About the Director
Zhao Jin: studied philosophy at Peking University and at the Sorbonne in France. Before making his own films, he worked in the film industry as a producer, journalist and international distributor.
The Amazing Jun Ji-hyun
Creative Statement
This is a novel so much of the present moment. Behind the great empathy it stirs, I feel an intense urgency that calls on me to record it. In this secret love, feelings flow between Weituotian and Jun Ji-hyun and give the film its natural narrative rhythm. The audience follows the ups and downs of Weituotian's unspoken love into the world of his writing, where he recreates a lovable, unadorned group portrait of people at the bottom: the other side of the prosperous metropolis, the tears of an era and a pure heart. Shanghai by day and by night creates the film's two audiovisual moods. Daytime Shanghai is fluid and anxious, the social law of the jungle captured by a moving camera; night-time Shanghai is gentle and reflective, it is Jun Ji-hyun whom Weituotian guards with his gaze, and it is the era he builds in words and every indestructible, unforgettable life within it.
Synopsis
"Jun Ji-hyun" is a customer on the route of the courier "Weituotian". After a few deliveries, this young literary woman becomes curious about him. She encourages Weituotian to write about his life at the bottom of society and to tell the stories of himself and his friends to people from all walks of life at the literary club she runs. So Weituotian, secretly in love with Jun Ji-hyun, begins a double life of day and night shifts. By day he is a courier racing through the streets and alleys of Shanghai, running against the clock and fighting for every yuan; by night he is a writer of non-fiction, an observer and defender of reality, writing with the most innocent pen about the hardships and the boldness of those at the bottom, and guarding with the gentlest heart his memories, his fellow workers and his one-sided love. Weituotian's stories move Jun Ji-hyun and bring their hearts closer, and also move the men and women of the literary club. But when day and night converge, and Jun Ji-hyun and the young people of the literary club take the lead in standing up for the rights of Weituotian's friend Old Li, ideals run into reality and good intentions go wrong: Old Li loses his job and is forced to return to his hometown, Jun Ji-hyun's literary club fails, and her own broken life comes to the surface, leaving her nowhere to hide, so she vanishes. Yet Weituotian keeps riding through the vast city of Shanghai, waiting day and night, waiting to finish his story, which is also Jun Ji-hyun's......
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Running Time:
110 min -
Genre:
Romance, Drama
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Director/Screenwriter:
Zhao Jin -
Producer:
Wang Yunzhi | Wang Xiaoxiao
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Executive Producer:
Nai An | Tong Wenqun -
Production Company:
Midnight Out of Focus (Hangzhou) Culture Communication Co., Ltd.
About the Executive Producer
Nai An: a leading Chinese producer who, working with Lou Ye, has produced a body of Chinese-language films with international impact. Selected works: Suzhou River, Purple Butterfly, Summer Palace, Spring Fever, Blind Massage and The Shadow Play. Tong Wenqun: founder of Tiemu Zhenying Pictures. Selected works: Who Killed Cock Robin, Old Master, The Soul and Accompany You for a Long Time.
Logline
Courier Weituotian falls secretly in love with the young literary woman "Jun Ji-hyun" and starts working day and night shifts. By day he rushes through the streets and alleys of Shanghai to make a living; by night, for love, he moves between fiction and reality.