A film starring Zhou Xun, Deng Chao and Zhang Hanyu.

Editor: Mou Xiaojie

Director of Photography: Yang Shu

Recording director: Gu Changning

Production Designer: Wei Xinhua

Producer: Wang

Actor actor:

Zhou Xun plays Li Mi.

Deng Chao plays the study/cavalry.

Zhang Hanyu plays Ye Qingcheng.

Wang plays Qiu.

Wang Yanhui plays Qiu Huogui.

Dahong Ni

Bobo Group (Jing Boran &; Fu Xinbo) plays a taxi passenger.

Producer producer:

Chen Chen Guofu

Wang Zhonglei Wang Zhonglei

Original Music Original Music: Dou Wei Dou Wei

Photographic film y: Yang Shu Shu Yang

Sound Recorder: Gu Changning, Gu Changning

White languages: Mandarin, Yunnan dialect.

Color: color

Date of shooting: August 26th, 2007, 5438+0

Production company:

Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co., Ltd. [China]

Sundream Film Limited [Hong Kong]

Issuing company: Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co., Ltd. [China] (2008) (China) (all media).

Theme Song: Singer outside the window: Zhou Xun.

[Edit this paragraph] Summary

Li Mi's Conjecture, also known as Li Mi's Experience, tells a bizarre love story between a female taxi driver named Li Mi and her boyfriend. One day, Li Mi's boyfriend suddenly disappeared, and Li Mi lost all news about him. From then on, Li Mi began to receive letters from her boyfriend, but every time she found the mailing address, she found that she was always one step late. In the process of searching, Li Mi also found that her once beloved boyfriend was actually a drug dealer. The film reflects the pressure and spiritual loss of modern people through the state of some small people.

How long does it take to love someone?

Li Mi waited for four years!

Li Mi has been searching for her fiance's study for four years. Four years ago, when their marriage broke up because of Li Mi's parents' opposition, the study left angrily. In the past four years, Li Mi has always received letters from the study room, but she has never mailed the address. The study disappeared from her life, but it seems to exist in a special way. Memories between them are floating around in this city, and Li Mi keeps searching on the road every day, struggling between the poles of hope and disappointment. She put the photos of the study in a magazine and showed them to every passenger, hoping to find some clues. Just, when she really met the man who missed her so much, did he remember her?

Qiu, a "thief", came to Kunming from rural Yunnan. He and fellow villager Qiu Huogui came to this city, hoping to earn some money and dress up and return to China. For Qiu, the motivation for all this comes from Xiaoxiang, the girl who grew up with him and he hopes to spend his life with him. Xiaoxiang came to Kunming to work a few years ago and has not heard from him since. In Qiu's mind, this unusual girl is also very affectionate to herself. However, he doesn't think it's just a secret love, and when he finally comes to this city, can everything be as he wishes?

Ai Feifei used to be an addict. With the support of Ma Bing, her lover and business partner, she is trying to give up drug addiction, try to forget the gloomy and terrible past and look forward to tomorrow with hope. She waited patiently, waiting for the day when Ma Bing could open her heart and bring her the future of her dreams. Just, when she thinks she is getting rid of the past, will the future she expects come?

After a bizarre murder, the fate of these strangers suddenly linked. Ai Feifei and Ma Bing witnessed the murder with their own eyes. Qiu and Qiu Huogui got on a taxi. At the same time, the police were ordered to investigate the case of Ye Qingcheng, but they found traces of the study with Li Mi ... They were all involved in a major drug trafficking case. After a tortuous and bizarre investigation process, the two have inextricably linked. Just when everyone thought that the answer to the story was finally revealed, another bigger suspense was spreading. ...

[Edit this paragraph] behind-the-scenes production

This play is based on a true story.

Li Mi Conjecture is the second film directed by Cao Baoping. Cao Baoping's last film was Wrath of Glory, which surprised many people in the industry with its unique narrative style and huge amount of information. The script of "Li Mi Conjecture" was written before "Glorious Wrath", which condensed the hard work and accumulation of director Cao Baoping for many years. After many twists and turns and waiting, Li Mi's guess finally broke out.

