Some films are designed to push the limits of immersive cinema and theme. The outcomes may be both unpredictable and utterly captivating.A Writer’s Odyssey, a two-part epic directed by Lu Yang, demonstrates how accurate this statement is.A Writer’s Odyssey, based on Shuang Yuetao’s short storyAssassinate the Novelist, promotes two captivating realms existing between fiction and reality. However, this is all but a small piece that this massive immersive fantasy thriller touches on.
Similar fantasy and action-adventure RPGssuch asElden RingandSekiroshare similar concepts with the entrancing masterpiece. Throughout this rollercoaster ride of intense battle sequences, pain, and loss, envelops the theme of immorality and how chasing that can often be destructive to one’s self and others.
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What isThe Writer’s Odysseyabout?
In another world, a father, Guan Ning (Lei Jiayin), is on a quest to search for his daughter Tangerine (Wang Shengdi), who has gone missing after another world traps her within its grasp. While his painful memories of nostalgia torment him in his endless journey to find her, other mystical dreams intercept his thoughts of a city he has never been to that seems vaguely familiar. During searching for his daughter, he attacks a bunch of child traffickers, who he believes have her. Once he has taken out the traffickers, he is taken in for questioning by the cops, who then have to stop at the gas station.While there, another party has plans for himnamed Ling Tu (Yang Mi), a leader at a suspicious company, who claims they have a lead on the several missing girls in the truck and that it could trace back to Tangerine (Shengdi Wang).
While it seems that Guan has found the answers to all his problems, things are not as simple as they appear. In exchange for this “information,” Guan must take out the illusive famous writer Kongweng Lu(Dong Zijian), to get his daughter back. Kongweng Lu, on the other hand, is not your average social media sensation. His writing and ideas have a metaphysical way of interfering with reality, and one of those realities is Guan’s.Inside this reality, the two begin to bleedinto one another, and Guan and Kongweng both gain talents that they would not have otherwise. It’s a war to rescue Tangerine, and for some, it’s a battle to save themselves. Will they be successful?
Why is the film likeElden RingandSekiro?
A Writers Odysseyhas a world that is very much alive and brimming with movement. This is not unlike the world ofElden Ring, where its world is animated and dynamic. While the people within its world are not always friendly and are not alien to suffering as those battle control of power, there isbeauty within whatElden Ringcalls The Lands Between. Like the author who created such a world inThe Writers Odyssey, Kongweng has detailed this world due to his own suffering, struggling to gain control of his own life which writing gives him the power to do so.
ThroughoutA Writer’s Odyssey, Kongweng has a history of ignoring the world around him and becoming so involved with his writing that nothing else matters. For him, writing has become something that will live outside himself, a way of immortality. When speaking to Guan, he tells him his backstory of how he got into writing. While he used to be social and outgoing, one story calledSeesawthe library would change his life. He has been writing for six years, living a solitary existence, supported by his mother since leaving school has left him with few job prospects. Angered by this,Guan tells him he should just quit writing. Kowngweng shares with Guan, “No matter what people say about me, I always believe I can do it. As long as I keep writing, my existence has meaning.”
What Kongweng doesn’t realize is that by creating this story, he is unintentionally harming other people during this process. As his story becomes more life-like, it affects him and those around him. Essentially, both start to allow themselves as the story continues to embody this fantasy world at the risk of reality to save Tangerine, unbeknownst to who is really pulling the strings within Kongweng’s fictional world. While for Guan,this is a life-or-death quest to save his daughter, for Kongweng, it becomes a raw passage of unanswered truths about the death of his father and the journey to save himself from the underlying pain and depression one keeps bottled away when losing a loved one.
The stunning visuals and action-packed fight scenes inA Writer’s Odysseydepict all of these internal battles. ThroughoutSekiro, many of thecrucial boss battles connect to finding immorality. The connection here is that each is chasing something far greater than themselves, using or letting go of something to reach for something more. Bosses such as Lady Butterfly’s fierce fiery imagery resonate with the fire dragon battle inA Writers Odyssey. Kongweng discovers Guan’s diary in which his dreams are recorded.
He then utilizes Guan’s dreams to transport him to the capital of the city that appears in Guan’s dreams. A “festival” to honor Lord Redmane devolves into an epic fight between fire dragons and Baihan.With many more inventive battles that take placeinvolving Guan Ning’s impressive throwing techniques taking place throughout, another impressive battle within the vein of Demon of Hatred of Sekiro and the Fire Giant Elden Ring takes place at the end of the film as Kwonweng takes on the massive four-armed giant.
Overall, withinA Writer’s Odyssey,Elden Ring’stheme of ambition is fueled throughout the film. Each character, no matter their gain as they progress throughout the film wants to gain something from this other world, whether it’s for rescuing another person’s life, truth, or revenge.WithinElden RingMargott wants to relinquish Tarnished’s ambitionsof becoming the Elden Lord, which ironically is the same ambitions players have for defeating the game.
Where to WatchA Writer’s Odyssey
A Writer’s Odysseyis currently only streaming on the iQIYI app, which requires a subscription for $8.99 a month. The movie is available to rent for just $1.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, and Redbox, $2.99 on the Microsoft Store, and $4.99 on Apple. Potential viewers can also purchase the movie at a higher price from these providers. That runs $7.99 on Redbox and $8.99 on Apple, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Youtube, and the Microsoft Store.
