The movie " decrypted " is adapted from the novel of the same name by Mai Jia, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Award. The director uses 10 dreams to connect the stories to create an unconstrained imagination space. Complex codes, magnificent scenes and unpredictable characters' fates are intertwined, exploring the relationship between virtuality and reality, individual and era, family and country.
The essence of movies is to create dreams. Chen Sicheng knows his way. In the movie "Decryption", he used 10 dreams to connect stories to create an unconstrained imagination space. Complex codes, magnificent scenes and unpredictable characters' fates are intertwined, exploring the relationship between virtuality and reality, individual and era, family and country.
Tomorrow, the movie "Decryption" "produced in Shanghai" will be officially released. The new film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Mao Dun Literature Award winner Mai Jia. It is written and directed by Chen Sicheng and stars Liu Haoran and John Cusack. The background of the story is set from the 1940s to the 1960s. Rong Jinzhen, who was extremely talented in mathematics, gradually grew from a lonely child to a fighter on the hidden front of the party. He used his extraordinary talent to decipher codes. In the storm of the times, he gradually understood what "home" was and what "country" was, and used his wisdom to defend the security of the country and the people.
When "Decryption" was released, it had been exactly ten years since Chen Sicheng became a director. As a pivotal work in his personal career, he creates and interprets dreams. Yin Hong, vice chairman of the Chinese Literary Critics Association, gave a high evaluation, believing that the film "expresses rich artistic appeals" and "while providing a unique audio-visual experience, the multi-dimensional efforts and multi-dimensional goals are both It is an artistic test of the creator's ambition, and it is also a viewing test of whether the audience can 'decrypt' it, and of course it is also a touchstone for the market for 'Decryption'."
The blank spaces left by writers are exactly where filmmakers come in.
Writer Mai Jia once said: ""Decryption" occupies the most sensitive, softest and most secret place in my spirit. It is impossible for me to write a second film like this. Such a novel." The director said frankly that after ten years of directing, this was the first time that he had been involved with literature in creation. "I stood on the shoulders of giants to create a second time."
Whether it is the author of the original novel using a series of unique words to describe his cherishment, or the director using his images to engage with literature for the first time, this all points to the difficulty of adapting the original novel to film and television. Literature can slowly and slowly enter the inner world of characters. In the novel, Rong Jinzhen’s life is like an ascetic journey. His difficulties and predicament can be obscure or profound between the lines, but the film needs to use audio-visual language to visualize worldly events and people's hearts in more than two hours.
A few years ago, Shanghai Chinese Pictures approached Chen Sicheng with a script from a Canadian screenwriter. "It is also adapted from "Decryption". It is relatively genre-based and close to the Chinese story in the eyes of Westerners." At that time, the director was preparing for other projects. But the new script prompted him to read the novel "Decryption" again many years after graduating from college. A motif extracted from the original work struck him instantly, which is the line now printed on the movie poster - everyone is a unique password, and this life is a process of decryption.
Specific to the protagonist of the story, Rong Jinzhen, in Yin Hong's view, ""Decryption" is not only a spy war story with no way out, but also a legendary history of a unique character with a bumpy fate. If we say If everyone has a unique password, Rong Jinzhen is a 'top secret' password that is difficult for ordinary people to unlock." In order to unlock Rong Jinzhen's code and create the script, Chen Sicheng went to Hangzhou to visit Mai's family twice to understand the ins and outs of the novel. The author wrote it for 11 years and changed the draft several times. "Later I discovered that Teacher Mai actually projected a lot of personal life experiences and emotions into this character." Chen Sicheng felt that he should have found the password to understand Rong Jinzhen. "The novel is about the individual's role in the times. A life of ups and downs."
Another layer that needs to be deciphered is the transcoding from text to image. When the novel writes about Rong Jinzhen deciphering the code through dreams, it does not elaborate on the dream scene. Where writers leave blank space, filmmakers come into their own.