Director Cao Baoping said frankly that the material of this script comes from a very simple news story: a female taxi driver was kidnapped by two desperate people. In the process of getting along, the two kidnappers were moved by the female taxi driver and gave up the idea of killing her. After agreeing that the female driver would not call the police, the kidnapper released the female driver. When the female driver survived the robbery, she thought that these two people had no livelihood, but they still wanted to kidnap others, and others might suffer. After the struggle, she called the police and two robbers were arrested. But the female driver was very upset and thought she had broken her promise. The police advised her to save the two men, but the female driver still couldn't let go. Finally, she went to the prison to visit the two men, and slowly they became friends. The two criminals were released from prison early because of their good behavior.

Director Cao Baoping is unwilling to create such a simple and tender story. The whole script creation process lasted about five or six months, and the final script basically broke away from the original simple news story and became an interlocking and bizarre creation masterpiece.

"If you shoot according to this news, it is such a process. In fact, it is a yet I feel the harmonious heart-beat of the Sacred Unicorn play. " Director Cao Baoping said, "I think movies need to be simple and complex. I don't want to make a simple warm and moving movie. I hope it can be more complex and profound, or it can be more extensive. At least try to change that. Because I've been thinking about that subject for a long time and I can't write it. What I think is a process that touches my heart. Then, because I am not willing, I will try to change. "

It is difficult to make any changes and innovations in the script, and the script creation process of Li Mi Conjecture is not smooth sailing. In terms of the genre of the film, director Cao Baoping was once confused, and the script was once shelved.

Li Mi Conjecture can be made into several different stories, such as a pure commercial film or a road film, or a suspense psychological film with some weird styles like david lynch. However, director Cao Baoping finally chose another way to integrate the characteristics of several types of films into this film. After reading the script, everyone, including actors, producers and producers, was amazed at its novelty in narrative.

Deng Chao said, "It always makes you wonder what the final answer is. It always throws some questions, but never explains them. Then these questions may be divided into several groups. Ai Feifei and I are a group, then Li Mi in Zhou Xun is a group, and then two thieves are a group. It doesn't seem to matter, but after the car accident under the bridge and the poet's dislocation, the whole three groups were connected and then found. In this way, first of all, from the genre, it is particularly novel. Secondly, I think every character in it is particularly cute. Every character carries something, that is, he carries a secret. What the hell is that secret? We must reveal it to him at the end. And it carries some sociality and some phenomena. "

Zhou Xun has a very concise summary of the script: "The movie starts for a few minutes and then' explodes' a person, and then goes back to the story. The director is drawing a circle, not a straight line. Everything has a reason from beginning to end, and finally it is drawn into a circle. "

Wang said, "The first time I saw it, it attracted me from beginning to end. I always watch it five times after reading it at once. The more I read it, the more I feel that the screenwriter, that is, the director Cao Baoping, is amazing. The script is very personalized and attracts the audience's attention. Really, I like watching it. The characters written in it are very personal and look very exciting. "

Producer Wang Zhonglei was deeply attracted after seeing the script: "I think it's very good, because it's very different from the scripts issued by many domestic directors. It is rich in stories, levels and characters. You can feel the story and visibility of the script through its words. I think many directors don't have the level of storytelling, so they attracted me. "

"As excited as seeing a meteor in the sky." When it comes to the mood when reading the script for the first time, Zhou Xun can't hide his excitement. "At first, she kept saying some numbers. I don't understand why she said some numbers to attract you to look down. He slowly draws every character. You think these people must have something, and you are more interested in reading. I was very excited after reading it. The whole story is very suspenseful, the characters are very distinctive, everyone's personality is outstanding, and everyone is actually quite sharp and crazy. "

After reading the script, Zhou Xun immediately recommended it to the film's producer Chen. "When I first read it, I thought it was well written. You seldom see this Chinese script, as if the movie happened in front of you. Its language is so intuitive that you may even feel that it has been edited. Every description and every line feels like sometimes a shot, sometimes a visual effect, and sometimes an actor's mood. Sometimes I write my own plays. Producer Chen said.

