Strange case films have always been one of the most sought after genres of Hong Kong cinema.
Since the 1990s, strange case films have entered a creative climax, and various cases have been put on the screen.
Among the many strange case movies, the "Top Ten Strange Cases in Hong Kong", which shocked the province and Hong Kong, is the most influential.
The so-called "Ten Strange Cases" refers to the ten appalling cases that occurred in Hong Kong, which caused panic among the people and became a hot topic of discussion at that time. Hong Kong filmmakers are the best at capturing current hot spots, so ten cases have been adapted into film and television dramas several times.
The "Ten Strange Cases" include: the Rainy Night Butcher Case, the Hello Kitty Corpse Case, the Cardboard Box Corpse Case, the Happy Valley Carton Corpse Case, the Kang Yi Garden Cooking Case, the Xiu MaoPing Corpse Burning Case, the BMW Hill Double Corpse Case, etc., almost every case has been adapted into a movie.
Among the many strange case films at that time, most of the works were shoddily made for the purpose of exploitation, so there were not many fine works.
In 1993, the famous director Huo Yaoliang invited three actresses Wu Jiali, Li Lizhen and Luo Huijuan to star on the same stage in a strange case movie "Lang Heart Is Like Iron", adapted from the most bizarre and tangled sadomasochistic vendetta case in the ten strange cases - the flight attendant dissolution case.
The three actresses each competed in the film, Wu Jiali and Luo Huijuan were bold to break through the drama road, and finally Wu Jiali was shortlisted for the Academy Awards and the Golden Horse Awards of that year, and won the Golden Horse Film, becoming the first actress to win the film with such a film at that time.
Unfortunately, the film failed miserably at the box office when it was released that year, and Hong Kong only received 2.59 million at the box office, and it was released after only 8 days of release.
But looking back today, this film is definitely a masterpiece of a strange case movie that has been seriously buried.
In this issue of "Forgotten Cult Films", let's review this movie -
"Lang Heart Like Iron"
Remains of a Woman
The film was released in 1993 and is produced and written by Hong Kong film veteran Green Leaf Chen Guoxin.
Speaking of the name Chen Guoxin, it is estimated that many people are not familiar with it, but if you talk about the history teacher he played in Stephen Chow's movie "Truant Weilong", it will definitely trigger the memory of many people.
Chen Guoxin's brother is the famous filmmaker Chen Xinjian, influenced by his brother, Chen Guoxin is also in the film circle of multi-habitat development, both as an actor and behind the scenes, directed "Life and Death Love", "Martial Arts Of the Young Line", this "Lang Heart Like Iron" is his only investment, supervision and screenwriter of the film, unfortunately the box office fiasco, so that Chen Guoxin has not personally invested in the film.
The film is adapted from the case of the carmelt carcass, the original case occurred in 1989, the case is appalling, and the trial process of the case is even more tortuous and bizarre, which has triggered a controversy in public opinion, so it is a sensation.
In 1993, in the same year, two films adapted from this case were released, in addition to "Lang Heart Like Iron", there was also Cha Chuanyi's "The Strange Case of The Dissolution of corpses", which was starred by Wu Zhenyu and Ye Tong, and was released first, resulting in a first chance, earning 6 million at the box office.
It should be said that the theme crash is one of the reasons for the box office failure of "Lang Heart Like Iron".
Director Huo Yaoliang filmed the movie "Naked Lamb" for Wang Jing the year before, which successfully allowed Qiu Shuzhen to complete the transformation of the film world, and the female killer played by Wu Jiali in the film was also very brilliant, and "Lang Heart Like Iron" is another cooperation between the two.
Wu Jiali came from the training class of the Wireless Artists' Academy, but unfortunately the timing was not good, the development of the television circle was flat, after leaving TVB, Wu Jiali shifted her focus to the film world, began to actively appear in various strange case movies, because of the bold performance and gradually attracted people's attention, the representative works of this period are "Three Wolves Strange Case" and "Network In Love".
But even in "Naked Lamb", she could only play a supporting role for Qiu Shuzhen, and finally Wu Jiali chose to boldly break through the drama road and take over the role of "Lang Heart Like Iron". It turns out that this performance made Wu Jiali famous and won the Golden Horse Film Queen in one fell swoop.
