On August 23, 2020, Chen Musheng passed away, which is exactly one year old.
In recent years, there have been too many people in front of and behind the scenes in the Hong Kong film industry, who are constantly leaving, and we seem to be used to saying goodbye. It was only when Chen Musheng left, but the sadness was particularly specific.
When film tycoons such as Run Run Shaw, Fang Yihua, Zou Wenhuai, He Guanchang, Cai Yongchang and other film tycoons passed, fans would only lament that the past era was constantly passing and completely becoming the past.
And when Chen Musheng and Lin Lingdong died, we were more shocked than sad: our times are slowly becoming a thing of the past, and they obviously have a lot to do.
Coupled with the recent brush screen of "Fury - Serious Case", it gives us a sense of time and space confusion - he has obviously left, but he is so alive. Of course, this is also a sense of relief.
For the behind-the-scenes staff, we usually have a lot of words prefixed, such as the genius Chow Sing Chi and Xu Laowei, the masters Wong Kar-wai and Du Qifeng, the big guys Hong Jinbao and Xiang Huaqiang and so on.
But Chen Musheng didn't seem to have much to do with these words, he was obviously not a genius player, nor had he reached the master position, and the name of big guy was a weight he did not want to bear.
Although handsome and handsome, it is clear that Chen Musheng does not have the temperament of a leader or idol, he is more like a meticulous worker, and professional skills and spirit are his best skills.
I would like to call it a film craftsman.
There are many outstanding action film directors in the Hong Kong film industry, but Chen Musheng has the gentleness and humility of a traditional literati, and when asked about the views of his opponents, he said: I have no opponents, only idols.
Unwilling to compete with opponents, only willing to learn and progress with idols, people like him are destined not to become a godfather figure, but they must be the strongest foundation in the film industry.
In Chen Musheng's forty-year behind-the-scenes career, there were three predecessors who had a great influence on his growth and development: Ma Dangxiong, Du Qifeng and Xu Ke.
In the early 1980s, Chen Musheng, who had just graduated from high school, joined Li's TELEVISION and became a clerk assistant, and also served as a field reporter and assistant choreographer.
Just like the current Internet factory, behind the continuous launch of various high-quality products, Li's digital farmers pay day and night, and graduate Chen Musheng cherishes this experience very much.
Chen Musheng said: "Li is my first lesson in social work, and it is the most important lesson. At that time, McDonald was the boss, and as soon as I came in, it was like entering an insane asylum, and every director was neurotic. ”
"At that time, he was already a master, I was still a young man, he didn't recognize me when he saw Madangxiong, when I went in, he was already a director-level figure, I can't say that I was cooperating, I was his subordinate."
Not long after, Li's selling incident occurred, and Ma Dangxiong threw himself into the film industry. Seeing that the building had fallen, Chen Musheng switched to TVB and met the second and biggest nobleman in his life, Du Qifeng.
At that time, Du Qifeng was a choreographer under Wang Tianlin, while Chen Musheng served as Du's assistant choreographer. In his own words: "I am their disciple, the third generation!" After three years as an assistant director, Chen Musheng was promoted to choreographer and became the youngest choreographer of TVB. In this regard, he is also quite proud of humility.
A few years later, Chen Musheng left wireless and found another way out. It was also under the recommendation of Du Qifeng that he entered the New Art City Film Industry. Chen Musheng is also often grateful for the grace of promotion: "Du Qifeng gave me the opportunity to become a director for the first time, and he has been seeking changes while adhering to his principles and style, which is very remarkable." ”
And Du Qifeng's evaluation of him is: "It is not easy to be my assistant director, because I have a bad temper, but he ignores your mood and will only do his duty." His positive attitude made me know that I was going to be spurred on. At his instigation, I can do a lot of things efficiently, so I admire him very much. ”
In 1990, Wang Tianlin was about to retire, and his son Wang Jing and his apprentices Du Qifeng and Lin Lingdong joined forces to give him a retirement gift - "Heavenly Love", which is also Chen Musheng's directorial debut.
Chen Musheng recalled: "At that time, Du Qifeng told me that I wanted to shoot "Heavenly Love", I took him to Saigon to watch the drag racing competition, probably because I talked too much about it at the time, Du Qifeng and they decided to let me shoot. ”
However, it was not until the filming was completed that the protagonist Andy Lau did not know that the director was Chen Musheng, only because the presence of producer Du Qifeng was too strong.
