A parolee in his sixties wants to go to Guangzhou to fulfill his late son's last wish; a gambler barely out of his teens has gone astray for the sake of his sick mother. Two "bad men" whose paths should never have crossed become entangled by accident. Will each be the other's ruin, or his salvation?
Zhang Dasheng, an old man from the northwest, learns of his son's death after being released on parole. More than twenty years in prison have worn down the old beast's sharp edges and left him living in permanent guilt toward his son. What keeps him going now is a single aim: to obtain the embryos his son and daughter-in-law had frozen at a hospital in Guangzhou and have a child through surrogacy, to make up for the love he owed his son. He mortgages everything he owns to go to Guangzhou, but his status (parolees may not leave the city) foils his repeated attempts to leave the province. Stuck, he happens to meet An Bang, a young truck driver full of bad habits. Each getting what he needs, the two strike a deal and set off for Guangzhou together. With such different backgrounds and experiences, the two can barely exchange a word without arguing, but Zhang Dasheng, completely cut off from society, has no choice but to rely on An Bang. It turns out that An Bang is not only poor but also owes money to loan sharks, and is even being forced by a criminal gang to transport illegal goods. When one of An Bang's deliveries goes wrong, the gang attacks Zhang Dasheng by mistake and takes the 300,000 yuan in cash he carries, all he has. Believing An Bang is behind it, Zhang Dasheng forces him onto a journey to "find the money." As they contend with the gang, the two come to understand each other's pasts and hardships: one an illegitimate son with no father, the other a parolee with no son. Fate gradually gives rise to a subtle father-son bond between them. Finally, faced with a choice between the 300,000 yuan that stands for a new life and An Bang, whose life hangs by a thread, Zhang Dasheng chooses to save An Bang, and finds another path to redemption. What they once wanted to make up for, to escape and even to hate gives them both a new life by the end of the story.
Subject:
Drama, CrimeDirector/Screenwriter:
Guo ZijingProducer:
Jiang LuProduction Company:
Xiamen Zhuozhuang Culture Media Co., Ltd.Guo Zijing (also the screenwriter of this project): director, screenwriter and university lecturer. Received a master's degree in feature film directing from the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy in 2015 and now teaches at the Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University. Directing credits: the TV series Huan Yan and Dear You. Screenwriting credits: the TV series Leverage.
Jiang Lu graduated from the School of Production Management of the Beijing Film Academy and holds a master's degree in media management from Hong Kong Baptist University. She is founder and CEO of Mifan Entertainment and Zhuozhuang Culture. Representative producing credit: The Pain of My Mother and Me (originally titled Good Wishes in the World), which received the Jury Recommended Project, Most Promising Director and Best Chinese Story honors at the Golden Rooster Films Project Market of the 33rd China Golden Rooster Awards, and is awaiting release. Marketing and distribution credits include Detective Chinatown 2, Wu Kong, A Little Wish, One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes II, The Wind Guardians, Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel and Peerless Master.
Xiamen Zhuozhuang Culture Media Co., Ltd. is a film and television company that develops, produces and presents film and TV works. Its guiding principle is to "bring together new talent and produce quality works." Production credit: The Pain of My Mother and Me (originally titled Good Wishes in the World), which received the Jury Winning Project and Best Chinese Story honors at the 2020 Golden Rooster Films Project Market. It was selected for the Asian New Talent section of the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival Golden Goblet Awards, with nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography.