When it comes to Stephen Chow, the first thing that comes to mind is often "Journey to the West" and "The King of Comedy".
However, as a "star fan", Uncle Chai is most obsessed with "Kung Fu" among the many films created by Xingye, and firmly believes that this is the pinnacle of Xingye.
The reason for this is not because Uncle Chai is a severe "straight male cancer" patient with martial arts and jianghu in mind, nor because "Kung Fu" broke the box office record of Chinese films in dozens of countries and regions when it was released in 2004.
It is because this film is a work of sincere feelings by Star Ye; in this film, he exudes three touching feelings, which is enough to see why this film can win countless awards.
Growing feelings
Anyone who knows a little about Stephen Chow will find that the names of the characters he plays in most of the films are related to "stars".
For example, "A Xing" in films such as "The Wind Catcher", "The Last Big Guy in the Jianghu" and "Master Brother Bumps into the Ghost".
As well as "Zhou Xingzu" in "Gambler", "Bao Longxing" in "Nine Pin Sesame Officer" and "Zhou Xingxing" in "Truant Weilong".
In films such as "Invincible Lucky Star", "Thief A Star" and "Hundred Variable Star Jun", not only the names of the characters, but even the names of the films also contain the word "star".
Although there is no "star" in the title of "Kung Fu", the protagonist played by Stephen Chow has only one "star" in his name.
This, the subtitles at the end of the film, have traces to follow.
Many people may say that Zhou Xingchi uses the word "star" to name the role he plays, for convenience, or to create a "character label" of his own.
But Uncle Chai always believes that Xingye's seemingly lazy and flattering naming behavior is using roles to reflect his life.
He borrowed many characters with "stars" in their names to tell the poignant experiences before he became famous, and the same is true of the "stars" in "Kung Fu".
Stephen Chow grew up in the poor area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, and the daily life of the little people at the bottom is all too familiar to him.
This is also why he will set the place where "Kung Fu" took place as a slum in the "Pig Cage City Wall" hidden in the city, and will shape those kung fu masters and protagonists into small characters with bitter hearts.
After her parents divorced, her mother single-handedly pulled Zhou Xingchi and her sisters and sisters up, and when she worked hard, she had to work three jobs a day.
Xingye, who grew up in such a family environment, understood things very early. In order to let his mother eat a piece of meat, he would deliberately drop the meat and chicken legs on the ground, otherwise, the mother would not be willing to eat it.
Knowing this experience of Xingye, it is not difficult to understand why the fallen star in "Kung Fu" would so naturally send the cigarette butts picked up from the ground to his mouth.
Due to his family's poverty and short stature, Zhou Xingchi was often bullied by his classmates when he was a child.
When he grew up, in order to reduce his mother's burden, he began to work part-time to subsidize the family early, and the people who bullied him changed from classmates to bosses and customers.
At that time, In order to make himself strong, Zhou Xingchi swore not to be the sick man of East Asia as an idol to worship.
These heart-wrenching growth experiences have all been filmed into "Kung Fu" by Xingye.
It's just that in the film, the person who bullied him became a little gangster and gangster a few years older than him, and the kung fu he wanted to learn from Bruce Lee also became the beggar's sale of "Rulai God Palm".
In "Kung Fu", in addition to Zhou Xingchi's lingering growth memories, there are also love stories that he never forgets.
The reason why the character played by Huang Shengyi in the film is a mute woman is precisely because Xingye just learned before filming "Kung Fu" that Luo Huijuan, the first love who has been married to a woman, lost her hearing in both ears because of an accident in diving.
When outsiders are arguing about whether his true love is Zhu Yin or Karen Mok, he has begun to use movies to remember his lost love.
Kung Fu feelings
Stephen Chow's achievements in film are very high, and many people, in order to show respect, call him the "King of Comedy" and Star Ye.
At the same time, many people also overlook that he is a hidden kung fu master.
When "Kung Fu" was released in the United States, he went to the local TV show to do publicity, and the host provoked trouble and found a big fat man to compete with him. Unexpectedly, Star Ye made three moves and two styles, and he dried the man to the ground.
It can be seen that he still has some housekeeping skills.
Stephen Chow has been obsessed with kung fu since he was a child, and he has also regarded the martial arts master Bruce Lee as his idol.
When he was a child, he was limited by family conditions and did not have the opportunity to learn from his teachers, so he took sandbags as a way for him to learn martial arts.
When he grew up, he studied Wing Chun chun with Wong Chun Leung, who had played more than 100 times in Hong Kong.
Wong Chun Leung is one of the most important disciples of Wing Chun master Ip Man in Hong Kong. Therefore, Chow Sing Chi's idol Bruce Lee can also be regarded as his fellow disciple.
In fact, the fact that Zhou Xingchi is a kung fu master is reflected in all aspects.
Not to mention that he starred in many martial arts movies in the early days, and was also praised by two martial arts masters, Yuan Bin and Zhen Zidan, for his unusual skills.
Just by looking at the abs he showed in "Kung Fu", I have to say that Xingye's figure is not simple.
However, he never regarded his obsessive kung fu as a skill that could be shown off.
The same is true of the kung fu masters hidden in the pig cage wall in "Kung Fu". Unless they make a living, save lives, and compete, they will not easily reveal their skills.
Whether it is the chartered couple who show people as villains, or the three people who are proficient in the Twelve Road Tan Legs, the Hongjia Clematis, and the Goro Bagua Stick, or the evil spirits of the Piano Tone and the Fire Cloud, including the stars who have cultivated the palm of the Rulai God.
