The movie "Moonlight Samurai" directed by Hongying screenwriter and starring Zuo Hang, Feng Jiamei, Cai Heng, Bai En, etc. held its world premiere in Chongqing on December 9.

"Moonlight Samurai" poster

"Moonlight Samurai" is the directorial debut of writer Hong Ying. The premiere was held in Chongqing, where the story of the film takes place and the director's hometown. With the "mountain city" as the geographical background, from the 1970s to the 1990s, the growth and protection of a boy connects the broken loves and dreams of women of different generations. "Moonlight Samurai" is not only the growth history of a boy, but also about the mark of the times of a city.

The city as a character

In "Moonlight Samurai", Hong Ying fictionalized a Japanese fairy tale. A little red samurai saw injustice on the road and took a little girl who had lost hope in life to see a sea of flowers, rekindling the little girl's enthusiasm and hope. In the film, 14-year-old Dou Xiaoming stands up for his goddess, becomes her warrior, never forgets her, and protects her throughout his life.

"This is an innocent Chongqing movie." Hongying said that she hopes to tell a long-lasting and unforgettable deep love in today's era when people increasingly don't believe in love.

"Chinese movies currently lack some particularly beautiful and extreme love movies. It just so happens that Hongying interweaves this beautiful emotion very movingly." Producer Song Dai said about his expectations for this film.

Hongying (middle)

Compared with the past, Hong Ying's novels always use a female perspective to cut into the waves of the times. The protagonist of this movie revolves around the growth of a boy. Regarding this change of perspective, Hongying said, "Although the film is unfolded from a male perspective, it is still about women. There are four types of women in it. For example, Dou Xiaoming's mother is very traditional and tough. She has her own emotional support and dares to take a step forward. Dou Xiaoming's wife Su Yan is hardworking and ambitious; Qin Jiahui is melancholy, enduring humiliation and burden according to her own rules of survival in a special environment; and Fangfang is A modern woman needs to be a 'king's woman'..." Hongying believes that although the film chooses a male perspective to unfold, what she wants to tell is still the story of women.

In addition, Hongying also said that the most important motivation for creating this film was to "write a love letter" to her hometown of Chongqing. As a city with special geographical features, Chongqing has been chosen as the place where many domestic film and television dramas take place. In Hongying's view, Chongqing should not be just a "background". She wanted to "make a film that uses Chongqing as a character." She said after the screening, "A city is like a person, it has memories. The most precious memories in everyone's heart are connected together, and they are a boy." Therefore, a close-up of the boy Zuo Hang's eyes appeared at the beginning and end of the film. , "I borrow Zuo Hang's eyes to gaze at this city."

Hong Ying, who is a first-time director, focuses on the picture, the use of colors, the restoration of scenes in memory, the metaphor of symbols of the era, and the tribute to personal viewing taste. Hong Ying adds many authorial expressions of his own. The fate of many characters in the film is kept secret, unlike a young man's sincere and unbridled love, which can be announced to the world at will. The ups and downs of the heroine Qin Jiahui's family in the film are closely related to the background of the entire era. "The story happened in 1976, which is 50 years ago now, more than half a lifetime ago. And if you want to understand the history of a city or a country, it may be more direct through a movie than a book. I hope everyone can catch these special symbols I set in the movie and notice some details."

Zuo Hang makes his screen debut as a brave and fearless boy

The director's debut and also the first movie starring.

Zuo Hang, who is participating in a movie for the first time, is a third-generation member of the TF family. The extremely popular new-generation idol made his debut on the screen and attracted enthusiastic young fans from all over. At the scene, Zuo Hang shared the homework he did for this drama as a new actor, "After I got the script, I sorted it out to see which plots were more important. I made them into a triangle and wrote a synopsis for each chapter. This will make it easier for me to make more preparations when memorizing lines later. For some scenes that require emotional outbursts, I will improve the plot of the story myself to make the performance look less like a performance."

Left Hang (middle)

Zuo Hang said frankly that he faced many challenges when he was first shocked. "The most difficult scene was saying goodbye to sister Jiahui." In the film, Jiahui's father had just passed away, and it was very difficult for the actor's performance to bear the parting of life and death. Hong Ying revealed that during the actual filming, Zuo Hang's performance infected many staff members on set, and he couldn't stop crying even after the scene was called to a halt.

As a child of Chongqing, Zuo Hang also learned a lot of new skills in this film. He can float the stones more than ten times when the most, and practice making Chongqing noodles repeatedly, and he has basically become a Chongqing master. An "expert" in facets.

Cai Heng

Shanghai actor Cai Heng, who plays the adult Dou Xiaoming, has to handle a character whose emotions are much more complex than those in his teenage stage. "It's very important for an actor to meet a character that moves him very much." Cai Heng was deeply attracted by the character Dou Xiaoming after reading Hong Ying's novel. "I read it twice and was particularly obsessed with this character. ".

"The young Dou Xiaoming was brave and fearless, and even had some sense of chivalry. After 20 years of separation, a boy went from boyhood to youth to maturity. He spent 20 years missing someone. This kind of energy is very important to him. To me, it is very rare and pure, and very innocent. At the same time, he is a little melancholy, missing someone painfully, and needs to assume social and family responsibilities in adulthood." The character is complex enough for Cai Heng to play well. Enjoyable. What's more, in addition to grasping the psychology of the characters, he also has to work hard to practice authentic Chongqing dialect.

"From the perspective of the entire structure of the movie, Dou Xiaoming wants to be Qin Jiahui's Moonlight Samurai, but as everyone grows up, there will be a process of communication with themselves. In fact, I hope that after watching this movie , use all our energy to love the people around us and become their warriors, and at the same time, we must also become our own warriors." Hongying said.

The film "Moonlight Samurai" will be released on December 15.