The Message (2009 film)

The Message (风声) is a 2009 Chinese thriller-war film directed by Gao Qunshu (高群书) and Chen Kuo-Fu (陈国富)

Profile

• Movie: The Message / 风声 (2009)
• Chinese : Feng Sheng / 风声
• Director: Gao Qunshu (高群书), Chen Kuo-Fu (陈国富)
• Producer: Chen Kuo-Fu (陈国富) , Wang Zhongjun (王中军) , Wang Zhonglei (王中磊) , Feng Xiaogang (冯小刚)
• Writer: Mai Jia (麦家) , Zhang Jialu (张家鲁) , Chen Kuo-Fu (陈国富)
• Cinematographer : Jack Pollack (包轩鸣 )
  
• Choreographer :
• Art Director :
• Original Music : Michiru Oshima (大岛满)
• Production Design : Xiao Haihang (肖海航) , Yang Haoyu (杨浩宇)
• Costume Design : Tim Yip ()
• Release Date : September 29 , 2009
• Runtime : 118 min
• Genre : Crime , Drama , Thriller , War 
• Distributor: Huayi Brothers
• Language: Mandarin
• Country: China
• Official website :
• Budget :  –
• Box Office : –

Synopsis

In Nanking 1942, following a series of assassination attempts on officials of the Japanese-controlled puppet government, the Japanese spy chief Taketa (Huang Xiaoming) gathers a group of suspects in a mansion house for questioning. A tense game of "cat and mouse" ensues as the Chinese espionage agent attempts to send out a crucial message while protecting his/her own identity.
April 26, 1940, former Nationalist vice president Wang Jingwei made peace with Japan and set up a Japan-supported regime during World War II, a puppet government. Oct 10, during an anniversary ceremony of the government, a Wang government high official was assassinated. Taketa (Huang Xiaoming), chief intelligence officer of the Japanese Imperial Army, believed that it was an action of an underground anti-Japan group "Old Ghost". He believed there was a mole, nicknamed "Old Ghost" (aka The Phantom) inside the Wang government's Anti-Communist Command. Determined to catch Old Ghost, Taketa sent a false telegraph and arrested 5 suspects who saw the telegraph, bringing them to the closely guarded fortress Qiu Castle.
They are: (1) Anti-Communist squad captain Wu Zhiguo (Zhang Hanyu), (2) Bai Xiaonian (Su Youpeng), an aide to the commander, (3) chief telegraph decoder Li Ningyu (Li Bingbing), (4) mailroom staff Gu Xiaomeng (Zhou Xun) (5) military intelligence director Jin Shenghuo (Ying Da)
Taketa (Huang Xiaoming)and Wang Government's intelligence chief Wang Tianxiang (Wang Zhiwen) need to find out the "Old Ghost" in five days. Staying in the closed fortress for five days, the suspects were tormented from constant interrogations. They began snitching against each other for their own survival, and there were more and more horrific physical torture coming up. The interrogators were getting impatient, and the tormented suspects were about to lose their sanity. (Source : Wikipedia)

 

Stars

• Zhou Xun (周迅)
• Zhang Hanyu (张涵予)
• Li Bingbing (李冰冰)
  
• Huang Xiaoming (黄晓明)
• ----------------------------
  
• Wang Zhiwen (王志文)
  
• Alec Su (苏有朋)
  
• Ying Da (英达)
• Shi Zhaoqi (石兆琪)
  
• Ni Dahong (倪大红)
• Duan Yihong (段奕宏)
• Zhu Xu ( 朱旭)
• Vieven Liu (刘威葳)
• Zhang Yibai (张一白)
• Wu Gang (吴刚)
  
• Deng Jiajia (邓家佳)
  
• Liu Yun (刘芸)
• Ai Dai (爱戴)

Notes

• The film was adapted from Mai Jia's 2007 novel, The Message (风声)

Awards

• It won the best film award at 17th Beijing University Student Film Festival.
• Li Bingbing won the Best Leading Actress Award at the 46th Golden Horse Film Awards for her role as the code-breaker chief in this movie

Timelines

Trailer

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbeKIjkIfok&w=590]

Photos