On April 1, many people may know that this day is April Fool's Day, but this day is also the anniversary of the death of Zhang Guorong, one of the legends of the Chinese entertainment industry. Unconsciously, the singer-actor's multi-habitat entertainer has been dead for 18 years, and in homage to "Brother", he has selected five of the most iconic films he has starred in over the years.
The Legend of Ah Fei (1990)
This is one of Wong Kar-wai's most iconic works, in this film, Zhang Guorong incarnated as "James Dean", the director deliberately abandoned the traditional genre style, and performed the rebellious hymn of "Ah Fei Zheng Biography". Set in Hong Kong in the 1960s, the handsome Asahi Ah Fei (Cheung Kwok Wing) travels alone to the Philippines to find his birth mother, whose face and name she does not know, and is often compared to the upcoming return of Hong Kong. The protagonist compares himself to a bird without feet, which has flown in the sky all its life and can only go down to the ground once in a lifetime, and that time is when it dies, which strongly reflects the rootlessness of the people at that time.
Spring Breaks (1997)
Another legendary film by Wong Kar-wai has left an indelible mark on the history of Hong Kong cinema. Ho Po Wing (Cheung Kwok Wing) and Lai Yiu Fai (Leung Chao Wai), a gay couple, go to Argentina to play together, but they are "trapped" here because of their confusion about life. This may be an unusual idea for film poetry. Wong Kar-wai, who won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival for the film, built this unusual emotional world with his unique understanding of the art of cinema, from lovers' quarrels to heartbreak and parting, this lyrical breakup film has resonated with countless couples.
Farewell to the Overlord (1993)
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Hong Kong writer Lee Bi-wah, "Farewell to the King" is the only Chinese-language film to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993. The film also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the British Academy Film Award for Best Non-English Film in the same year, while receiving two Oscar nominations at the 66th Academy Awards. This love tragedy tells the story of Cheng Dieyi's (Zhang Guorong) struggle when she falls in love with Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi). Duan Xiaolou is Cheng Dieyi's brother in the male Peking Opera Troupe, they grew up together and performed together, until later Xiaolou questioned Dieyi's sexual orientation, Dieyi faced the hurt of betrayal, and the heartbreak of unrequited love, the film ended with a heartbreaking plot twist, making many viewers burst into tears.
Rouge Buckle (1987)
The love "ghost story" starred Cheung Kwok Wing and another Hong Kong superstar, Mui Yanfang. Originally an old-fashioned love story, but because of two unique actors, it has achieved a dreamlike love song. At the center of the story, the ghost of a prostitute played by Mei Yanfang, ruhua, returns to find her lover Twelve Shao (Zhang Guorong) only because he did not keep their martyrdom agreement and live in the world. Directed by Guan Jinpeng, this film designs a sad old dream, telling the story of life and death and love and hate in the yin and yang worlds.
The Legend of the White-Haired Witch (1993)
The film is based on the wuxia novel of the same name by Liang Yusheng, the "originator of martial arts", and without this classic, it seems that the whole article would be incomplete. In a battle between good and evil, Wudang disciple Zhuo Yihang (Zhang Guorong) encounters the evil demon girl Lian Ni (Lin Qingxia), and the love affair between the two is full of twists and turns, and finally a misunderstanding leads to tragedy. Lin Qingxia's flowing and cold white-haired witch style and Zhang Guorong's image of a mercurial warrior raise the freehand style in the original work to a realm where no one is out of the right.