So be it

What will happen in the end? Will the movie have a good box office performance? Will the critics love it as much as the audience... These thoughts kept swirling in Lyman's mind, lingering and unable to be dismissed. Since waking up in the morning, he had been thinking about these things.

The curtains by the window were closed, blocking out the external light. The room was in complete darkness. On the soft hotel bed, Lyman's eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't see anything clearly, but he didn't want to close his eyes and go back to sleep. He had slept early last night, and his body had fully recovered its energy.

Thoughts continued to race through his mind one after another: sometimes he thought about the successful scenes from the premiere yesterday, sometimes he wondered if something unexpected would happen in this situation, and sometimes he thought about whether he should take a good rest after the movie was over. After all, he had been working tirelessly for such a long time and hadn't done anything unrelated to the film. But then again, he didn't know what he should do. Throughout his past life and this life, his aspiration had always been to direct movies, and without that, he felt a lack of motivation.

"Damn." Lyman suddenly sat up, threw off the blanket, turned on the light switch on the wall, and put on his shoes. He really didn't know what to do. He first walked to the window and pulled back the curtains to look at the outside view. Well, there was nothing interesting, just the same old scenery. He turned around and walked to the bathroom, taking care of his personal needs. After finishing his morning routine, he returned to the bedroom. He picked up a bottle of mineral water from the bedside table and took a sip to alleviate his thirst caused by not drinking water for a long time. Then, he fumbled his way out and went to René's room. If René was also awake, maybe they could chat and express their worries.

"Knock, knock!" Lyman knocked heavily on the door and called out René's name. There was some movement inside the room. When the door opened, Lyman saw Thomas' face instead.

Did he walk into the wrong room? He looked up at the room number, and it was correct. Hesitant, he walked in and saw René sitting comfortably on the sofa in the living room. Why "comfortably"? Because this guy had a pile of newspapers next to him. He was flipping through them while drinking a can of coffee, and there were some fancy and delicious-looking pastries on the side.

Lyman sat down on the other end of the sofa, moved the plate with pastries a bit closer to himself for easy reach. After opening the door, Thomas also sat on the sofa, flipping through the newspaper in his hand.

"What are you guys looking at?" Lyman asked.

"Well, the reviews of our movie, they're really interesting," René replied, unable to hide his smile.

Thomas nodded in agreement, seemingly agreeing with René's statement.

"What are they saying?"

"They praise the excellent cinematography, smooth storytelling, and attention to detail in the visuals," Thomas said, looking excited about the praise he received for his work as the movie's cinematographer. In the past, during "Buried", he hadn't received this kind of attention. It was true that he used to be kind of just a bystander. When the movie shone, he didn't feel a deep sense of accomplishment. He was more happy for Lyman and René. As for himself, there wasn't much to be happy about. But now, it was different with this movie. He had been deeply involved. The recognition from others gave him a sense of validation.

Lyman watched as the two of them eagerly read the newspaper, unable to resist the curiosity that surged from deep within him. He quickly took out a copy and started reading. From the end of the premiere last night until he woke up this morning, he had been contemplating this matter. His curiosity was overwhelming!

"René, did you buy this?" He asked while flipping through the newspaper.

"No, I got it from the hotel. They have a wide variety of newspapers." Engaging in idle chatter, he finally stopped when he reached the page about his own movie.

Highly recommended!

Lyman rubbed his eyes, doubting if he had read it wrong. He looked again, and inside the rating box in the newspaper, the critic's recommendation index was still marked highly recommended.

Bad movie, negative review, average, recommended, highly recommended! "3 Idiots" was positioned at the last option.

Lyman stared blankly at the bright red checkmark for a long time without looking away. Deep down, he knew to a great extent that the evaluation of "3 Idiots" would not be too low. After all, the impact of the movie on the audience was evident, and considering his own aesthetics, it couldn't be bad. But this unique rating in the newspaper was unexpected. Among so many participating films, only "3 Idiots" occupied the slot for highly recommended. It was the only one.

He excitedly picked up the other newspapers and checked the reviews. Although the ratings and evaluation methods were different, they all provided positive comments. He didn't expect it to be like this. Lyman comforted himself in his heart: Don't be proud, an overconfident army will be defeated, it's not the right time...

