Speaking of which, "Network Mystery Trail" can be released in the mainland, and I am quite excited. After all, this film, which is a win-win film at the box office and word-of-mouth in This year's North American summer program, is indeed a film worth sharing.
With the film scheduled to be released this Friday, it means that we can finally see this creative and unique suspense masterpiece with a very attractive story on the big screen.
As a suspense film, the main line of "Network Mystery Trail" is very clear: if a father finds out that his daughter is missing, what will he do.
In terms of the acceptance of mainland audiences, this high-scoring suspense film with a Douban score of 8.5 also shows that mainland audiences undoubtedly like this crime work with strong genre elements.
The evaluation of more than 100,000 people, the score is still not falling, and it is also a high score this year.
In this story, David King, played by John Zhao, is most importantly a father, and his most important task is to find his missing daughter.
Nearly a century ago, in the silent film "In Search of a Son meets a Fairy", Chaplin was struggling to find his stolen son. Ninety-seven years later, people are still telling stories of parents looking for their children, and audiences will still be moved by these stories.
In other words, the core story of "Network Mystery Trace" is actually beyond culture, region, and time.
After its release in North America, "Cyber Mystery Trail" had a Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating of 92%. The film, which has a budget of about $1 million, has now grossed more than $70 million worldwide.
"Cyber Mystery Trail" is also very well received in North America
Obviously, the word-of-mouth box office win for "Cyber Mystery Trail" is not just because it chooses to tell a classic story. Director Anish Chaganti defines the film as " a typical suspense film presented in an unconventional way." ”
The typical point of "Cyber Mystery Trail" is of course the story theme of the father looking for his daughter, which is a very conventional setting, and its unconventional point is that the father "finds his daughter through a laptop." ”
We can also see this in his final trailer.
Like "Unfriend 2: Dark Web" that we recommended before, the story of "Network Mystery Trail" is also all presented through the media of computer desktop, mobile phone screen, surveillance video, etc., and the information that the audience can see at the same time (web pages, videos, messages, applications, instant messaging dialogue) is far better than the average movie.
However, the Internet technology and various electronic devices equivalent to the villain in "Unfriend 2" have all faded their mystery in "Network Mystery Trace".
In the film, the protagonist's use of electronic devices such as the Internet and mobile phones is not much different from that of ordinary people. If the modern technology in "Unfriend 2" is like the source of all evil, then the modern technology in "Network Mystery Trail" is completely a tool.
In director Chaganti's view, technology is the origin of some problems, but it is also the solution to the problem.
More importantly, "Cyber Mystery Trail" also shows the positive changes these technologies have made to people's lives from a unique perspective.
Like all successful suspense films, Cyber Mystery Trail has a high narrative efficiency. Within six minutes of the film' beginning, viewers get to know the Kim family living in San Jose through home videos, photos, videos, etc.
From the joy of David King and his wife Pam (Sarah Mibo Sun) in welcoming a new life, to the growth of daughter Marg (Mitchell Ra) from a baby to a teenage girl, to Pam's cancer until his death...
The ups and downs and joys of this family of three in the past ten years are condensed in a six-minute dynamic ppt, ordinary, real and moving. It brings the audience no less impact than the classic love replay montage at the beginning of "Flying House".
The home memory clip at the beginning of "Cyber Mystery Trail" is similar to the love story montage of "Flying House"
Chaganti himself liked the beginning of the film very much, and he thought that the audience would not be unfamiliar with all the parts in this opening. Chaganti didn't want the film's use of cinematic language and various techniques to be a showmanship, "we still wanted the audience to be emotionally engaged in these characters." ”
Chaganty, a graduate of USC, shot an ad for Google Glass called "seeds" in 2014. The ad was shot entirely using Google Glass, and all the footage was subjective and there wasn't a single line.
Google Glass commercial "Seeds" directed by Anish Chaganti
In the advertisement, the protagonist rushes all the way from the United States to his home in India, just to tell his mother the news that he is about to become a father. And the surprised and touching reaction of his mother in his eyes is the key to the entire short film.
After the commercial went live, it received more than a million views within 24 hours. Chaganti was also favored by Google and became a regular employee of Google. As for his later quitting his job in order to shoot "Network Mystery Trail", that is another story.
Whether it's using Google Glass to shoot commercials or telling the story of a father's search for his daughter in the form of a desktop movie, Chaganti never wanted technology to be a curiosity hunt.
"Cyber Mystery Trail" director Anish Chaganti (left) and lead actor John Zhao on the set, Chaganti was born in 1991, which is his feature film debut
In fact, when we face each other with mobile phones and computers every day and even exceed the time spent with friends in reality, they have long become a part of our lives, and the "curiosity" for them has become a spectacle.
From this point of view, "Cyber Mystery Trail" is also a disenchantment of new technological means.
Timo Beckman Bettov, the producer of Cyber Mystery Trail, is also the producer of Unfriendly, and he previously directed another tabletop film based on true events, "Net-Trickery". He wondered why, after virtual life on the Internet had taken up so much of people's time, "why don't filmmakers tell these stories?" ”
The things that become part of our lives will eventually reshape our lives.
In "Network Mystery Trace", the father and daughter duo under the eaves communicate with memes and various abbreviations in messages and emails, but they are relatively speechless when they face each other. Leaving aside their knots due to Pam's death, David's pattern of getting along with Marg is basically the typical model of contemporary parents and adolescent children.
