The Best Director

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“`

Damn it, am I about to meet God himself? Wang Yang’s mind was flooded with chaotic images and incomprehensible dialogue, constantly changing and surging in like fast-forwarding through movies, one after the other, bizarre and dazzling.

Movies? I must have been hit so hard I’ve gone crazy. Or, I’ve heard that when people are about to die, they see things, hallucinations… Wang Yang, while struggling to keep up with these images and sounds, let his thoughts run wild, but he soon got completely lost in them because the movies were just too thrilling!

“Oh, sir, are you okay?” The blonde lady looked terrified, quickly picking up her baby and, after making sure the child was fine, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Then, bending over with a face full of concern and apology, she looked down at Wang Yang lying on the ground.

But including the pedestrians around, no one thought Wang Yang had any serious issue. It was just a BB car plastered with cartoon stickers that had bumped into his rear, after all—not an old man with a cane, so what could go wrong?

Seeing no response at all from Wang Yang, who was lying on the ground motionless, the lady grew concerned and asked again, “Sir, sir, are you alright?”

Suddenly, the fast-forwarding film reel came to an abrupt end, and with a clack, both the images and sounds disappeared, pulling Wang Yang back to reality. He let out an “Ah” and, like a reflex, performed a move to spring up, bounding off the ground. Brushing the dust off himself, he said, “I’m fine, I’m okay, no problem at all!”

Wang Yang looked behind at his bottom and, with a mix of laughter and dismay, realized that what had knocked him over was indeed a BB car! He turned to the astonished lady and asked, “The baby wasn’t hurt, right?”

“Thank God! When he fell, he landed right on top of your head and wasn’t hurt.” The blonde woman hugged her baby tenderly, and then very awkwardly apologized again, “I’m so sorry, I accidentally let go just now. Luckily you weren’t injured.”

“It’s alright, no worries.” Wang Yang smiled and, as the cars waiting for the traffic light saw that he was alright, they honked a few times. Wang Yang made a “quick” gesture with his hand to the drivers and rapidly collected his scattered belongings into the cardboard box. Most of these items were directorial study books, along with some camera and other toy models.

This street incident in Los Angeles was uneventful and quickly faded into normality. After apologizing several times, the woman with the baby carriage left, but Wang Yang alone knew that something had happened.

What were those images and sounds all about? Wang Yang sat down on a bench by the roadside, calmed his mind, and tried to recall the footage. It felt like opening a door to a room filled with reels of film in his mind. Whenever he thought about playing them, the images appeared clearly in his mind, scene by scene, line by line…

Jesus, who’s going to tell me what’s going on here? Have I lost my mind?! Wang Yang slapped his head hard and then madly ruffled his hair, but the images were still there, not only undiminished but even clearer! These images seemed to be movies and TV series, scenes of amazing brilliance and deeply moving dialogue…

Wang Yang, a student of directing, knew full well how classic these strange things were! But here comes the problem: there wasn’t a classic movie in the world he hadn’t seen, yet these inexplicable films that appeared in his mind, he had definitely never watched or even heard of them before!

Hell! Isn’t that Leonardo DiCaprio, the lead actor from Titanic?! Why does he look so haggard now, all fat and old? Oh my god, what movie is this! Unbelievable… Inception? A movie released in 2010?! Please, it’s 1998 now!

Wang Yang was stunned, and his heart skipped a beat. His imaginative brain told him that these were movies from the future!

All at once, everything made sense. It must have been that when he was knocked down by the BB car, for some unknown reason, a lot of future movies and TV series had flooded into his brain. He didn’t know how they got there, but they were there all the same.

I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe it! Is this real?! Wang Yang’s mouth dropped open in astonishment, completely at a loss for what to do. Was he having a mental breakdown, thinking the images he had imagined were classic; or… was all of this real?

“`

Wang Yang raised his head, looking at the patch of blue sky above Los Angeles, and slowly exhaled. Well, time to determine the truth!

In his mind, countless movies were stacked, naturally including those from the year 1998. Wang Yang’s idea was simple: go to a movie theater and watch a newly released film that he had not seen but existed in his memory. If it matched, then it would be real.

Los Angeles certainly didn’t lack movie theaters, and being near the city center of the University of Southern California, Wang Yang didn’t have to walk far. He was somewhat familiar with the area and soon arrived at a medium-sized movie theater. The wall of the ticket office was covered with posters of films that were showing; the romantic poster of “Titanic” with Jack and Rose standing at the bow in a flying pose was still prominently displayed. The movie was still showing, and it was already its 17th week. Despite having grossed over 500 million in North American box office, its momentum remained strong! Who knew what kind of record it would ultimately set?

And the information in his mind told Wang Yang that “Titanic” would rake in 600 million in North American box office, plus more than 1.2 billion overseas, totaling 1.843 billion US Dollars globally! This was a myth, an epoch-making legend! This was also Wang Yang’s dream.

However, Wang Yang had watched “Titanic” when it was first released, so he didn’t choose this one. After glancing over the movies in his mind and the posters on the wall, Wang Yang chose a new film for the week, “City of Angels”.

“Can I have a ticket for ‘City of Angels’, thank you,” he said. Since it was daytime, there weren’t many people in line at the ticket counter, and Wang Yang quickly got his ticket. He also habitually bought a bucket of popcorn and entered the movie theater with a paper carton in one hand and popcorn in the other.

The movie theater was pitch dark, with only the large screen at the front glowing. The audience was sparsely seated, and basically, you could sit wherever you liked. Wang Yang found a good spot, settled down, watched the adverts on the big screen, and absent-mindedly ate his popcorn while waiting for the movie to start.

Soon, with the end of the advertisements, the movie officially began. “City of Angels” starred Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan, and others; it was a romantic love film. It roughly tells the story of an angel named Seth (played by Nicolas Cage) who falls in love with a female doctor named Maggie (played by Meg Ryan). In order to spend his life with Maggie, he gives up his angelic status to become human. After a brief period of happiness, Maggie dies in a car accident.

The movie theater was very quiet, with only the voices of the characters on the screen. Wang Yang watched intently, absorbed in Nicolas Cage’s impressive performance, but his focus was entirely on the camera shots and the dialogue.

Watching Seth on the screen about to speak to Maggie, Wang Yang murmured, “Why do people cry… ”

“Why do people cry?” Seth on the big screen said to Maggie.

Again… Wang Yang continued to murmur, “What do you mean? Oh, you mean, why does the body have such a response as crying? Oh, okay, well, the function of the tear glands is to lubricate and protect the eyes. When you get emotional, the glands secrete tears.”

“What do you mean?” Maggie asked, puzzled. “Oh, you mean, why does the body have such a response as crying?” Seth was really puzzled. Maggie paused, then said, “Oh, okay, well, the function of the tear glands…”

The dialogue on the big screen was exactly the same as what Wang Yang had said in advance, word for word, and the camera shots in his mind matched the ones on the screen exactly! That is to say, the “City of Angels” that existed in his mind, was this very one; he wasn’t suffering from any delusion.

“When they ask me what I love most, I will tell them… it’s you.” With Maggie’s death, the movie also came to an end. Wang Yang leant back in his seat, thoroughly dazed. Throughout the 114-minute film, he hadn’t missed a shot, hadn’t gotten a line wrong…

The images in his mind, they all came from the future!

This, this was real…