Synopsis
This is a story of people and smartphones. The story takes place one night in a car. It is a monologue supported by an actor. After divorcing his wife, Lao Wu becomes an “online car hailing” driver in order to pass away the time. One night, he accidentally picks up a smartphone in his car. Unexpectedly, on his way to return the smartphone, it rings constantly. To find out who the real owner of the smartphone is, Lao Wu almost effortlessly uses his own smartphone’s “intelligence” to turn the smartphone owner into a transparent person without privacy. At the same time, during this process, he finally wakes up to the truth of his divorce.
Xu Shen
Xu Shen, born in 1980 in Rizhao, Shandong Province, is a film lover. He has experienced the life of a wanderer in Hengdian for more than a month in August 2019 and started shooting the online film SMARTPHONE in April 2020.
Director's statement
Smartphones have become indispensable spiritual partners in our modern lives. While providing countless conveniences in life, they also seem to have brought us a fresh form of “life”, which not only records our life trajectory, but also guides us how to grow. As everyone knows, like the people in films, we may be turned into transparent people without privacy at any time. This film not only focuses on mobile phone security, but also discusses the interactions between people and the dominant relationship between people and machines. No one can stop scientific and technological progress, but the initiative has always been in our hands, and the key is how we deal with it.
