.
Then the people who come to watch the movie are naturally the most enlightened, civilized and social elites who can keep pace with the times among the Japanese.
When advertising, using such words to praise the audience of this movie, doesn’t it immediately enhance the style?
Even the movie's promotional posters, the brochures to be sent out at the movie premiere, and the cover of the movie's soundtrack album to be released, Ning Weimin had people re-make and reprocess them.
His idea was to have these promotional materials featuring Keiko Matsumoto's character wrapped in bandages that "spill blood."
Not only can traumatic visual cues be used to gain the audience's empathy, but it can also be used to show Li Xianglan's essence as a war victim.
To put it bluntly, Ning Weimin wanted to build momentum and then use morality to kidnap the Japanese people.
Regardless of form or spirit, these Japanese must be forcefully forced into movie theaters regardless of age, middle age, young men or women, in order to break through the audience limitations of historical biopics.
As for Kaga Shinichiro, he also spared no effort to help Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko on this matter.
With the film promotion fee of 50 million yen paid by Ning Weimin, Shinichiro Kaga not only helped arrange the appropriate time to broadcast the movie advertisements edited from the movie clips, but also arranged for the prototype character Yamaguchi Yoshiko to be paired with Keiko Matsumoto and Ryoko Ishida.
, the participating actors such as Sawaguchi Yasuko made an interview show.
He also helped Ning Weimin introduce the president of the "Daily News" behind TBS to Ning Weimin, and successfully facilitated a deal between the two parties - Ning Weimin bought an entire page on March 8 to promote the movie "Li Xianglan"
" and the arrival of International Women's Day.
For this reason, even though time is a little tight, Shochiku Pictures and Matsumoto Keiko's agency only have a dozen days to expand the scope of the film's promotion, but the pre-heating effect of this film is really good.
At least as the release day approaches, most people in Tokyo will chat a few words about the release of the movie "Li Xianglan" after dinner.
Or do those songs that Li Xianglan once sang still sound good to you now?
Or it involves the current situation of women’s rights in Japan and discusses whether Japanese men will make changes and become a good man who truly knows how to respect his wife.
When will Japanese society be able to treat female white-collar workers fairly and receive equal treatment for men and women?
In addition, the value of girls in Japan has skyrocketed. Ning Weimin bought several soft articles in newspapers that can stimulate young men and women, and asked those gunmen to write, "Then in the process of finding your natal man, why not use this movie to test you?"
What about your boyfriend? If a man has no interest in such a movie, doesn’t it mean how cold and cruel his nature is? He is definitely not a man who will love his wife and can be entrusted with her for life. "
This movie has become a touchstone for Japanese women to choose a spouse.
This forced many Japanese young men to buy tickets in advance to show their loyalty.
To be honest, I don’t know whether it will bring about a few couples or break up a few couples in the end.
Anyway, Ning Weimin is not afraid of big things, he just wants to be as lively as possible.
…………
And in fact it did live up to his expectations.
Just for this movie, I arrived at 8 o'clock in the morning on the premiere day.
Shochiku Pictures not only emptied out the entire theater owned by Shochiku near Waseda University.
Yoshiko Yamaguchi, director Yoshitaro Nomura, and several leading actors headed by Keiko Matsumoto also came to the premiere.
A meet-and-greet was held with the audience who were lucky enough to attend the premiere.
Teresa Teng was also invited to join in as one of the singers.
And although we did not receive any protest calls during the preparation period, there were no threats from the right.
But just in case, Shochiku had made detailed preparations in advance to deal with right-wing troubles.
They invited the police and lawyers to wait at the scene, and also filed a report with the nearby police station.
There were even officials from the "Women's League" who came to the scene and held up slogans to publicly support the film, promoting the spirit of protecting women's rights and interests.
I think that with these Japanese women acting as bodyguards, the right-wing forces will not fall into the trap and bring humiliation to themselves.
Anyway, no matter how you put it, the scene was really lively.
As these celebrities entered from the red carpet, a large group of reporters gathered around to take photos.
In particular, the promotional materials designed by Ning Weimin for the movie, with the "oozing" bandages wrapped around them, became a highlight before the movie was released.
Take a brochure, for example. You can't read it without taking off the bandage.
Everyone, including journalists, felt that this design was creative and appropriate.
