In a blink of an eye, September arrived.
EuropaCorp sent a notice, stating that they would promote the movie "Buried". The preliminary plan was to promote it for a week and then release it in the French market. Speaking of this distribution company, it's quite interesting. Lyman found out through various channels that one of the founders was none other than the famous French commercial director, Luc Besson. Yes, it was the same Luc Besson who directed "Leon: The Professional", "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc", "The Fifth Element", and a series of other successful films.
At the beginning of its establishment, it was because Luc Besson was very dissatisfied with the current state of the domestic film market. He felt that if things continued like this, France would eventually become the backyard of Hollywood films. So, he put aside his identity as an art film director and started researching how to make films more commercially viable.
It was also because of these reasons that although EuropaCorp was a relatively new film company, its local distribution capabilities were very good.
It had a certain level of competitiveness in the entire European market. Otherwise, Director Luc Besson would not boldly claim to unite the strength of the European film industry to counterattack the Hollywood market. Of course, as a major director, his main focus was not on film distribution, and he didn't pay much attention to the distribution of "Buried".
For low-budget films like this, there are internal personnel in the company who assess and tailor suitable industry resources for them. In short, low-budget films should have the appearance of low-budget films.
On September 3rd, news reports about the movie began to appear in the entertainment sections of French newspapers.
"Focus on humanity, the tragic case of innocent citizen being buried alive, who is to blame?" - Le Parisien
"A thrilling masterpiece, officially released on September 9th." - Le Figaro
Quietly, they managed to attract a small amount of attention.
After all, for EuropaCorp, which did not fully acquire the rights to the film, would not allocate too many promotional resources for "Buried". They thought €800,000 for publicity expenses was appropriate.
So, forget about television advertisements, headlines in national entertainment sections of newspapers, outdoor billboards... With this small budget, they wouldn't spend it there. Their main strategy was to put up movie posters in certain cinemas and place second-page advertisements in local media. With such a carefully calculated approach, it naturally didn't cause much of a stir. However, considering the production cost of the film, they couldn't invest too much. Otherwise, EuropaCorp would end up at a loss.
...
An apartment in Cannes.
Lyman styled his hair meticulously and fixed it with mousse. He wore a light gray short-sleeved shirt with various French fonts printed on it. He also wore loose pants and a pair of sandals. Just as he walked out of the bathroom, he saw René and Thomas, two posers, admiring themselves in front of the mirror. Both of them were dressed in formal attire with ties on their chests. Suits, trousers, leather shoes—like they were about to attend a high-level banquet.
"Do you two have to be so exaggerated? We're just going to watch a movie," Lyman shrugged, unable to understand their behavior.
"It's our first time, so we naturally need to dress formally," René chuckled and retorted, "Why don't you change into formal attire too?"
"No, it's too hot. I'm fine with what I'm wearing, it's cool."
"Are you changing or not? The three of us should dress in the same style when we go out together. Are we still a team or not?" René said, giving a look to Thomas beside him.
"Yeah, the three of us walking together, you look very mismatched like this," Thomas chimed in.
"Heh, no."
It's just a midnight screening of "Buried", so why make it so grand? Lyman firmly rejected this foolish suggestion.
As soon as he finished speaking, two burly men surrounded him. "If you don't change, we'll take action."
F*ck!
With no other choice, Lyman also put on a suit. From head to toe, he surprisingly matched the other two idiots perfectly.
In the breeze, the three of them got into René's silver-white DS car. Driving smoothly, they arrived at a cinema in the southeast direction of Cannes. "Alright," René sat in the driver's seat and started calling out, "Let's get out, we've arrived."
Lyman pushed open the backseat door and turned to look at René. "We look really stupid like this."
"Stop complaining, buddy. We need to coordinate our actions, you know?" René closed the car door and took the lead towards the cinema.
After the three of them arrived at this somewhat remote cinema, Thomas pointed to the poster board in front and said, "Look, our movie poster."
In the slightly off-center position towards the entrance of the theater, the poster for "Buried" designed by EuropaCorp was posted. Inside the dark coffin, a man with a blood-stained forehead and a fearful look held a lighter, surveying his surroundings.