As a young director, Cao Baoping won the favor of Huayi Brothers with the script of Li Mi Conjecture. Producer Wang Zhonglei said, "Huayi Brothers always wanted to cooperate with young directors to make Huayi films in the first year. In fact, Xiaogang Feng was still a young director at that time. Working with young directors all the time will be very creative. They are also very dedicated and eager to be recognized by the industry and the audience. This effort is similar to Huayi's investment direction. In addition, I also hope to get more director talent and shoot more different kinds of movies. Because there are relatively few directors with market appeal or their own styles in China, I hope that new directors will cooperate every year. "

When talking about the original intention of Huayi Brothers to invest in Li Mi Conjecture, producer Chen said: "You wouldn't imagine a movie like Li Mi as a New Year's blockbuster with many special effects and digital animations, but I think a good movie environment needs such works to appear from time to time. It reminds you that film creation is a very pure behavior, and it also makes many viewers dissatisfied with watching two or three blockbusters every year. We still have a lot of very intellectual, emotional and level movie audiences. He will still be eager to put aside those complicated forms and communicate with your heart. I think there are still many viewers every year. He is looking forward to such a film. I think Li Mi will be such a movie. "

The whole film "Li Mi Conjecture" was shot in Yunnan, and the shooting process was extremely difficult. Speaking of the reasons for choosing to shoot in Yunnan, director Cao Baoping explained: "The reason why this film is put in Yunnan is because it has something to do with drug trafficking, and it is also to return to the original starting point, such as the basic rationality of the story composition. It is reasonable to put this process only in Yunnan. We also considered many places when choosing the scene, such as Chongqing and Wuhan, but it was unreasonable. At that time, I had a more ambitious idea. I actually want to put this story in Kashgar, Xinjiang. I think the advantage of putting it in Kashgar is that the story is a little weird. The dazzling sunshine and dazzling are actually a bit like the image of Paris, Texas. It may be sharper and more chaotic. In addition, the place bordering Kashgar is now called Golden Crescent, which is the largest distribution center for drugs because of its crescent shape. But it was too difficult to go there, and all the difficulties were finally given up. "

However, the filming process in Kunming was not smooth sailing. The limitation of shooting environment forced the director to make many adjustments on the spot. Director Cao Baoping said, "I feel a little pity now. Finally, it is not ideal to shoot in Kunming, because the city of Kunming is actually a particularly unsuitable place for co-production. This city has no characteristics. All overpasses and buildings are actually no different from these cities in the mainland. Kunming, which you expect, lacks atmospheric media and is filmed. Moreover, our shooting was particularly unsuccessful, and it was rainy. I think many factors are not ideal. Putting it in Kunming is mainly because of the rationality of the story. "

Strive to combine business and art.

Director Cao Baoping said: "My cognition: I always think that film is an industrial product, and it has the obligation to carry its business cycle, otherwise it cannot be carried out. But I think every director should be more aware of this problem. I think you can distinguish whether you are an independent film, a personal film or a commercial film from the major items. "

However, these concepts are very vague during the filming of Li Mi's conjecture. "The investment direction and initial purpose of Li Mi's conjecture, in a more strict sense, should be inclined to commercial production, otherwise you won't have so many stars and you won't have a relatively large investment." Director Cao Baoping said. "This time, it is very strange to meet these actors, such as Zhou Xun, who is the most extreme example, including Deng Chao, including Han Yu and Wang. Just like a group of actors, especially you made a personal movie, because they didn't oppress you, so he can communicate with you well and trust you very much. He can give full play to your imagination and creativity as much as you can, which I think is impossible in commercial production, because of all. Its own system determines that you can't make such a movie. We will keep polishing the movie before shooting, and even we will try. We will repeatedly look for various solutions. For example, for the understanding of a character, Zhou Xun and I can talk for five or six hours. "