The other two heroines in the movie, one is Zhou Xingchi's ex-girlfriend Luo Huijuan, who plays on the same stage with Wu Jiali in the film.
The other is the film goddess Li Lizhen, when she starred in this film, Li Lizhen just finished acting in "When the Peach Is Ripe", when she was in the transition period of pure jade girl, to the transformation of the acting school actress, taking over "Lang Heart Like Iron" is also about to prove acting, there are several very explosive scenes in the movie, the performance is very wonderful, but unfortunately the limelight at that time was completely overshadowed by Wu Jiali.
Tell the story again.
In 1989, villagers in Sha Tin Village, New Territories, Hong Kong, always smelled a disgusting unpleasant smell. The villagers could not bear it and complained to the police, demanding that the source of the odor be found and disposed of.
Eventually, the police found a house owned by a Chinese-American David who was a playboy with a chaotic private life and a relationship with a number of women, including her live-in girlfriend Yu Ling.
When the police inspected the residence, they found that the two people were taking drugs, carefully searched the house, and found a huge iron box in the bathroom on the third floor. When opened, a female corpse that had been corroded by chemicals was stored.
After the police investigation, it was found that the female corpse was huang Ziwen, the flight attendant of the airline, and one of David's lovers.
The police arrested David and Yu Ling as suspects, but during interrogation, the two only admitted to drug abuse and refused to admit to killing. The investigation of the case has reached a dead end, and the story of the film has also begun.
During the imprisonment of David and Yu Ling, Annie (Li Lizhen), a female volunteer of a religious society, came to the prison to do psychological counseling work for David and Yu Ling, and with a period of contact, Annie was gradually impressed by David's charm.
By August 1990, the verdict was finally pronounced.
The court convicted David and Yu Ling and sentenced them to death, but neither agreed with the verdict and insisted on appealing.
Meanwhile, the local prosecutor Wang was in charge of the case, and he had recently dreamed of the deceased Huang Ziwen's dream for several consecutive nights, which deeply disturbed him, and it was at this time that he received a notice to reopen the investigation into the dissolution case.
Prosecutor Wang, who was in charge, began to re-examine the confessions of that year, and the police also interrogated the suspects David and Yu Ling again, thus starting a recollection and telling the chaotic relationship between David, Yu Ling and the victim Huang Ziwen.
A few years ago, the playboy David met Yu Ling, a female employee who worked at the front desk of the Jockey Club betting station, david was rich and generous, coupled with good conversation and the best at sweet talk, hooked up with Yu Ling, the wife of a husband, and the two often met privately.
Later, David instigated Yu Ling to help him steal money with the convenience of work, and Yu Ling was blinded by lard and was willing to leave everything for David.
However, David is a scumbag who is an out-and-out scumbag, and two months after meeting Yu Ling, he met the fashionable and beautiful flight attendant Huang Ziwen.
Yu Ling is willing to divorce David, but David frowns with other women, and David does not care about Yu Ling's accusations, but instead brainwashes PUA and tells Yu Ling that he will not only love her alone.
Yu Ling loved very lowly, and even allowed David to continue to look for flowers and ask for willows, and was infected with drugs by the other party and became an addict.
Back in reality, anne, a female social worker, has recently traveled back and forth to and from prison to visit Yu Ling and David.
It turned out that Annie's job was actually to visit Yu Ling, but Yu Ling loved David deeply and always wanted to know the latest situation of her lover, so she begged Annie to help visit David and relayed the conversation to her, and Annie kindly agreed.
But things have changed since Anne came to visit David.
David, a veteran of the love scene, faced with all kinds of rhetoric of the religious Annie, wrote love letters for her, which made Annie full of joy. In the end, she actually took the initiative to propose to Anne, and what is outrageous is that Annie actually ate this set very much and agreed to the other party's marriage proposal.
At this time, Anne has been brainwashed by David, and she runs around, writing to David, hoping that the case will be retried.
Yu Ling, who was imprisoned, was very emotional when she learned that Annie had actually hooked up with David. Prosecutor Wang took the opportunity to persuade Yu Ling to tell the truth and confess her relationship with the deceased to him.
Yu Ling told Prosecutor Wang that she had an argument with Huang Ziwen shortly before the incident.
