No. 23 is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story drawing on my own experience, and a story that reflects on my family relationship with my mother. A news report in 2008 inspired it: a single mother with a stable income was arrested in a sex hotline case. I combined my own feelings with this news story to develop the present story.
Han Ye's father disappeared years ago in a fire at a textile mill. Years later, Han Ye, now a teenager, and his mother Wu Ji still live in the shadow of his father's disappearance. Han Ye's congenital colour weakness cannot hide his talent for painting. His mother's unexpected pregnancy entangles her emotionally with her lover Chen Kai, and the hardships of fate make it ever harder for mother and son to talk. Han Ye often sees his father in his dreams, and a girl named Bai Bing enters his life. He finds that Bai Bing seems to have a secret too: every night she disappears into the Chunguang hair salon. Feeling lost, Han Ye happens to call an "emotional hotline". Through the operator "No. 23", he experiences male sexual pleasure for the first time, and to his surprise, afterwards his sight seems to be briefly restored. The factory closes, and his mother, facing a choice about her livelihood, takes a job at a "paging station" located in a hidden underground air-raid shelter. Mother and son each have their own secret, and their relationship briefly eases. Both frequently pass through the maze of underground shelters. Will mother and son discover each other's secrets underground? Who is the real "No. 23"? The secrets seem only to have just begun to unfold...
Genre:
Family, Mystery, Family BondsEstimated Running Time:
107 minDirector/Screenwriter:
Xia HaoLead Actor:
Xia HaoranLead Actress:
Hao LeiProducer:
Han BoProduction Company:
Xiyueying (Shanghai) Culture Media Co., Ltd.Executive Producer:
Hao LeiProduction Company:
Xiyueying (Shanghai) Culture Media Co., Ltd.Xia Hao: trained at Xi'an Film Studio. Xia has worked as assistant director for directors Wang Quan'an, Derek Yee, Yuen Woo-ping and Wong Kar-wai on films including White Deer Plain, The Grandmaster, True Legend and The Great Magician. Xia also works on original films, and painting experience from youth informs the visual style of his work, which has a distinctive character.
Xia Haoran: film and TV actor and basketball player from the Chinese Mainland. He became known to the public in 2018 through Dunk of China Season 1 on Zhejiang TV.
Hao Lei: actress from the Chinese Mainland, graduated from the Acting Department of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. She has appeared in a number of well-known art-house and commercial films.
Han Bo: graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Directing Department of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Producer of a number of Chinese theatrical films, experienced in both the artistic and market sides of filmmaking and in every stage of production, with wide connections among leading Chinese filmmakers. Executive producer of Brilliant Moment; production manager of Love in Space, Hot Summer Days and Bride Wars; producer on Personal Tailor; first assistant director and production coordinator on Murder in Fleeting Time and Battle of Memories; executive producer of Yunshui; producer of A Dog's Love.
Xiyueying (Shanghai) Culture Media Co., Ltd.: a film and television media company covering the development and production of films and series, IP development and related services. Its creative team brings together film professionals in directing, producing, screenwriting and acting, has taken part in the production of many films, and can produce theatrical films efficiently. Team members have worked closely with leading directors, stars, major film companies and cinema chains in the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan and maintain good relations with them. The company can bring together actors, production and distribution resources, and assesses market development, industry trends and project prospects in advance.
Hao Lei: actress from the Chinese Mainland, graduated from the Acting Department of the Shanghai Theatre Academy. She has appeared in a number of well-known art-house and commercial films.
Han Ye's painting is held back by his colour weakness and by his missing father. His mother Wu Ji is entangled with her lover and faces the closure of her factory. A sex line call the son makes by chance connects mother and son emotionally in another way, but as fate eases their lives a little, a hidden crisis lies ahead...