Speaking about this matter, Chen Musheng said: "He misunderstood that I was shooting for Du Qifeng, thinking that I was an executive director, but in fact, that time was my first real director. ”
Between the words, we can feel this gentle and humble gentleman, but also his own stubbornness and pride - he is not willing to be an executive director for others all the time, he wants to break out of his own way.
During the period of cooperation with Du Qifeng, Chen Musheng met the director he admired the most in his life, Xu Ke. In 1993, he directed a martial arts film for Xu Ke, "New Crane Needle", and that shooting experience made him learn a lot.
Chen Musheng said: "Xu Ke is like a teacher, every time he meets him, he will pass on all his film knowledge to me without reservation. When I talk to Xu Ke, I absorb his film world, and every time I see him, it's like a student meeting a teacher. ”
After years of study, Chen Musheng has absorbed The Realistic Style of Ma Dangxiong, Du Qifeng's shooting techniques and Xu Ke's artistic concepts. He is no longer an executive director, and he desperately needs a work to prove himself in all aspects. If it doesn't sound, it must be amazing.
So in 1996, Stormtrooper Fury Street came into being. Written and directed by Chen Musheng, the film has an exquisite layout, a distinct character, a tight narrative rhythm, a skillful camera switch, and a sense of elegance while the action scenes are hot and huge.
"Stormtrooper Angry Street" marks the real formation of Chen Musheng's directorial style, Jiahe boss He Guanchang said to Chen Musheng: "You have filmed every genre, now you should know what you are best at, and only make fashion action films in the future." Later, he did.
"SWAT New Human", "Double Male", "New Police Story", "Three Forks", "Baby Plan", "Keep Talking", "Sweep drugs"... After the era of "all overheated and all crazy" passed, Chen Musheng continued the heat of Hong Kong films with a cloud of anger.
Chen Musheng's rise coincided with Wu Yusen and Lin Lingdong's invasion of Hollywood. For the violent aesthetics and heroism of the past, Wang Jing and Liu Weiqiang chose subversion, Du Qifeng and Wei Jiahui chose deconstruction, and only Chen Musheng inherited more in addition to the breakthrough.
"There is only one kind of heroism in the world, and that is to recognize the truth of life and still love it." This is The awakening of Roman Rolland, and it is also the credo of Wu Yusen's film. For the definition of hero, Chen Musheng is more specific:
"A hero is not an image, it is very simple to become a hero. A good dad is a hero to a child. As long as there is love, willing to help others, as long as there is a good heart, he is a hero. ”
The grandeur is ordinary, and the fire is simple, which is what makes Chen Musheng's heroism different from his predecessors, and it is also the reason why he can maintain his uniqueness in the current "big and empty" police chaos.
Chen Musheng believes that people are emotional animals and will not calculate a positive answer, which may be the interesting place of life decisions. Many people think that they can get off the track and return to the right path, but in many cases, life is not completely controlled by themselves.
When filming "Sweeping Drugs", Chen Musheng told Liu Qingyun about the drama: "Which brother do you want to save?" I think you'll pick another one the next second, but this second you feel like you owe him a little more. Each time-space choice will be different, as if playing roulette, the dice just randomly land in the number hole. ”
For this choice, the characters under Chen Musheng's guidance tube are not as deep and desolate as Du Qifeng's fatalism, adding a bit of randomness and coincidence. Some people criticize Chen Musheng's films for always being weak in literature and drama, but privately think that this is his characteristic: there are some things that do not need to be told, just do it.
Originated from "Streets of Rage", stopped at "Furious Serious Case", I don't know whether it is the deliberate arrangement of fate, or Chen Musheng's fixed number, from his more than a dozen police action films over the past twenty years, we can see -
A small cloud of anger continues to roll, encountering successive accidents, leading the plot into one vortex after another, and finally with the fiery scene of an equation, the total destruction of the destruction, the survival of the remaining.
What is destroyed is all the evil and evil of the world; what remains is a ray of heroism in the world. This wisp of heroism is the film craftsman - Chen Musheng.
(This article was first published on the public account: the birth of a word)