At that time, Yu Ling was holding a psychedelic party at David's house, but Unexpectedly, Huang Ziwen found that the relationship between the two was abnormal, and she lost her temper and became angry, which eventually developed into a quarrel, and David was unwilling to give up in order to take money with Yu Ling, and has been circling between the two women.
On Valentine's Day, David came to yu ling again, originally with a strong affection, and as a result, David took the opportunity to ask Yu Ling for money.
Yu Ling was reluctant to steal the money again, and David turned his face on the spot.
Taking the necklace that was supposed to be given to Yu Ling, he went to huang Ziwen and gave the necklace to Huang Ziwen, so as to ask Huang for money.
David turned his face ruthlessly, but in Yu Ling's heart, everything was Huang Ziwen's fault.
She is paranoid that it is Huang Ziwen's appearance that stole the necklace that belonged to her and the love of her boyfriend David, which led to the two women becoming a fire.
Soon after the day of the reopening of the trial, Prosecutor Wang raised many doubts about the case, believing that David could not clear the suspicion, but David used the iron box as an excuse to shirk it.
Anne, who was on the sidelines, was also emotional, using her religious identity to prove David's innocence, and claimed that the two were married, and she believed that her husband would not kill.
At this time, Yu Ling, who was standing in the defendant's seat, was sad and desperate in her heart, and she suddenly confessed all the crimes, and one person carried all the crimes.
In this way, David was exonerated, he was released in court, and Yu Ling was sentenced from murder to manslaughter.
David stepped out of the courtroom as a victor, only the wang prosecutor became more and more suspicious in his heart.
Yu Ling, who is imprisoned, saw David's triumphant gesture of walking out of the courtroom on TV and fell into an unforgettable memory.
On the night of the crime, David was secretly having fun with Yu Ling again, and as a result, Huang Ziwen suddenly went home, found the ugly affair between the two, and once again quarreled with Yu Ling, which made David very impatient.
David was busy taking drugs, and as a result, Huang Ziwen broke out into a conflict in order to stimulate David.
David and Yu Ling were manic after taking drugs, and Yu Ling dragged Huang Ziwen's leg during the fight, and David killed Huang Ziwen.
After discovering that Huang Ziwen had lost his breath, David panicked and tried to hide the body in the iron box, but found that he could not put it in.
So Yu Ling dismembered the body, and then took it to the bathroom and corroded it with chemicals until it was found by the police.
After David was released from prison, he and Annie were successfully married, but he would still be entangled in nightmares in his heart, and he could only keep comforting himself with innocence...
The story of the film ends abruptly here.
This "Lang Heart Like Iron" compared to the same year's "Corpse Dissolution Strange Case", more serious in production, screenwriters Pan Yuanliang and Chen Guoxin in the narrative level of quite painstaking, the original case itself is not complicated, but the entanglement behind the case is very bizarre, so the screenwriter emphasized the sense of tragedy of the whole story, and constantly uses interludes and flashbacks to enhance the suspense of the story.
Compared with the strange case films of the same period, this film is also very deep in terms of orientation value, and does not deliberately sell and exploit curiosity, most of the content of the film focuses on the complex emotional entanglement of the parties to the case, David, Yu Ling, Huang Ziwen and the female social worker Annie, and more ink depicts the psychological changes of the three heroines, strengthening the sadness of several female characters who have gone astray due to unladylike encounters.
Unfortunately, the film as a strange case film is a bit too thin, Prosecutor Wang's investigation part has become a less important branch line, the second half of the story is seriously discouraged, the portrayal of the scumbag role is not enough, all rely on the actress's acting skills to support the story, weakening the depth of the film's emotions.
Of course, it may also be precisely because the narrative of this film is not simple and direct, which led to the film being criticized for the chaotic story after its release at the time, resulting in a box office fiasco, which is a pity.
Throughout the whole movie, Wu Jiali can get the film, in addition to the performance is really outstanding, but also because her character personality is more complex, the performance level is also more, learned that the most trusted female social worker Annie will marry her boyfriend David, Wu Jiali from relaxed to calm, and then to questioning and collapsing, the performance can be said to be very expressive.
It is worth mentioning that in the restored version of this film released later, the film dealer cut out a 6-minute shot, which affected the look and feel.