Another Sunday means another installment in the A-to-Z Part Deux challenge. This week we have the letter “Q” and with it we have Qiming Han (Director of Photography). The movie that Qiming worked on that we’re looking at this week…A Writer’s Odyssey (2021).
Title: A Writer’s Odyssey
Directors: Yang Lu and Zhuang Jie Qiong
Released: February 21, 2021
Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes
Available to stream on: Tubi
Guan Ning (Jiayin Lei) has spent the last six years looking for his daughter after she was abducted by child traffickers. Unfortunately, because of his devotion to finding his daughter, Guan’s life has crumbled around him and left him a shell of his former self. When he sleeps, he can hear his daughter shouting out to him. After six long years, Guan believes he has tracked down the traffickers.
A misunderstanding lands Guan in police custody where he is saved by Tu (Mi Yang). Tu mysteriously knows everything about Guan and offers him the opportunity to reunite with his daughter. But of course, there is a catch. He must help the CEO of the company she works for. How difficult of a task could it possibly be?
Well, turns out that it’s not as straight forward as it sounds. Those dreams that have been haunting Guan…they aren’t exactly dreams. No, those dreams are actually a fantasy novel that is being live streamed as it is being written by the author Kongwen (Zijian Dong). The mysterious CEO is having visions of the novel as well and feels a connection to the antagonist evil overlord Redmane (Yi Yang).
Guan must navigate reality and the dream/fantasy novel world to assassinate Kongwen before Kongwen kills Redmane. If successful, Guan and his daughter will be reunited. But if he is unsuccessful…
Directors Yang Lu and Zhuang Jie Qiong, along with Director of Photography Qiming Han, gave us a feast for the eyes. A Writer’s Odyssey (2021) is big, bold, and colorful. A trio that is essential to any fun and engaging fantasy movie. In some scenes the CGI might not be as impactful as it could have been, but that didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment.
There were a lot of subplots and not all of them were wrapped up in a tidy manner nor did they all come together completely. Although my biggest issue wasn’t even the fault of the filmmakers. The version that is streaming on Tubi is an English dub and the dubbing is atrocious. It took me out of the moment numerous times throughout the film.
However, A Writer’s Odyssey (2021) still manages to be a captivating fantasy adventure. If you haven’t seen it yet and you enjoy the fantasy genre, I highly recommend seeking this out. Just do yourself a favor and try to find a version with original audio and subtitles.
If you’ve seen A Writer’s Odyssey (2021), let me hear your thoughts on it in the comments below or on social media!
Keep an eye on Threads, Instagram, and Bluesky this Wednesday for a preview of what’s coming next week for the letter “R”. And as always, see what else I’m currently watching on Letterboxd.