The author of this article is written by @Qin Hao
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On the first day of the Year of the Rabbit, Xiaowan first wished everyone a new year and a new atmosphere
The just-concluded 2023 Spring Festival ended with a box office of 6.734 billion, ranking second in Chinese film history, and the cumulative box office and moviegoers exceeded last year, which can be said to be exciting.
"Manjiang Hong" currently leads with 2.6 billion box office
In the new year after three years of twists and turns, I hope that everything will be better, and Xiaowan will continue to talk to everyone about movies
On the first day, let's look back in time to 2003, take the 20th anniversary as an opportunity to "remember the year", overview the memorable filmmakers in the Chinese film industry in 2003, and tour the best films of the year in 2003.
A special concert
At the end of 2002, SARS hit Hong Kong, China, and then quickly spread across the country, and panic enveloped the Chinese people.
In order to inspire people, in early January 2003, Anita Mui (1963-2003), then president of the Hong Kong Performing Arts Association, called for a charity gala, and director Wong Kar-wai proposed to name this charity gala "'1:99' Anti-SARS Concert".
Wong Kar-wai's explanation of the name is: "1 represents the unity of all people, while 99 represents 99 infinity, which means that the confidence of Hong Kong people in fighting SARS will not be extinguished." ”
The performance was held at 5:05 p.m. on May 24, 2003 at the Hong Kong Stadium, and hundreds of artists including Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Alan Tam, Eason Chan, Beyond and more joined the charity performance. All the HK$15 million raised from the show was donated to charity to help the families of SARS patients.
The Hong Kong Federation of Filmmakers launched a project called "1:99 Film Action", inviting 15 directors to shoot 11 short films to encourage Hong Kong people to strengthen themselves in the face of adversity.
The directors and actors who participated in these 11 short films include To Qifeng, Wai Ka-fai, Stephen Chow, Tsui Hark, Tony Leung, Chan Kexin, Andy Lau, Cheng Xiuwen, Lau Qingyun and so on.
All the proceeds from the film, after deducting the necessary expenses, were also donated to charity for the treatment of SARS patients. A party and a movie not only inspired people, but also showed the responsibility and responsibility of Hong Kong's entertainment industry in social and public affairs.
Half a year later, SARS dissipated, and 2003 swept away the haze, opening another memorable year for movies (but this year also had the regret of the death of Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui).
Imported blockbusters are on the rise
At the beginning of 2003, with the approval of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, Huaxia Film Company was established, becoming the second film company with the qualification of importing films after China Film Group.
In July 2003, Chinese mainland signed the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) with Hong Kong, making the huge mainland film market a key target for Hong Kong filmmakers.
After overseas imported films + mainland and Hong Kong co-productions, these two "mouths" continued to be liberalized, and the qualitative changes in China's film market began to accelerate.
Take Huaxia and China Film as examples. According to the regulations, the proportion of domestic films released by Huaxia and China Film shall not be less than 20, and the box office shall not be less than 50-80 million; The better the box office results, the greater the number of imported films.
On the surface, the regulation is intended to encourage Huaxia and China Film to distribute more domestic films. But if you look at it from the perspective of economic reality, it will also mean that the profits of imported films are more attractive.
Therefore, since 2003, the Chinese mainland film market has begun to undergo earth-shaking changes: imported films have natural box office appeal, and domestic films that have not yet become strong have been suppressed for a long time.
In the mainland box office ranking in 2003, the imported film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" topped the list with 52 million, and "The Matrix 2" and "The Matrix 3" entered the top five with 42 million and 41.66 million box office respectively.
The mainland-Hong Kong co-production "Infernal Affairs 3" (36 million) ranked sixth.
The huge "Infernal Affairs 3" premiered in the Great Hall of the People
At that time, the mainland could compete with these imported films and co-productions, only the urban comedy "Mobile Phone" (45 million) cooperated by Feng Xiaogang and Ge You, and the costume action blockbuster "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" (41 million) directed by He Ping (1957-2023) and starring Jiang Wen Wang Xueqi.
Although the box office of other mainland films of the year cannot be compared, many are still remembered by fans.
For example, "Carla is a Dog" directed by Senior Lu (1964-2014) and starring Ge You, "Green Tea" directed by Zhang Yuan and starring Jiang Wen, "Purple Butterfly" directed by Lou Ye, Zhang Ziyi and Liu Ye
Sequel and comedy harvest
From the box office experience, Hollywood has a golden rule: sequels are good to make money.
It is with this experience that the world's best-selling movies in 2003 broke into the top ten of the annual box office, and sequels accounted for half.
They are, the third-ranked "The Matrix 2" (305 million), the fourth-ranked "Lord of the Rings 3" (249 million), the sixth-ranked "X-Men 2", the ninth-ranked "Terminator 3" and the tenth "Jedi Men 2".
Compared with the sequel shine, the world's most eye-catching film genre in 2003 is comedy.
The top two films in the global box office list are all comedies, namely the number one "Finding Nemo" (340 million) and the second ranked "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" (305 million).
The comedy films that followed were "Imposter God", which ranked fourth, starring Jim Carrey, and "Christmas Elf", which ranked sixth, directed by Jon Favreau.