He let out a sigh and said to himself, "This doesn't mean that "3 Idiots" is really much better than other movies. It's only the first day, and the audience size is not large, and the critics haven't seen many movies yet. The evaluations are not comprehensive."

Moreover, generally, only those who pay close attention to a movie will start evaluating it on the first day, or they are fans of the movie director. But Lyman's reputation wasn't enough, and it wasn't that he underestimated himself. In this industry, he was still a newcomer, so how could he attract the attention of critics? So, it must've been bribery. No wonder it was so biased.

EuropaCorp was impressive, they could manipulate the entire film festival's direction, at least that was what Lyman's thoughts settled on. He ate a piece of pastry and forced himself to calm down. With so many people liking it, why did it make him feel so at ease?

It must be cheating. I can't blindly be arrogant, I have to be cautious, and not laugh.

Lyman's thoughts were rich with activity.

He no longer paid attention to those reviews and began to focus on reading the content of the film reviews.

"A Brief Discussion on "3 Idiots"", "We All Pursue Excellence", "The Dawn in Darkness", "The Failure of Indian Education", "Learning the Process and Learning the Outcome", "Aal Iz Well"...

One article after another, Lyman found the film critics quite interesting. They were full of personality.

They analyzed the movie from various angles, and some even had different opinions: some lamented the sorrow reflected in Indian society from the movie; others discussed the regret of the dean from Rancho's dropout; some analyzed why there was excessive pressure on Indian students from two suicide cases, and then turned around to praise the American education system; there were also those who discussed the philosophies of life by deducing the screen images of Chatur and Rancho, created from different directions on the screen...

But without exception, almost every film critic, after expounding on a bunch of principles, gave the movie a high evaluation.

It was strange. Lyman had been reading for a while and hadn't found anyone saying that the movie was terrible.

The least favorable review that he could find, with an average rating, only said this, "I endured watching the entire movie. Actually, I don't like this kind of subject matter, and I'm not interested in the phenomena it reflects. But the director's filmmaking skills are still there, so I'll give it a passing score."

Tch! I guess they received a bribe from EuropaCorp. Even when they are not interested and found the movie boring, they still reached this level without giving it a low score. What kind of film critics are they?

Lyman shook his head. Even though he didn't like it, he was considering that others might like it. Was that being objective?

Why bother being timid, living as tired as Raju in the movie.

With these thoughts, Lyman decisively put the newspaper aside and stopped reading. Finally, after reading all the newspaper contents, Lyman stood up and stretched his body.

"Phew! René, Thomas, let's go," Lyman said.

"Where to?" Thomas, who seemed completely immersed in the joyous world, asked without taking his eyes off the newspaper.

René, on the other hand, folded the newspaper in his hand and held it, then asked, "What's up?"

"Aren't we going to have lunch?" With so many newspapers, it was already past 12 noon, which Lyman had just noticed. Speaking of which, the pastries had been eaten by the three of them midway, and now their stomachs were starting to feel a bit hungry.

"Yeah, let's go," René said, standing up and leading the way out of the room. Lyman followed closely behind, with Thomas in the rear. Thomas imitated René, holding the unfinished newspaper in his hand and quickly caught up.

On the first floor of the hotel, George and Kevin had already started eating.

"Hey, buddy, did you sleep well last night?"

George saw Lyman greet him and also stopped eating, waiting to finish chewing and swallowing before politely saying, "Not bad. And you? Did you just wake up?"

Lyman was also inside the hotel and ordered lunch before sitting next to George, saying, "I woke up very early. I slept early last night."

Thomas and René also sat down at the table one after another. Their behavior of bowing their heads to read the newspaper quickly caught George's attention, "What are they doing?"

"Oh, they're looking at the evaluations from those fucking film critics," Lyman said with secret joy, pretending to sound casual.

"I also read a few newspapers, and they highly praised our movie, saying it's a hot prospect for awards. I told you, we really have a chance this time, and the publicity effect will definitely be good."

"Uhuh..." Lyman mumbled vaguely. He didn't want to be too proud.