When Wen Muye directed “Miracle: Stupid Child”, he was very strict with the actors. He used a stopwatch to time and asked the actors to perform the skilled work of the workers in the movie. Pictured is a still from the film.
“Brother, are you tired…” On the screen, Jing Hao, played by Yi Yang Qianxi, rushes to work day and night, and his physical strength is exhausted. The six-year-old sister can only hug him helplessly, with tears in her eyes.
In the eyes of most people, 20-year-old Jing Hao is still a teenager. He should have lived in the ivory tower of the university, but because of family changes, he lost the protection of his parents and took on a heavy responsibility.
The movie “Miracle: Stupid Child”, which will be released on the first day of the new year in 2022, tells the story of the protagonist Jing Hao, in order to raise his sister’s high surgery fees, using his own mobile phone repair skills to “turn waste into treasure” and lead a group of Workers of all backgrounds struggled to get rich. It sounds like a heart-warming story. In the movie theater, with the ending song “Broad Ocean and Sky”, there were sobbing sounds in the audience.
This is a “gift film” with the development of Shenzhen as the background. Director Wen Muye introduced: “Shenzhen is a very interesting place. Behind the high-rise buildings are urban villages.” As a main theme film, “Miracle Stupid Child” does not have Instead of focusing on business figures who have achieved great success, try to unearth the fate of ordinary people behind tall buildings.
There are several shots in the movie showing the insignificance of the individual in the city: Jing Hao risked his life to wipe the glass at high altitude, no one in the building noticed him; the camera zoomed out, and on the huge building, his figure shrunk into a small one. smaller. Echoing it is a close-up shot in the film, where an ant is struggling to survive by grabbing a leaf on a typhoon day.
Little people are the largest and most solid foundation in the city. Wen Muye has brought together an 80-year-old retired disabled veteran, a 50-year-old “deep drift” care worker, a deaf female human rights worker in her 40s, and an “Internet Cafe God” in her 30s. Weaving into Jinghao’s mobile phone factory in the form of a play creates a “Utopia” of mutual assistance at the bottom. Wen Muye said that what he valued most about Jing Hao was the spirit of equality. Whether it was the workers in his own factory or the chairman of a large company, Jing Hao treated him equally.
The whole movie is in a strong sense of urgency. If the task cannot be completed within the specified time, Jing Hao will be completely bankrupt, and his sister will be in danger… There are almost no villains in this movie, but the characters’ struggle against fate is gripping. . Like Cheng Yong, the protagonist of Wen Muye’s debut feature film “I’m Not the God of Medicine”, the young Jinghao does not compromise with reality.
“Miracle: Stupid Child” is a market-oriented film, and what our creators can do is to make it more artistic,” Wen Muye told the Southern Weekend reporter.
On February 20, 2022, a Southern Weekly reporter interviewed Wen Muye in his studio.
A story of “turning waste into treasure”
Southern Weekend:Most of the protagonists of your movies are “civilian heroes”. They may seem unremarkable or even imperfect, but they can often do legendary things. Why do you prefer to create such characters?
Wen Muye:The type of film I shoot that is market-oriented with realism needs to have a realistic base and a legendary story at the same time. I like to photograph ordinary people, the background colors of these characters are familiar to me, and I also like to add some romance to these characters.
Southern Weekend:You define your work as a “realist market-oriented genre film”, what is the standard of realist film in your mind?
Wen Muye