The director feels lucky to cooperate with such an actor who is extremely persistent in art. "In this play, it is actually a coincidence that you use so many stars. These stars have this trust in you. It happens that they also have this crazy desire and are willing to do this with you. In fact, you have turned the harsh conditions of commercial production into a personalized art film method, so this is not a model, which means that Li Mi has become such a thing. "

The director also thinks that "Li Mi Conjecture" is also a film with artistic appeal. "For me, it is to see a beautiful story, a suspense and strange love story, and I will not be disappointed. Now I believe that everyone will be moved after reading it. I don't need tears to measure this move. I think this is a very meaningless statement, and I think I will be moved. That kind of touch is in my heart, after Mao Jian, there are still many.

Producer Chen said: "We have a term that used to be used in music, but rarely used in movies, that is,' healing department', which is to treat scars. First of all, it tells you how much love can hurt people, because after you know that someone has the same pain and suffering as you, you have an emotional sense of identity and you will be comforted by empathy. Later, he will be more open-minded and tell you that these experiences are necessary. Only through these experiences can we mature and grow. If the audience can finally get this kind of psychological comfort, I think this movie is a success. "

Deng Chao thinks that many people can find their own shadows in movies, which will be unforgettable. It discusses life, what it means to your life and the world you live in. The audience will feel who they are after reading it, or this is a story that happened around them. "It has something very anxious, very uneasy and very rhythmic. Tell you this story, there will be many thoughts that gently touch you, so there are very warm feelings in it.

Wang also said: "With a little touch and some passion, you will think of many people, and your mind will be full of people, Qiu or the police, everyone." Think about it, the more you think about it, the more interesting it is. After reading it, you can't help but think about this story and let your friends around you read it. There will be discussion points after reading it. "

Almost everyone thinks that Li Mi conjecture does not belong to a specific film type. Director Cao Baoping skillfully mixed the styles of several types of films. "I think doing any type is stylized, that is, you are just one of the genres, always wanting to make something different, and suddenly thought of a way, hoping to constantly change direction in a movie. Therefore, the last script I saw was established from the beginning. It was purely like a commercial film, but it was quickly introduced into this story and became a road film. This shunt film is about halfway over, and there is still a big article behind it. After turning around, it became a strange paragraph of psychological suspense. " Cao Baoping said.

At the same time, Director Cao Baoping said frankly that this novel approach has both advantages and disadvantages, which may be a double-edged sword. "At that time, this starting point made me feel very interesting. It's out of the way. It's a place that I find particularly interesting, but it also has problems. Now, after the film is made, everyone's psychology will have a psychological model, and everyone in the audience will have an acceptance model. Let him follow the direction of a commercial film, and it will suddenly become a road film. He'll find it strange. Just when he was comfortably watching a road film, he suddenly became another one. This is a contradiction. It may be good, but it may also be relatively unacceptable. "

Although there are some risks in this personalized film mode, director Cao Baoping still maintains strong self-confidence and insists on his own understanding and creation of the film. "I always feel, especially China movies, I feel thin. I always hope that a movie can maximize its information and tension under the condition that your narrative can be clean and clear. I think this is the basic requirement of such a work as an electronic copy. I don't know if you have this experience. You see, a simple American genre film is not a personalized expression, but a genre film. In fact, its information is much larger than ours, which is different from audio-visual culture. Our information content is relatively simple. I always hope that the information content can be a little more complicated, provided that the narrative is clean. But it is also a double-edged sword. It is possible that you will oppress him to collapse and can't keep up with you. He won't go with you. It is possible for him to accept and carry more in unit time. This is a matter of degree. "

