In 1988, a screenwriter named Wong Kar-wai transformed into a director, writing and directing the film "Carmen in Mong Kok".
With his personalized lens style and unique line design, Wong Kar-wai, who sat in the director's seat, quickly became popular in the Chinese film industry. Works such as "The True Biography of Ah Fei", "Chongqing Forest", "Fallen Angel", "East Evil and West Poison", "Spring Break", "Fancy Years" and other works have also allowed him to win one trophy after another at major film festivals.
Wong Kar-wai, who prefers literary and artistic stories, has cooperated with many "literary and artistic film emperors" in the Hong Kong film industry. Zhang Guorong, Liang Chaowei, Jacky Cheung, Li Ming, and Liang Jiahui have all been the focus of his film lenses.
However, as the true "king of literary and art films" in the Hong Kong film industry, Chow Yun Fat's figure has been repeatedly absent from Wong Kar-wai's film works.
Speaking of Zhou Runfa, most viewers will think of works such as "The True Colors of Heroes", "God of Gamblers", and "Across the Seas". Indeed, these excellent commercial film works have laid a solid foundation for Chow Yun-fat's box office era. However, these are only a small part of Chow Yun-fat's film career.
In fact, what Fa Ge is best at is the interpretation and expression of literary and artistic works. Literary and artistic works such as "The Story of Hu Yue", "Waiting for the Dawn", "Woman's Heart", "Dream Man", "Tears of the Fallen City", "Underground Love", "Autumn Fairy Tale", "The Story of Ah Lang" and so on have also gradually consolidated the "road of the emperor of shadows" of Fa Ge.
However, one is a famous director of literary and art films, and the other is a literary film emperor. Between Wong Kar-wai and Chow Yun Fat, there seems to be little "screen intersection".
Although Wong Kar-wai during the directorial period failed to reach any effective cooperation with Chow Yun-fat, Wong Kar-wai during the screenwriting period once created a work called "Dragon and Tiger Fighting in the Jianghu" for Chow Yun-fat. And this work has also become the only film cooperation between Wang and Tuesday on the big screen of Hong Kong films.
In this issue, we will talk about this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight", and at the same time talk about the screen past of Wong Kar-wai and Chow Yun-fat.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > Deng Guangrong, a self-organized company </h1>
The reason why this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight" will be born is from Deng Guangrong's independent entrepreneurship.
In the early years, Deng Guangrong has been active in the big screen of Taiwanese literary and art films, and together with Qin Han and Qin Xianglin at that time, he was collectively known as "Taiwan's three major literary and artistic students". In the mid-1970s, Deng Guangrong transformed into a producer and established "Da Rong Film" in the Taiwan Film Market.
However, at the end of the 1970s, Taiwanese films were rapidly declining, and the Hong Kong film market was rapidly rising. Many Taiwanese filmmakers entered the development of the Hong Kong film market in the early 1980s. Qin Xianglin and Hu Huizhong cooperated with Hong Jinbao in the "Five Lucky Stars" series. And Lin Qingxia has also starred in "Shushan: New Shushan Swordsman", "Police Story" and other Hong Kong film works.
In the mid-1980s, Tang Guangrong also came to the Hong Kong film market to seek new development opportunities. In 1987, he set up "Shadow Master Production Co., Ltd.", hoping to show his fists in the Hong Kong film market with a good environment.
After the establishment of the company, the first task is to make a good work and make a name. And this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight" is the entrepreneurial work of "Shadow Jie Production Co., Ltd."
In 1987, Wong Kar-wai and Liu Zhenwei, who were still small figures in the film industry, saw the recruitment information of "Shadow Master Production Company" and invested in this company.
As soon as they joined the company, the two were entrusted by the boss Deng Guangrong with heavy responsibilities and served as executive producers in "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight". Among them, Wong Kar-wai was also responsible for the script creation of the film.
In 1986, Wu Yusen's "The True Colors of Heroes" set off a wave of creative enthusiasm for "jianghu hero films" in the Hong Kong film market. At that time, Deng Guangrong also wanted to follow the trend to shoot a "jianghu hero film".
In order to ensure the box office effect of the film, Deng Guangrong specially found Zhou Runfa, and the film's publicity poster "Zhou Runfa Shows Heroic True Colors Again" has also become a major gimmick in the film's publicity.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="28" > "Jianghu Hero Film" created by Wong Kar-wai</h1>
In the design of the story, this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight" follows the theme of "brotherhood" in Wu Yusen's style.
At the beginning of the film, Arun and Ah Tian are a pair of orphans wandering the streets of Macau, and the two suffer together. While stealing something from the church, Ah Tian meets Kashi, a girl adopted by the church. In order to persuade Ah Tian to be good, Kashi would send food to Ah Tian and Arun every day.
However, this kind of eating and drinking did not last long. Kashi was adopted by a couple and left the church. Aaron and Ah Tian also returned to the life of "stealing and robbing".
