The work of British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, past and recent, merits even greater appreciation when compared to Chinese director Chen Sicheng’s ambitious but saccharine and mostly dull “Decoded,” an adaptation of the 2002 novel of the same name by Mai Jia. This cradle-to-grave portrait of fictional character Rong Jinzhen (Haoran Liu), a prodigious orphan turned valuable government asset in the 1940s, chronicles how his unique skillset ultimately helped clear the path for China to establish its own nuclear weapons program.
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While the magnitude of his task and its global repercussions might immediately induce comparisons to Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” if one takes “Decoded” as “China’s answer” to the recent best picture Oscar winner, the moniker must come with the caveat that this means it’s a toothless film as it relates to moral ambiguity. It’s not a dissident work of art made to question the pursuit of such armament, but a state-supported effort where patriotism is exalted throughout — quite literally until its very last frame. The idealized concept of a sovereign country, and the duty to defend it, propels Jinzhen’s every move.
From a young age, Jinzhen learns the art of dream interpretation from his enigmatic guardian. His genius combines that esoteric talent with an innate ability for complex mathematical thinking. Though he can make sense of mind-boggling equations à la “A Beautiful Mind,” he believes that the keys to solve cyphers reside in his dreams. Only by turning a light switch off can Jinzhen know if what he sees is an experience occurring while conscious or not, a device reminiscent of the spinning top in Nolan’s “Inception.”
Haoran’s performance leans heavily on the archetype of a super-intelligent, awkward person who has difficulty socializing and expressing emotion — a “nerd” in the way that Hollywood movies have often portrayed the academically gifted, with a face full of acne to boot. The actor fared far better in last year’s subdued drama “The Breaking Ice” from Singaporean director Anthony Chen, as a young professional struggling with mental illness.
Guidance from mentor Jan Liseiwicz (John Cusack), a Jewish professor teaching in China, maximizes the wunderkind’s potential. The two will eventually turn rivals as each of their respective governments calls on them in the fight to intercept enemy plans. Cusack, competent but far from memorable here, is no stranger to Chinese cinema, having appeared in the historical epic “Dragon Blade.”
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When Liseiwicz’s creates a “Purple Cypher,” a nearly impossible-to-crack device, for the U.S. military, the geopolitical conflict intensifies as Jinzhen works tirelessly to solve it. Dense on-screen text ineffectively attempts to provide historical context about the U.S.-backed operations that Jinzhen frustrated in Taiwan and Hong Kong, as mainland China tightened its grip on these semi-autonomous states.
Crowded with shallow characters (particularly Jinzhen’s loved ones: his wife and adoptive family) there to forcefully inject emotion, overlong and technically pristine while devoid of cinematic personality, “Decoded” is pleasant to look at but difficult to feel much toward. There’s a polished artificiality to the entire affair, from its impeccable sets that seem closer to store displays than places where people live their lives, to a score that soars at the slightest provocation with the intent of tugging the viewer’s heartstrings. It all feels calculated to appease and never challenge the powers that be. One never doubts that resources for this production were plentiful, but if Chen brought a directorial voice to “Decoded,” which he co-wrote for the screen with Christopher MacBride (“Flashback”), it’s a task for Jinzhen to decipher what that was precisely.
At first glance, the digital effects in the elaborate dream sequences — where we see Jinzhen in a dazzling amusement park or running from walls closing in on him — have an eye-popping effect. But soon one can discern an issue with the composition that renders the actor noticeably superimposed on digital scenes. The two elements look inorganically composited. Even if flawed, these colorful, larger-than-life passages do offer relief from the chronological biopic format of the film. As Jinzhen’s grip on reality loosens, his dreams become increasingly bizarre. Perhaps the most unexpected and bizarre image in “Decoded” comes as one of his visions materializes the fanged mammal referenced in The Beatles track “I Am the Walrus,” which the protagonist believes could hold a message from friend and foe Liseiwicz.
“Decoded” plays as if conceived with the explicit desire to entice American sensibilities, but only as long as this doesn’t mean deviating too far from a manicured, uncritical depiction of China’s policies and war tactics. A quasi-inspirational story more than a thriller about a character who is designed to be a nearly irreproachable paragon of officially approved virtue, summons as much intrigue as a tedious chore.
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