Among these comedies, the most worthy are "Finding Nemo" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 1".
After working with Pixar on "Finding Nemo", Disney realized that CG was the new direction of cartoons and acquired Pixar.
"Pirates of the Caribbean", which combines adventure comedy action fantasy elements, unearthed Johnny Depp's comedy talent and ushered in the second spring of his film career.
Commercial film authorization
The more commercial the film, the more it tests the director's sensitivity to the world.
This is especially evident in the most directorial commercial films of 2003.
For example, Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill", Park Chan-wook's "Old Boy", Bong Joon-ho's "Memories of Killing", To Ki-fung's "Big Man Has Great Wisdom" and "PTU", and Ang Lee's "Hulk Hulk".
On the surface, "Kill Bill" is a story of revenge on the surface of a bride as a killer, but deep fan Quentin has put many issues he wants to express in this story, such as Shaw tribute, violent aesthetics, chapter back structure, multi-line narrative, etc.
These elements and intentions are combined to elevate Quentin's "killing action movie" to a whole new level.
This operation of wrapping grand issues with revenge also appears in Park Chan-wook's "Old Boy".
Park Chan-wook uses gorgeous but not eye-catching shots to wrap incest, revenge, redemption and other topics that are taboo but constantly interpreted by humans. In "Old Boy", Park Chan-wook renders his anger brilliantly.
In contrast, Bong Joon-ho's "Memories of Killing" is much more calm and restrained.
This social crime movie adapted from a real case has an extremely broad vision. On the surface, it is talking about cases, but in fact it leads Korean audiences and evokes the collective memories of that period of history throughout the country.
Back to Hong Kong films, this year's Du Qifeng, is much more different.
His "Big Man Has Great Wisdom" and "PTU" seem to have a strong commercial taste, but they actually have a strong literary and artistic atmosphere.
"Big Man Has Great Wisdom" is about Zen machine, incorporating his and Wei Jiahui's understanding of the Buddhist karmic destiny; And "PTU" is more realistic and darker, it is an outline of the end of power, telling the audience the ferocity and violence after the officialization of the underworld.
As for Hulk Hulk, many people easily ignore it automatically when combing through Ang Lee's work.
In this unpopular Marvel movie, Ang Lee still injects his own thinking: How do superheroes know themselves before saving the world?
Ang Lee shows the difficulties of the Hulk trapped between strange physical bodies and worldly circumstances, and he cannot find a foothold in the world. That is to say, under the sci-fi coat of the Hulk, Ang Lee is still exploring the fate of how individuals struggle to survive in the cracks.
But unfortunately, compared to superheroes going to heaven and earth to save lives, people are obviously not interested in their personal confusion. So in the follow-up Marvel movies, it is difficult to see the mental burden of superheroes.
Women's power
The presence of women as protagonists was a common feature of 2003 films around the world.
In Hollywood, such films include "Hot Moms and Spice Girls" with the content of mothers and daughters swapping identities, "Lizzie's Whimsical World" in which Cinderella becomes a big star, "Thirteen" in which a good girl becomes a rebel, "What Does a Girl Want" in which a poor girl finds a rich father, and "Legally Blonde 2" who goes to Congress to fight a lawsuit for a dog.
Compared with these light comedy women's movies, Hollywood also has female action films such as "Thunderbolt 2" and "Tomb Raider 2" this year, which shape the heroine into an invincible heroine and continue to be popular with the blessing of the previous work.
Similar operations, there is also the Hong Kong zombie blockbuster "A Thousand Chances" starring Twins, which not only gathers stars such as Ekin Cheng and Edison Chen in front of the stage, but also brings together the cultural and martial arts director combination of Lin Chaoxian + Donnie Yen behind the scenes.
This kind of film that shows the strong side of women also appeared in South Korea. For example, "My Savage First Love" directed by Oh Jong-rok and "My Savage Female Teacher" by Kim Kyung-kyung.
However, these two works are essentially the routine operation of romance + comedy, but the female + thriller + psychoanalysis type "Rose, Red Lotus" is an alternative.
Director Kim Ji-woon uses the evil woman as a horror image, restoring the weak situation of women in family ethics, and is still a representative of high-level thriller suspense films in South Korea.
In terms of European and American films, two major directors have also contributed masterpieces with women as important roles, namely Lars von Trier's "Dogtown" and Bertolucci (1941-2018)'s "Dream Paris", which are frequently mentioned by fans
In addition to female characters, there is also a female director worth mentioning in 2003, that is, Sofia Coppola, who directed "Lost in Tokyo".
In this film, Sophia reproduces the influence of Wong Kar-wai's films on her with a confusing mood, and portrays the inner world of a down-and-out middle-aged man to heartbreaking.
Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, "The Lord of the Rings 3", "The Matrix 2&3", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Memories of Killing", "Old Boy", "PTU", "Big Man Has Great Wisdom", "Infernal Affairs 3", "Dream Paris", "Roses, Red Lotus"...
In short, there are many people and movies worth remembering in 2003, of course, there are more, limited by space, here is only a part of it.
Welcome to leave a message to add, interested friends, you can also find time to revisit these good films~