Among the film actors, Stephen Chow is a very special existence. From the perspective of an idol, Zhou Xingchi is difficult to call a movie star, he is not handsome at first, and he does not know how to attract fans. Although for a long time, the Hong Kong entertainment industry and Stephen Chow himself tried to make him an entertainment superstar. However, what was in his bones doomed Zhou Xingchi to be unable to embark on this worldly path. However, because he was born in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, and Chow Sing Chi himself was not from a science class, his acting skills and appearance were not favored by art directors. In this regard, Zhou Xingchi is indeed inferior to Liang Chaowei, a good friend before he entered the entertainment industry. The latter is not only handsome, but also has natural acting skills, and one look can confuse sentient beings.
Zhou Xingchi's name comes from the sentence "Xiongzhou Wulie, Juncai Xingchi, Taihuang Pillow Yixia, guests and hosts to the beauty of the southeast" in the "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion". However, Zhou Xingchi's life responds to another sentence in the "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion": "The times are uneven, and the fate is uncertain." Feng Tang is easy to be old, Li Guang is difficult to seal." Zhou Xingchi's days in the entertainment industry were not smooth, although he was full of enthusiasm for movies, but he did not think that the entertainment industry did not have a place for him Zhou Xingchi. In the 7 years after Zhou Xingchi's debut, he can only be a supporting role that is not paid attention to. From before entering the entertainment industry to a few periods of life before becoming famous, Zhou Xingchi tasted the bittersweet and bittersweet of a small person in the city, and all of this made Zhou Xingchi engraved in his movie with his subtle performance.
Stephen Chow's films have been described as and art for a while, because people who have seen Stephen Chow's films will find that his films have a fire under the moon style of big scenery. However, it is also Zhou Xingchi's spirit of exploration that dares to be low to the dust, which allows him to find the situation of the spiritual life of those at the bottom on the screen. As Stephen Chow showed in his 2001 self-directed and self-starring film Shaolin Soccer, everyone has their own life experience, and most people have to know how to face their own ordinariness. Zhou Youjun believes that everyone has fantasized about their highlight moments in childhood, but most people's middle-aged people also accept their own mediocrity. In Stephen Chow's films, he has a deep expression and understanding of the emotions of these ordinary people.
We say that Stephen Chow and his films are tacky, and in most of Stephen Chow's works, he pursues the box office, and in the process of pursuing the box office, he plays his nonsensical performance to the extreme. With the most tacky performance, the pursuit of the most tacky goal. This in itself should be a cheesy movie to the extreme, but Zhou Xingchi is fundamentally different from Wang Jing. He could make money through movies, he could cater to audiences with some acting tricks, but his spiritual essence didn't succumb to the world. He's been using movies to fight the world.
Like the brothers in Shaolin Soccer, they make a living in this society in the most humble way, and they also long for recognition of secular values. But everything backfired, and they had no skills. In order to be able to realize their ideals, they have to face the unspoken rules of society and run to a worldly goal, not to prove how great they are, but what they have lost, they must take back. As for what to take back? There may be dignity in it, there is a need to be recognized. But fundamentally, it is an expression of the self to the world.
In this society, the so-called good people are full of distress. These people who are willing to be ordinary only want to live the most ordinary life, and it is such a requirement that they are still not satisfied. This is the true portrayal of those ordinary small citizens of the city. However, in "Shaolin Football", Zhou Xingchi said again, what is the difference between people without dreams and salted fish? Yes, no matter what the material life is, we should still not give up the spiritual appeal. Even if we look at the shoe cabinet, the salesman will wipe the glass repeatedly, but it still can't stop us from pursuing our dreams. This shot and detail in "Shaolin Soccer" has been mentioned repeatedly, and this shot is also considered to be the most realistic portrayal of the social situation of small people by Stephen Chow.
When a poor man looks at it and is thought to have soiled the shoe cabinet glass, the ruler of the world has long since changed. In the secular world, people only care about what brand your sneakers are, how much your car is worth, and how big your house is. And these seem to be a portrayal of a person's true achievements. But is that really the case? While we can't give an affirmative answer, we don't have much strong evidence to refute it. At least, so far, most people are still measuring the world in this way, and the little people who live in the city have been plagued by such a situation.
Even if these little people have ideals of saving the world, they are still looked down upon and marginalized in the secular world. In fact, they chase after worldly values, not to show the world, but to give themselves an answer, to give themselves a proof. Just like Stephen Chow, what is his effort for. Zhou Xingchi, who has now turned sixty, is still not married. He shuttled through the entertainment industry, from an obscure small supporting role to today's big star, does he really feel that he has succeeded?
In fact, every time Zhou Xingchi shoots a movie, he will always weigh it again and again, because no movie really belongs to Zhou Xingchi himself. He has to think about the box office, he thinks about investors, he thinks about actors, and at the same time he has to think about his mission. Self-directed and self-acting "Shaolin Soccer", in fact, there are many things in it that Zhou Xingchi needs to compromise. But there is also a more gratifying point, that is, at least Stephen Chow has the right to create most of the films.
In the end, although the reputation of "Shaolin Football" is not Stephen Chow's top work, this movie fully represents stephen Chow's situation in the film circle. The whole film draws on many great works, and is also finely crafted and polished. But the compromises and concessions in the film are also obvious, including Zhao Wei, the star who started the mainland fire at that time, which has commercial considerations. The special effects of the film, various details design, there are preparations for the box office, and there are also Chow Xingchi's presentation of the inner state of the little people. Zhou Xingchi has been wrestling between himself and this world, he has not succumbed to the world, and he cannot change this world. So we can see his purity and utilitarianism at the same time in Stephen Chow's films. Without utilitarianism, he can't make movies, and without pure thoughts, I think it's hard for Stephen Chow to have the motivation to make movies.