Once Upon A Lie

★ Narrative Triple Structure
The plot deconstructs contemporary emotional dilemmas using a “play within a play” technique:

1. Virtual Critique: Film critic influencer Gu Mamu (played by David Wu) transforms into an AI to infiltrate the movie world and dissect the behind-the-scenes truth of the bad film “The Mermaid Loves Me.”

2. Absurd Reality: Down-on-his-luck screenwriter A-Lok (played by Bruce He) takes a job shooting a knockoff version of The Little Mermaid for income but encounters Wen Jie (played by Irene Wan), the guesthouse owner on the island.

3. Meta-narrative Reversal: It is revealed that Wen Jie is actually the “young girl avatar” of A-Lok’s online romance, blurring lines between reality and fantasy to reconstruct the fairy tale narrative.

★ Character Decoding
Irene Wan’s challenge as a “Dual-faced Muse”:

• By day, a healing guesthouse owner who hides antidepressants in her apron pocket.

• By night, she becomes a “digital Lolita,” weaving youthful illusions with filters and voice changers.
  Bruce He as a “Traumatized Literary Youth”:

• Carries his mother’s (played by Grace Guei) medicine pouch as a talisman.

• Uses AI writing software to generate love letters but is tongue-tied in real emotions.

★Production Highlights

1. Meta-narrative: The film-within-the-film “The Mermaid Loves Me” employs eight different visual styles to satirize chaos in the film industry.

2. Spatial Metaphor: The main set, “Lies Island Guesthouse,” features a rotating staircase subtly marked with a countdown of age.

3. Sound Experiment: Combines ASMR whispers with AI synthesized sounds to create an immersive virtual romance atmosphere.

★ Emotional Equation
The screenplay embeds three contemporary themes:

• Digital identity split: Wen Jie’s “young girl avatar” account has 120,000 followers but she dares not livestream her true face.

• Caregiver’s dilemma: A-Lok suffers mental strain between his terminally ill mother’s bedside and screenplay deadlines.

• Fairy tale deconstruction: The new mermaid script ends with the prince turning into oceanic plastic micro-particles.

★ Key to Awards
Juries praised the film’s “redefinition of romantic comedy” through three breakthroughs:

1. Age disillusionment: The bathroom scene replaces traditional passion with close-ups of fish-scale wrinkles.

2. Life and death allegory: An absurd musical depicts the “final tango” in a hospice ward.

3. Media critique: AI filter reflections mirror the generation’s anxiety about appearance.

Tune in during the Qingming Festival season to witness how lies weave the most touching modern ocean fairy tale!