In the blink of an eye, 20 years have passed. Ah Tian (played by Zhou Runfa) and Arun (played by Deng Guangrong) two brothers, all the way up and down, became two big men.
On this day, a nightclub under the name of Arun and Ah Tian opened. The jianghu gangster "Gao Laosi" (played by Xie Xian) sent his subordinate "Ah Xu" (played by Xu Shaoqiang) to celebrate.
Ah Xu went straight to the point, saying that Gao Laosi wanted to cooperate with Arun and sell "white powder" through nightclubs, but Arun refused.
Soft doesn't work, just hard. In order to force Arun to cooperate, Ah Xu kidnapped Ah Tian. Arun, who has a grumpy personality, and with his men, sweeps Ah Xu's field and rescues Ah Tian.
Ah Xu died in a shootout, and between Arun and Gao Laosi, a beam was formed.
Gao Laosi is the biggest "gangster gangster" in Macau, and in order to calm things down, Arun found several uncles of high rank and set up a table and a head wine. However, Gao Laosi did not give these uncles face, and insisted on killing Arun and Ah Tian.
At the dinner table, Arun and Ah Tian's men and gao laosi's men and horses were fierce, and a fire was about to erupt. In order to ease the atmosphere, Gao Laosi gave Arun a chance. Gao Laosi had a number of "arms businesses" in Thailand that were in trouble, and if Arun could help settle the matter, the previous events would not be blamed.
In order to avoid two gangs fighting, Arun agreed to the conditions of the fourth elder and rushed to Thailand alone. Ah Tian stayed behind to stabilize the situation.
After Aaron arrived in Thailand, he realized that he had been swung together by the senior elder. It turned out that Gao Laosi had swallowed the goods of Uncle Kun, a "Thai arms dealer", and also killed Uncle Kun's brother-in-law. Now, on behalf of Gao Laosi, Arun came to make peace with Uncle Kun, no doubt coming to "send him to death".
Uncle Kun captures Aaron and intends to kill him. But at this time, several of Uncle Kun's enemies came to the door, and in the chaotic gunfight, Arun saved the injured Uncle Kun. After these twists and turns, Arun and Uncle Kun turned enemies into friends.
In addition to making friends with Uncle Kun, Aaron also met the singer "Jesse" (played by Jenny) in Thailand. After a relationship twist and turn with Jesse, Aaron decides to return to Macau and compete with Gao Laosi. Uncle Kun also kindly sponsored Arun's batch of "arms".
While Arun experienced an adventure in Thailand, Ah Tian also ushered in an emotional turning point in Macau.
By chance, Ah Tian met Kashi (played by Xia Wenxi), and his childhood feelings suddenly surged into his heart, and the two quickly fell in love.
Kashi does not want Ah Tian to continue to sink in the "gang", and Ah Tian also decides to explain the reason to Ah Lun when he returns, and quit the jianghu.
Soon, Arun returned from Thailand with "arms", and he recruited troops, planning to go to war with Gao Laosi. At this time, Ah Tian also explained his intentions and planned to quit the jianghu and marry Kashi.
Aaron knew that the jianghu was a road of no return, and it was beneficial and harmless to Turn to the right way. Therefore, Arun concealed the news that he had started a war with Gao Laosi and quietly bid farewell to Ah Tian.
After Ah Tian left, Arun gathered his men and planned to sweep the field of Gao Laosi. However, the news leaked, Arun was secretly calculated by the "killer" sent by Gao Laosi, and after a gun battle, Arun was seriously injured, but also recovered a life.
After Ah Tian married Kashi, he ran a supermarket together and lived a dull life. One day, Ah Tian learned from his friend Alai that Arun had been seriously injured by Gao Laosi's calculations, and Gao Laosi was searching around for Arun's whereabouts.
Knowing that his brother was killed, Ah Tian decided to lend a helping hand, but his wife Kashi did not want Ah Tian to have anything to do with the "gangster" again. Between "family" and "brotherhood", Ah Tian finally chose "brotherhood".
At the end of the story, the two brothers, Ah Tian and Arun, engage in a gun battle with the four seniors at the horse farm. As the shootout ended and the "police" surrounded the scene, the film came to an end.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="59" > wanted to follow Wu Yusen, but accidentally filmed Hong Jinbao </h1>
Originally, this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight" was intended to follow Wu Yusen's "Jianghu Hero Film" style. However, during the filming process of the film, the film gradually entered the "Hong Jinbao action comedy".
The reason why the film has such a performance is inextricably linked to director Zhang Tongzu and screenwriter Wong Kar-wai.
Zhang Tongzu and Wong Kar-wai can also be regarded as old partners.
In the early years, Wong Kar-wai worked as a screenwriter in Chen Xunqi's "Yongjia Film", and then jumped to Hong Jinbao's "Baohe Film". In "Baohe", Wong Kar-wai and Zhang Tongzu formed a group of choreographers and directors, and jointly created comedy works such as "Sequel to the Divine Courage Double Cannon" and "Wind And Currents".