So, after David looked at the traces that Marg had left on the Internet and various electronic devices, he would say, "I don't know her, I don't know my daughter." This statement is both a fact and a self-reproach. As a father, he should have cared for and understood his children.
This also means that David's process of finding his daughter through the virtual world is actually a process of re-understanding her daughter. In this process, technology is no longer a stumbling block between father and daughter, but David's best helper.
Another major feature of "Network Mystery Trail" as a typical suspense film is that the story of the film is twisted and turned, and the reversal is continuous. David kept discovering new clues to his daughter, but those clues were overturned again and again until the truth surfaced.
Throughout the film, the audience can perfectly integrate into David's perspective and go through the whole search process with him. After the empathy of the foreshadowing, the audience naturally experienced a sense of immersion because of the form of the film, and director Chaganti's goal was to make everyone "not feel like they are watching a movie that takes place on a computer screen." ”
Before this film, director Chaganti made many short films. In fact, "Cyber Mystery Trail" is the first feature film he directed. But whether it is the rhythm of the story or the arrangement of various details, "Network Mystery Trail" is all full of sophistication. In addition to talent, Chaganti's unique way of working is definitely worth mentioning.
Before filming began, Chaganti played the roles of David, Marg, and David's brother Pete (Joseph Lee) according to the script and setting. He took a selfie and self-acting to complete a 100-minute temporary version, which provided great convenience for the actual shooting and formal editing of the film later in the film.
"Cyber Mystery Trail" took 13 days to shoot, but the post-production process took more than two years. The various computer operating systems, programs, and website interfaces that appear in the film are re-illustrated and presented in the form of animations based on materials and materials from different periods. To this end, the director and the film's production team spent nearly a year and a half.
When the lead actor John Zhao first read the script, he refused, "I want to make a movie, not an online video." But he soon understood that the film wasn't online, it was just online video, and he spent most of his time acting on a computer screen.
As an Asian face in Hollywood, John Zhao's previously best-known characters include Harold, the protagonist in the "Pig's Head Shopping Street" series, and Sulu in the "Star Trek" series.
In these films, John Zhao's characters are all the kind of characters who have to be Asian. Harold, who loves to smoke marijuana, is always hesitant about the difference between Asian culture and American culture, while Sulu represents the Asians in the vast expanse of space.
Stills from "Pig's Head Walking the Streets"
Star Trek stills
The protagonist of "Cyber Mystery Trail" is also Asian, but as John Zhao said, "This character does not have to be Asian, but he is." For me, this is the most powerful political declaration, and we don't particularly focus on this point, just having such a role is very weighty. ”
What we see in the film is a father who does not let go of a clue in order to find his daughter, and his skin color and cultural background are not so important.
No matter how different the skin color is, no matter how big the culture is, such a father's love is the same. And it is this kind of shared love and empathy that connects people to each other.
From this point of view, movies like "Network Mystery Trail" should be a little more. And it is not surprising that he will eventually become popular.
In addition, last Saturday, the 62nd issue of our Peach Movie Group also did an advance viewing of "Network Mystery Trace".
Because the quality of the film is very good, everyone is very enthusiastic about signing up. Because this is a suspense thriller that integrates the Internet and modern technology, we set up the stage of the movie group very differently, and designed a lot of game projects to let the audience participate together.
Thank you to the little peaches who came to the queue early in the day despite the cold!
We know that the father in "Network Mystery Trace" found clues in the details and should be a thoughtful logic master.
So we also prepared a small number puzzle game for the pre-screening event, so that everyone can participate in the experience, three levels plus the ultimate mobile phone password, unlock the clearance video (Peach Sister small video), and get the Pokémon Poké Ball Charging Treasure Set (those who have seen the movie will definitely know why we sent this ~)
Attentive little peaches pondered intently on the answers to the puzzles. Of course, our little peaches will certainly live up to expectations, and soon there will be the first reasoning master to solve the puzzle
Congratulations to this wise teenager, the first to solve all the answers, please give him +10086 likes!
Of course, there are such good prizes before the screening, and after the screening, we carefully set up some small questions about the details of the movie for everyone to answer, the hand speed of the little peaches is really unexpected, and the detail observation ability is really a good one
Four questions, four gifts with lightning speed to cover the ears of the bell ringing of course will not let the trend of being "robbed" and light.
Finally, the big group photo is not less, and the cold winter is warmer with your peach balls
We also let the audience participate in the post-screening rating survey. Let's take a look at how everyone feels
The proportion of men and women participating in this survey is as follows.
The total rating of the film is 8.6 points. Quite high.
A large proportion of the film tells about the part of the father-daughter understanding and parent-child relationship, so we also set up a related small question: How often do you chat with your parents?
The vast majority of people who participated in the survey had contact with their parents on a weekly basis, but what about everyone?
In addition, as a suspense drama, the story is of course the most important core. In the case of suspense films, we also investigated such a question: When the film reached that stage, did you guess who the real culprit behind the scenes was?
The results are very gratifying. 80% of people find out who is behind the scenes after 1/4 of the film or even when the results are revealed. This answer can be said to be a very big reward for a suspense movie.
Finally, let's take a look at everyone's one-sentence film review.~
The praise of Yishui is also very powerful. In addition, this movie will be released in the mainland on Friday, and those who are interested in it will remember to feel this movie in the theater
Also, prevent spoilers!