These people, when they first appeared, were silent little people.
It wasn't until they showed their skills that the audience knew that they were all masters.
In order to express his kung fu feelings in the movie, Zhou Xingchi not only directly used the word "kung fu" as the title of the film, but also spent a lot of thought when selecting actors and conveying the concept of kung fu.
The reason why the fight scene in "Kung Fu" will be unforgettable is largely because Chow's casting is very successful.
Shi Xingyu, who plays a coolie, is the 32nd generation disciple of the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, Henan, and has eleven years of martial arts training experience.
Zhao Zhiling, who starred as a master tailor, is the world's premier HongQuan master.
Dong Zijian's father, Dong Zhihua, who portrayed fried ghosts, began to study Peking Opera at the age of 10 and also majored in martial arts performances at the Central Art Troupe in Beijing.
The evil god of fire clouds, the chartered in-laws and the remnants of heaven and earth, and Chen Guokun, who resembled Bruce Lee, not to mention.
They are all kung fu masters invited by Zhou Xingchi at great pains, and many of the actions in the film are real fights with fists and flesh.
Coupled with the martial arts instruction of the film, there are heavy moves of Hong Jinbao, and there is also Yuan Heping, who has a heavy artistic conception.
It is no wonder that after many years, this film can still stand out from many martial arts films.
More importantly, "Kung Fu" also conveys a lot of "kung fu concepts" that martial arts films do not value.
Whether it is the realm of Kung Fu itself: from the fist and foot weapon - the elephant is invisible; or the understanding of Kung Fu by the practitioner of martial arts: from bullying to teaching.
Zhou Xingchi, who has a kung fu in mind and is also a director, has explained clearly and clearly in an hour and a half.
Cinematic sentiment
If kung fu is the joy of Stephen Chow's self-cultivation, then movies are his career.
Both are the directions of the heart for him.
It's just that kung fu is used to entertain oneself, while movies are used to serve others.
Like the lollipop and axe in the "Kung Fu" poster, the protagonist holds a lollipop and an axe with his hands intertwined, he has both the sweetness of soothing the heart and the power to shock the outside world.
In the era of commercial-oriented films, Zhou Xingchi, as a comedy film director, did not blindly use technology to please the audience, but as far as possible to infiltrate his own films with feelings.
At the beginning of "Kung Fu", the cameo Feng Xiaogang said in a joking tone that he would not make movies in any business, because there was no one in the movie theater on Sunday.
This seemingly ridiculous but meaningful sentence is a metaphor for the bleakness of the Chinese film market at that time.
But even so, Zhou Xingchi is still sticking to his film dream.
Not only the background of the lines, can confirm that Stephen Chow loves movies deeply, and there are many places in "Kung Fu" that can show his love for movies.
Audiences who have read a little more can see that Zhou Xingchi pays tribute to many classic works in this film.
The most notable of these are the poses of the protagonists and mute women for Gone with the Wind and the top hat posters that appear behind them.
There is also the charter wife who imitates Bruce Lee's actions in "Raptors Across the River" when warning the Axe Gang Boss.
Before his death, the fried ghost said "the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility" and "what are you going to do", which also paid tribute to the 02 version of "Spider-Man" and the 1987 "Iron Mask Selfless".
Such tributes are all paid to Stephen Chow in his own film language, telling his respect for the film.
For movie fans, it is indeed surprising to be able to see so many traces of works so naturally and unobtrusively in a classic work.
Of course, Zhou Xingchi's pursuit is more than that, in order to create a film that he is satisfied with, he has given himself a lot of problems in the production process.
There are still tidbits circulating on the Internet when he was filming "Kung Fu", and after watching it, it really makes people admire his dedication.
However, what Uncle Chai personally likes most is Zhou Xingchi's use of music in this film.
After brushing this film, N will still sigh that few directors can combine Chinese folk music, Western music, old Shanghai music, as well as adapted and original music in a movie like Xingye.
After all, not just one director will bring in the entire orchestra to score his own film.
It is not a random director, after inviting a famous soundtrack master, he also has to personally go out and fill in the lyrics for the film's interlude.
Therefore, a "Kung Fu" shows Chow's obsession with movies.
Now 18 years later, looking at the details in "Kung Fu", these three major feelings alone are enough to see that Xingye's "Kung Fu" has won countless awards, which is really deserved!
Now, when it comes to Stephen Chow's film style, everyone often talks about his own "Zhou's nonsense", in fact, the fluency and rhythm of Xingye's films are also expected by general directors.
Speaking of this, I have to say that this seems to be due to the old-fashioned film editing technology, but in fact, Xingye has applied the experience of "kung fu" to the movie.
After all, "the martial arts under the heavens are not broken, only fast is not broken", but it is the truth that people who practice martial arts respect.
It can be seen that whether it is the story in the movie or the technology outside the movie, it is the projection of the feelings of the star master, in the end, he is writing his life with the movie.
The end of "Kung Fu" is the Happy ending that many people like, and the protagonist realizes his kung fu dream in this movie, seizes the missed love, and makes up for many regrets that people lament.
When watching this drama, many "star fans" will involuntarily imagine the protagonist as Zhou Xingchi himself, and take the fate of "star" as another kind of writing of Zhou Xingchi's own life.
It's just a pity that the consummation is in the play, and the regret is life.
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【Text |.】 Silsa 】
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