### Chapter 417: Mr. Tree

Link left the coffee room and called Andrew Kramer to talk about "Far Cry".

He had seen the movie. The production quality was average and far inferior to the horror films under Lionsgate. The female leads and supporting actresses in swimsuits didn't have the figures to compare with Western actors, and the level of nudity wasn't high enough. The few horror scenes designed to scare were also not terrifying enough for American audiences who were used to gore and bloodshed.

The only advantage was that it was a Chinese horror film, which was relatively novel and might interest some viewers.

After acquiring the North American distribution rights, they could release it in cinemas in major cities' Chinatowns first. If the box office results were poor, they could release it on DVD or sell it to Netflix for online streaming.

As long as the offer for "Far Cry" wasn't too high, with Lionsgate's current distribution channels, they were unlikely to lose money. He instructed Andrew to negotiate the price down as much as possible, not exceeding $500,000. The production cost of "Far Cry" was only two to three million dollars.

"Eh?"

Just as he hung up the phone, he noticed that the electronic display screen in front of the screening hall flashed a message about a showing of "Mr. Tree". This movie was from China, and the film's producer was Jia Zhangke, a Chinese director who had been nominated twice in the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival. No other information was displayed.

Link stopped and went inside the auditorium to take a look. There weren't many people inside, with only ten or so people seated out of a hundred-plus seats, mostly Chinese.

The film had been playing for over twenty minutes and was currently at the scene where "Tree" goes to the hospital to treat his eyes and flirts with a young nurse.

The film only had English subtitles, without English or French dubbing. Foreign viewers had to rely on subtitles, but the translation was full of errors and incoherent, making it very confusing.

Focusing too much on subtitles also made it easy to miss the plot, making the movie even harder to understand.

Within thirty minutes of the screening, nearly all the foreigners had left the auditorium, leaving only seven or eight Chinese viewers in the front rows.

"This movie is pretty good. Why is no one watching it?"

"I’m Chinese, and I find the dialogue hard to follow, let alone a bunch of foreigners."

"Exactly! Art films are inherently obscure and difficult to understand. Coupled with the language barrier, it’s no wonder no one watches them."

"Hey, there's still someone over there wearing a hat watching the movie."

Hearing the conversations of the people in front, Link chuckled, watched for a few more minutes, and then got up to leave.

In the hallway, he called Andrew and told him to buy the North American distribution rights for "Mr. Tree."

This type of movie had a very low production cost, and no foreign distributors would buy it, so it could be acquired at a bargain price. He wasn’t buying it to make money but because he liked it.

"Mr. Weinstein, the movie isn’t finished yet. Would you like to watch more?"

"Trash movie, wasting my time."

As Link hung up the phone, he encountered Harvey coming out of the opposite screening room with two assistants and a bald middle-aged man trailing behind. The middle-aged man was persistently trying to keep up with Harvey, who stormed out with an angry expression.

"Link?"

Harvey stopped in his tracks when he saw him, squinting his eyes as he looked at him. His brown eye bags trembled slightly.

"Hi, Harvey. What a coincidence!"

Link smiled.

Harvey snorted, pulled out a cigar, and looked at him sideways, saying, "I heard Lionsgate has some movies at the festival? Any of them in competition?"

"No."

"Hah! I figured. Lionsgate only produces trash movies. It would be a miracle if any got in."

"It doesn’t matter. My movies have high box office returns and are full of surprises."

Link grinned.

Harvey's face instantly turned dark, his facial fat twitching a few times. He knew what Link was implying—the bastard was flaunting the box office success of "Bridesmaids" right in his face.

"Hmph! You won't always be this lucky. Just wait and see."

Harvey glared at him and left with his entourage.

"Mr. Becker, do you have time to watch my movie?"

The middle-aged man enthusiastically invited.

Link checked his watch; there was still plenty of time, so he went into the screening hall to take a look. It was a French pornographic film, shot in a voyeuristic style, with no plot or artistic value. Watching it was indeed a waste of time.

After watching for four or five minutes, he got up and left, moving on to other screening halls.

In just over an hour, he watched clips from more than twenty movies but didn’t find a single familiar one. He realized that finding one or two undiscovered good films among thousands at the festival was incredibly difficult.

Once a movie was submitted to the Cannes Film Festival, film enthusiasts, media reporters, and professional critics from around the world would start circulating between the screening halls.

A good movie would be noticed by audiences early on, attracting more viewers, followed by media reports, reviews from critics, and word-of-mouth spreading, drawing the attention of the jury. The best would be selected for the main competition.

The entire festival process was like sifting through sand to find gold, making it highly unlikely for a good movie to be overlooked.

After nine o'clock in the evening, the festival transitioned to the midnight screenings, where some more explicit films were shown.

The festival palace became even livelier, with many moviegoers holding tickets they had collected in advance, lining up in the lobby, waiting to enter.

He wasn’t interested in such films, so he returned to the Seaside Hotel to rest early, and took the opportunity to call Ivanka to inquire about the progress of the investigation into Warner Bros.' box office fraud.

Ivanka said that while arranging for the investigation, Warner Bros. had noticed their actions and sent a marketing department president to negotiate, trying to persuade her and Katherine to drop the investigation and offering to compensate for part of the box office.

Ivanka’s demand was for them to return all the box office revenue; otherwise, they would continue to investigate and use legal means to protect the company's legitimate interests.

Warner Bros. said they needed time to consider.

Ivanka agreed to give them time but arranged for the investigation to continue. They had already obtained some evidence of theaters participating in the box office fraud. Although this evidence might not guarantee a win in court, creating public opinion could still damage Warner Bros.' reputation.

Link advised her to be careful and to bring more bodyguards when going out.

Ivanka laughed and said she understood, asking how he was doing in Cannes and if he had hooked up with any beauties.

Link said no, that none of the women there could compare to even a tenth of her.

After chatting on the phone, he sat on the balcony, drank a glass of red wine, and watched the Cannes sea view for a while before going to sleep. The next morning, after exercising, he casually picked up a few French newspapers in the hotel lobby and found that many had reviews of "Midnight in Paris".

Besides praising director Allen for his consistent filmmaking skills, the movie retained Woody Allen’s distinctive style and could be considered a sister piece to "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".

The rest of the reviews were full of praise for Link’s acting, describing his performance as subtle and moving, and calling him a charming and talented actor.

They said his romantic scenes with Marion Cotillard and Jennifer Lawrence were excellent, elevating the entire film to a higher level.

They claimed the trio's performance was on par with the trio of Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, and Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".

Finally, newspapers like Le Figaro and Le Parisien published several large stills of him from the movie, all close-ups.

Le Parisien commented that "Last night, everyone in Cannes was captivated by Link's charisma on screen. He conquered this year’s Cannes with his personal charm" and predicted that once the film was released, it would spark a new wave of "Link fever" worldwide, with fans everywhere falling for his charm.

Marion Cotillard also called to compliment his handsome photos, saying she had looked at them many times and planned to cut them out to keep in her album as a memento.

Link touched his cheek, recalling director Allen’s words about being too handsome and getting labeled a pretty face, potentially drawing the envy of Oscar judges. For a moment, he felt a bit helpless.

(End of Chapter)