Chinese language director Zhong Kaifeng introduced his debut function “Atlantic Rhapsody” on the Shanghai International Film Festival‘s foremost competitors press convention and post-screening Q&A, joined by producers Wang Tianxiao and Zhengjing and solid members Li Xueqin, Wang Yitong, Yin Fang and Huang Miyi.
The movie is about in a declining industrial metropolis in Northeast China and traces a younger man’s seek for his father, a small-time schemer who chased fast riches throughout the freewheeling capitalist surge of the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s in Southern China. Its unfastened, time-skipping narrative assembles fragments of reminiscence throughout totally different eras.
Zhong drew the title from “Man from Atlantis,” an American TV sequence that seems within the movie. “It carries a romantic imagination of people towards the unknown,” he stated. “Naming a northeast Chinese story with the name of an ocean also draws a sense of dislocation that can dramatize the film.”
Sound design is central to how the movie constructs its supernatural register. Zhong recalled a information story from the interval depicted: “A supermarket had a live shark on display, but in an accident, a worker cooked it alive. The whole city went wild; people rushed to queue and buy bits of this cooked shark. It was a wild, chaotic vibe.” The sounds of ocean creatures, he stated, amplified that uncanny high quality. “This is a story about memory,” Zhong stated. “If you want to involve a supernatural element, you need to find your ground with good sound design.”
Actor Wang Yitong, who performs the son working at a grocery store and is also referred to as a screenwriter on “Journey to the West,” stated the shoot was an unusually low-pressure expertise. “This time I joined the project purely as an actor; I only need to be responsible to the director, as he also doesn’t require so much of me, so I feel very happy – although this kind of opportunity is quite difficult to get,” Wang stated.
Lead actor Li Xueqin acknowledged the movie’s fragmented construction. “I was terrified that when I went up on stage, everyone would ask me how I understood the film. Let me tell you, my understanding is definitely not as good as yours,” Li stated. She described her character as somebody who “speaks with the heaviest Northeast accent, makes electronic music, and her dream is to go to Berlin. I think she represents a very unique, vibrant vibe in Shenyang.” Li additionally famous that the position was initially written for a male actor earlier than Zhong rewrote it for her following their first assembly.
Huang Miyi, who performs a Japanese manga artist, stated her character additionally underwent important adjustments throughout growth, shifting from North Korean to South Korean earlier than touchdown on Japanese. “The director told me that I play an artist, but actually she’s a tiger; I got confused because I’ve never played an animal,” Huang stated. “I found that very interesting because playing her requires a lot of imagination.”
Yin Fang, who performs the grifting father, described the character’s arc when it comes to its historic dimension. “A figure of that era, someone who wanted to make a big splash but ended up being toyed with by the times. [The character] is quite absurd and desolate. I wanted to show the look of people from that era, to show his losses and his regrets,” Yin stated.
On the query of a launch date, producer Wang Tianxiao stated no timeline had been confirmed. “What matters is that the film shall find its audience who would really like it,” Wang stated, “because it is impossible that one film will be loved by all. What is needed is an excellent distributor to bridge the film to its audience.” Wang Yitong responded with a joke: “How low are you trying to let down everyone’s expectations? No one is even going to watch pretty soon!” Wang Tianxiao clarified that he was talking generally phrases. “As long as audiences who would love it get to see it, that’s fine,” he stated. “Because those who don’t like it may give us bad reviews, so… just don’t watch it.”