In order to understand the decryption process, Chen Sicheng invited scientific consultants, mathematical consultants, and historical consultants to give lessons to the crew, telling them what the password is and what impact the world's cryptographic history has had on mankind. In the end, the creator hid all the answers in Rong Jinzhen's dream. When solving the "Purple Secret", there are barns and wheat fields, lighthouses and Ferris wheels in the dream. Each rotation of the Ferris wheel is like a step in the code; when solving the "Black Secret", the red beach and the stranded giant walrus impact the vision. Set foot in a giant maze square, and at the end are traps and cliffs... He also used IMAX to shoot the whole process, spent a lot of money to purchase the first authorization of the Beatles' music works in Asia, and brought the anti-war classic song " "I Am the Walrus" is integrated into Rong Jinzhen's dream...
"Dreams are an important starting point for the creation of this film." Chen Sicheng said that this is also the film that can create a sense of departure that is both real and illusory, magnificent and delicate. It is an important secret that inspires audiences to enter theaters and make irreplaceable consumption.
Through personal emotions, he understands "the country, the country before the family"
"My works have been adapted into 5 movies and 8 TV series." The Mai family was one of the first viewers of the movie "Decryption", " I can say very responsibly and maturely that this is the best of all my adapted works.” The writer has already watched movies for the second time, and he still has more to say, because “the world of images beyond imagination makes the story so exciting. I am amazed, it shocks me.”
has been a director for ten years, and "Decryption" condenses Chen Sicheng's style and experience in past genre films. For example, his mixture of different business styles such as suspense, espionage, biography, fantasy, and reasoning has been preserved as much as possible. He said frankly that the films he created in the past ten years were relatively genre-based. Typology not only allowed him to clearly know what kind of work he wanted to complete, but it also restricted his expression to some extent. In the new film, the creation of dreams not only unleashes the imagination, but also builds a bridge for him to delve into the emotional depths of people's hearts. In the
story, Rong Jinzhen grew up alone and was brought home by university principal Xiao Lili to be raised. She established a relationship with Xi Yis as both a teacher and a friend at the university, and was recruited into 701 because of her extraordinary talent. The relationship between Lao Zheng and Xiaomei... If the emotional trajectory of the protagonist's life is the bright line of the story, then exploring "country" and "home" from the individual to the family, from the small home to the country, and from human emotions is the core expression of the filmmaker.
As a child, Rong Jinzhen was trapped in the courtyard of a dilapidated big family. Her background created a withdrawn character. This lonely but inspired life felt home for the first time from Xiao Lili's family. When he first entered the house, the child, who had been wandering since childhood, drank tea from a large bowl. In order not to embarrass him, the elegant principal's wife and daughter drank tea from large bowls. Years later, the world has changed, but the family holding a big bowl of tea at the dinner table has remained unchanged. In Chen Sicheng's view, "It is precisely because this small family has given Rong Jinzhen warmth that he can better appreciate the care for him from his comrades in 701, Lao Zheng, and Xiaomei, and then sublimate it to the concept of the country. This is A step-by-step process." This is why there is a line in the film, "Country, country, country first".
In fact, the film flashes back to several different interpretations of the concept of "country". When Rong Jinzhen was a child, Xiao Lili used the oracle bone inscriptions to explain "country" and "home"; when he grew up, Xiez also talked about his understanding of country. At the end of the film, after a long time, Rong Jinzhen said that the principal said it better: because this country not only has people who protect us, but also people who need our protection.
"The character Rong Jinzhen is fictional, but when we go into history and communicate with retired staff on the hidden front in the national defense industry, you will find that those are real." They are the assembly of countless heroes on the hidden front and Incarnate, "These are the people worth singing about." Chen Sicheng said.
Author: Wang Yan Zang Yunjie
Text: Our reporter Wang Yan Trainee reporter Zang Yunjie Picture: Photo provided by the respondent Editor: Shi Wei
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