"Let's go, let's go over there," René's voice was filled with excitement.
"Hello, we'd like three tickets for "Buried"." At a glass ticket counter, René asked the middle-aged male ticket attendant, "Hey! How's the ticket sales for this movie? Are a lot of people watching it?"
Thomas and Lyman beside him also perked up their ears to hear the answer. The three of them looked at the slightly chubby middle-aged ticket attendant simultaneously.
The ticket attendant reluctantly took out three movie tickets and handed them to René, saying slowly, "You're talking about this movie, huh? The seats inside are empty, hardly anyone is watching it."
The three of them froze. René paid €18 for the tickets and asked persistently, "Is this movie really bad? Why is no one willing to watch it?"
"It's late at night, and there are naturally fewer people. Moreover, it's an unknown movie like this. Who would come specifically to watch it?" Then, the middle-aged ticket attendant seemed to remember something and said cheerfully, "Of course, I'm not talking about you guys." The three men in formal attire stood side by side, looking like they had some mental issues. The ticket attendant didn't want to offend them at all.
Lyman and the others remained silent and walked towards Theater 3. Inside the dark cinema, there really weren't many people. It was empty, and even with the three of them, the total number of people didn't exceed ten. Upon closer observation, they were all couples. Even before the movie started, they were already snuggling together.
With only a little over ten minutes until the movie started, it was evident that the ticket attendant was right—there really weren't many people coming to watch this movie. In the vast space, with seats that could accommodate hundreds of viewers, only seven people were scattered about. It was truly disheartening.
"Lyman, it's okay. The movie is playing in twenty theaters. Maybe it's just that this one has a bad location, so it seems empty," René comforted, sitting in the best seat in the middle and slightly below.
For a niche film like this, lacking promotion, how could there be many viewers? He should have understood this long ago, but why did he still feel a kind of indescribable emotion accumulating in his heart when he looked at the empty theater? It was quite oppressive.
"I'm fine, René. At least our movie is being shown in theaters, isn't it? It's better than before," Lyman forced a smile, suppressing his emotions.
René nodded, seeing that Lyman seemed relatively relaxed, and sat down in his own seat.
Thomas noticed that the atmosphere wasn't right and started cracking jokes. The three of them chatted, and soon it was past midnight, and the theater still didn't see any new viewers. There were still seven people watching. Oh, maybe only the three of them came to watch the movie seriously. The other four were still immersed in their world of hurting each other, too preoccupied to care about anything else. They were just defending against each other's omnipresent attacks, which was enough for them.
On the screen, the EuropaCorp logo appeared, and a few seconds later, it plunged into darkness. Then, a long shot with sound appeared. On the still dark screen, the urgent sound of a man's breathing was heard. After a few coughs, a faint flame ignited, casting light on the man's face. The movie continued to play. Over thirty minutes passed, and the theater remained extremely quiet. Only on the screen, Heath Ledger's character, Paul, made various sounds.
Lyman turned his head to look behind him. At the end of the row, a couple had finished their battle and was now watching the movie intently. On the other end of the seat to the right, another intense battle was still taking place. At least two people were willing to watch, which wasn't bad. Lyman consoled himself in his mind and turned his body back, continuing to watch the big screen.
As the movie progressed, the relationships between the characters and the background of "Buried" unfolded one by one—the rigid alarm system, the indifferent company leaders, the institutionalized 911...
They highlighted the theme: selfish and indifferent interpersonal relationships are even more terrifying, ultimately pushing Paul in the movie into true despair. This kind of plot design was like a huge black hole. The hope for survival was like the oxygen gradually being depleted in the coffin and the flickering flame of light that would never be seen. All that awaited was eternal darkness.
From anticipation to disappointment, from regaining composure to despair, there was only one "okay", accepting death calmly.
Paul died, he was buried alive, buried under layers of yellow sand, and the movie ended.
There was no applause, no cheers, everything was so quiet.
Lyman stood up. The couple in the backseat had already left, and the other couple was also preparing to leave. "Let's go." He said calmly, then walked along the long stairs towards the exit of the cinema.
The moon hung high in the sky, looking incredibly beautiful.