Cao Baoping, the director, believes that "Li Mi Conjecture" will be a very good-looking film with a personal style. "This movie is definitely very different from previous movies, but I am very satisfied with the kind of movie I made in my imagination, that is, although the style is very different, the last movie" Glorious Wrath "is relatively dark. Although Li Mi's conjecture has black elements, it is basically not such a movie. I think it's a personal expression. I hope all my movies are particularly good. The good thing about this movie is the emotional tearing and the shock. In addition, there is your personal attitude, and the strong attitude is in it, which I think is quite satisfactory. Of course, its entire scale, including the composition of the actors, may make the film more influential, but these can only be expected, but also depends on the ending behind us. Of course, this is a very important job for me. I'm not asking for a movie. If I ask to make a movie, I can make two or three before that, but I don't think it's the same thing. If you have no enthusiasm and feel that the quality is not enough, I think you'd better not do it. Meaningless. This is a very meaningful work for me. "

Producer Chen said: "This is a love story, although director Cao Baoping denied it. It may be that this love story encapsulates some of his concerns about society, including some obsession with film types, some suspense elements, some road movies, and some very fresh experiments on film forms, but after all, it is based on such a theme that we are hopelessly addicted to love. " Li Mi's Conjecture is a film to comfort the lovelorn. What it wants to convey is that love does not necessarily have a happy ending. In fact, love often belongs to three people, but you can't be sure of the value of love in this process. "

Li Mi's conjecture is a very realistic and China movie. Producer Chen said: "After reading the script, I think it is very similar to the feeling of modern American movies. There are many lively rhythms and some special requirements for photography. The result is more real than I expected. I have gone through a process of adaptation myself, hoping to be lighter and more realistic now. What is the result of realism? That is, you have more space to observe the actor, that is, the actor's true colors and his interpretation of the role are magnified, that is, he doesn't have many packaged things to help him lie or make up for some times when you may be distracted. I think this is really a big test for these actors. The result is really a new China movie, and it doesn't try to imitate a European and American movie. I thought he was going to imitate an American independent film, but he didn't. He really finished a story that happened completely in China, which is impossible to happen anywhere else. "

Casting method

Producer Chen said the process of identifying actors was "natural". "Because part of my job is some opinions on the actor combination, the starting point at that time was relatively simple, that is, whether such a team can be formed among these actors owned by Huayi, but sometimes you don't mean that all the plays invested by Huayi can use Huayi's actors. After all, you finally consider whether it is suitable or not, so some actors and Huayi's contracted actors don't, but the play is very clever. It needs every different type of actor and several important people. It seems that Huayi has the most suitable candidate. When you see Zhang Hanyu and Wang, you will feel that they are the best candidates to play these roles. "

When director Cao Baoping was writing a script, the most direct impression in his mind was Wang. "Because of blindness, I think this role is in this state, but I also had the idea of giving up Wang in the process of writing the script. He has a lot of energy, but I don't think it's meaningful to repeat it, neither for me nor for him. Later, because of the cooperative relationship, this candidate was provided. I met Bao Qiang and we talked. We can find something different, and Bao Qiang especially likes this role. He also repeatedly said that this is different from his previous role and it is a great challenge for him. I think. Therefore, the earliest shadow was Bao Qiang. "

Director Cao Baoping went straight to Zhou Xun at the beginning of the film. Zhou Xun liked the script the first time he read it. "This movie is a small production, and it was the role of Li Mi that moved me to take the show." So Zhou Xun didn't repeat on this matter, and decided directly.

Deng Chao said, "I met with Director Cao Baoping and had a chat. At that time, I remember that the director told me that the role was difficult. He is a little worried about my appearance, because he thinks my appearance is a little lucky and sunny, and maybe a little far from this role. As soon as I heard it, I thought, hey, this thing can play. I think every character in it is particularly cute. Every character carries something, that is, he carries a secret. What is the secret? We must reveal it to him at last. Moreover, it carries some sociality and phenomena. Moreover, I see that I have to play two roles, which is equivalent to a person wearing a mask to live in the world. I also prefer to challenge such a role, so this is a very special surprise. "

Zhang Hanyu, the actor of the police, also went well. In a word, Director Cao Baoping said, "Wherever he goes, this character is there."