Probably because of the relationship of "Hong JiaBan", in this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight", although Zhang Tongzu and Wong Kar-wai take Wu Yusen's "brotherly love" as the core of the story, in the performance structure of the film, it is full of the characteristics of "Hong Jinbao action comedy".
Hong Jinbao's "Five Blessings" series can be said to be the "most characteristic film works of Hong Jiaban". And this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight", whether it is the design of the story structure or the design of the detailed bridge section, is secretly in line with the iconic "Five Lucky Stars" series of "HongJiaban".
The "Five Lucky Stars" series is very conspicuous in structure, and each one is almost: a big case occurred, the Five Blessings were ordered to complete the task, and in the process of completing the task, the Five Blessings stars "gagded" and "bubbled up the oil", and finally ended the story with a wonderful armageddon with an action scene.
The plot structure of this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight" is very consistent with Hong Jiaban's "Five Lucky Stars" movie. At first, Arun and Ah Tian's gang formed a grudge with the people and horses of the fourth elder. After that, Arun went to Thailand to complete the mission, and Atian sat in the base camp.
Saying that it is a mission to complete, after Aaron arrived in Thailand, he only experienced a gunfight, and then entered the "love" link, and the singer Jesse Qingqing me, "Meat Strips" is also one after another.
Another male protagonist, Ah Tian, said that he was the base camp of the town guard, in fact, he stayed in Macau to fall in love with Kashi, and it was also an old routine of "eating tofu" and "picking oil".
After the emotional drama of the two male protagonists was almost performed, the plot of the movie turned and came to the gang fight. With one wonderful gunfight scene after another, the story of the film also came to an end.
In addition to the similar story structure, this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight" also has the characteristics of "HongJiaban Comedy" in the design of the detailed bridge sections.
Strengthening the comedic effect of the lines, using the mixing and conversation between the characters to create a comedic atmosphere is a major feature of Hong Jiaban comedy. In the "Five Blessings" series, the mouth between rhinoceros skin, Dashengdi and Chinese ginseng often comes out with golden sentences, poking at the laughter of a large number of audiences.
And like "You see I have no place to compare with others besides good health, quick mind, kind heart, hard work, sincerity, and loyalty!" Lines such as "blind and clever, dumb and vicious, squinting with glasses, high and obscene, thin people who love garlic, and the most bastards in shoehorns" also left a deep impression on a large number of audiences.
In this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight", Zhang Tongzu and Wong Kar-wai also carried forward the design characteristics of "Hong Jia Ban Comedy" in terms of lines. In the bridge section of "Ah Tian Pursues Kashi", the funny dialogue between Zhou Runfa, Xia Wenxi, and Yi Lei adds a lot of comedic color to the movie.
It is worth mentioning that the early work experience in the "HongJiaban" had a great impact on wong Kar-wai's film career after that. The characteristics of "Hong Jiaban Comedy", which is good at personalizing the design of the lines, laid the groundwork for Wong Kar-wai's later film creation.
In the later "The Legend of Ah Fei", "Chongqing Deep Forest", "East Evil and West Poison", "Spring Break", "Fancy Years", the line of "full of anger" has also become a key element of Wong Kar Wai's films.
This "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight" wants to imitate Wu Yusen, but it does not accurately grasp the theme of "brotherhood". However, Chow Yun-fat's appearance and the design of the comedy bridge section still added a lot of commercial elements to the film.
After the film was released, it achieved a box office performance of more than 15 million yuan and rushed into the top 20 of the annual box office rankings. Deng Guangrong's "Shadow Master Production Co., Ltd." also officially made a name for itself with the film.
"Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fighting" is Deng Guangrong's entrepreneurial work, and it is also the final work of Wong Kar-wai's "screenwriting era". After the film, Wong Kar-wai was supported by Deng Guangrong, transformed from screenwriter to director, and successively filmed "Carmen in Mong Kok" and "The Legend of Ah Fei".
By the way, in Wong Kar-wai's literary and art works, there is a very classic "creative motif", that is, one person wants to let another person go with him, but in the end he fails to do so.
In "Carmen in Mong Kok", Maggie Cheung asks Andy Lau if he can go with himself; in "The Biography of Ah Fei", Liu Jialing asks Zhang Guorong if he can take himself with him; in "Fancy Years", Liang Chaowei asks Maggie Cheung if you would like to go with me if you have one more ticket.
This classic story motif was first designed by Wong Kar-wai in this "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight". In the film, Xia Wenxi asks Zhou Runfa if he would like to go to Hong Kong with him.
After "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight", Wong Kar-wai ended his "screenwriting era" and opened his own "director's era". However, Wong Kar-wai, who entered the peak period of creation, never cooperated with Zhou Run Development again.
This "Jianghu Dragon and Tiger Fight" has also become the only film cooperation between Chow Yun Fat and Wong Kar-wai.