At this time, the atmosphere at the scene was particularly ideal. The only thing that worried Ning Weimin was the real quality of the film and the audience's reaction after watching the film.
But when he actually sat in the cinema and saw the movie starting to play, his hanging heart gradually dropped. Ning Weimin originally thought that the old-school director Nomura Yoshitaro's habitual narrative method, his "Li Xianglan"
As a literary film, it must have a slow pace.
As a historical biopic, I'm afraid there are many parts that are inevitably boring.
But he never expected that the quality of the movie would be unexpectedly good.
The faint sense of sadness is natural, and the overall atmosphere is very stable. These are the advantages of Youtarou Nomura.
The play is filled with anti-war sentiment from beginning to end, focusing on expressing Li Xianglan's confusion caused by the deviation of her national identity.
She can only act as a bellwether for the current situation but cannot change the current situation. After all, she is just an artist. What can a businesswoman do if she hates the country's demise?
On this basis, I don’t know if it’s because half of Li Xianglan’s life is condensed into this 150-minute movie.
Director Yoshitaro Nomura couldn't help it even if he wanted to drag it out.
Anyway, this time Youtaro Nomura is like a robot cat possessed, and the pace of telling the story is quite ideal.
The war scenes were also shot with majestic proportions, giving it a realistic flavor of "Saving Private Ryan".
The actors are equally impressive, except for the warm and touching performance of Ryoko Ishida, who plays Li Xianglan's Russian best friend.
Yasuko Sawaguchi, whose image is closest to Li Xianglan when she was young, also performed well in the film.
Responsible for playing the role of young Li Xianglan, she is well-behaved, sensible and endearing, becoming a bright spot in the early gray tones of the film.
However, Keiko Matsumoto is able to look exactly like Li Xianglan.
Maybe it's because of her great acting skills, or maybe it's because Keiko Matsumoto's situation is very close to that of Li Xianglan.
Or perhaps Li Xianglan's song is too sensational, which plays a good role in boosting and setting off the atmosphere of the film.
Matsumoto Keiko's performance, even Yamaguchi Shuko herself, and Ning Weimin, who originally only paid attention to the audience's reaction, were forced into this movie-watching atmosphere.
Especially when she was in the labor force, she sang the song "Farewell Blues" that was banned for being "decadent and demoralizing enemy music". Not only did she move the Japanese soldiers and junior Japanese military officers in the movie with her emotions and singing
.
Some die-hards among them, although they pretended to have something to do and left the venue, they also shed tears and hid aside to watch quietly.
The scene successfully gained the audience's empathy, and appropriately demonstrated Li Xianglan's unique charm that was different from modern female stars back then, as if she was Li Xianglan herself in another time and space.
This makes people have to admire, she is indeed one of those talents with real acting talent. She has always been a leader in the Japanese film industry, and she can crush younger backs at will. This may be her destiny in this life.
All in all, the whole film is not too boring, and it doesn't have the awkwardness of a Chinese-Japanese co-production. The theme song performed by Teresa Teng at the end is also a classic and enough to touch people's hearts.
So when the film of more than 150 minutes was screened, the lights in the screening room came on, and the film's creative staff and actors sitting in the first row turned around and bowed to the audience to thank them.
The audience who had watched the whole movie spontaneously gave warm applause, and many people even stood up for a long time.
And at this time, everyone noticed that Yamaguchi Yoshiko's eyes were red. After watching the show of true feelings, she was so moved that she applauded and wiped away tears.
Even many of the leading actors didn't know whether they were happy or excited, wiping tears along with them.
Ning Weimin also applauded gently. He believed that this was undoubtedly an excellent literary film, and the quality far exceeded what he expected.
If before, his expectation was that he would be satisfied if he could score 70 points on the 100-point scale, then now he can score 85 points without any regrets.
He is absolutely certain that as long as the Japanese audience is not blind and has basic appreciation ability.
This movie's box office will be guaranteed, and its reputation will definitely be good.
And his judgment was quickly verified by Shochiku Pictures' President Omoto.
Because he was sitting in the second row and clearly heard President Omoto in the front row whispering to Matsumoto Keiko before he stood up, "You are acting so well. I almost forgot that you were even acting. I thought you were acting."
That's the real Li Xianglan. Don't worry, Shochiku Pictures will fully support you in winning the Best Actress at next year's Academy Awards."