12 years ago.
31-year-old Nicholas Tse won the actor of the Academy Award with "Informant".
On the podium, Zhou Yunfa earnestly sent expectations in his eyes:
"The next 30 years of Hong Kong cinema depend on you."
Unexpectedly, Nicholas Tse after that became addicted to cooking, became a cook alive, and was completely Buddhist in performance.
10 years ago.
Chen Kexin's "Chinese Partner" was a box office hit and won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Picture and Best Director.
Among the many Hong Kong directors who went north, Chen Kexin was the one with the best results, and he took the pulse of the mainland audience.
Unexpectedly, after filming "Winning the Championship" in 2020, Chen Kexin was physically and mentally exhausted.
Last year he set up Pan-Asian Productions and plans to shoot 20 series of different genres in four years, which will be "released around the continent".
This means that Chen Kexin has basically bid farewell to the mainland market in the short term.
7 years ago.
Stephen Chow's "Mermaid" sold 3.391 billion, breaking the box office record in mainland film history.
Almost everyone is saying that "I owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket", and many people sigh that Xingye is the last glory of Hong Kong films.
Unexpectedly, just 3 years later, Xing Ye's rush work "The New King of Comedy" encountered Waterloo, and then the media exposed rumors that he failed to gamble.
And "Mermaid 2", which he has long filmed, has also become a mystery, and the king of a generation of comedy has come to an eclipse.
5 years ago.
Koo Tianlok became the president of the Hong Kong Performing Artists Association, he steadily exported many Hong Kong films every year, and also donated to build many schools in the mainland.
The former male god has become a charity gentleman worshipped by the whole people, and netizens praised that "the only thing that can black ancient heavenly music is the sun".
Unexpectedly, his "Tomorrow's War" was released last year, and the box office did not meet expectations.
Gu Tianle had to pull down his face to carry out "miserable propaganda", and the box office was still a pool of stagnant water.
When these Hong Kong stars are getting old, who can save the declining Hong Kong films?
In the past February, Hong Kong films seem to be waiting for two saviors.
One of them came from a humble background, the other had "not seen the light", and they were both figures who could not ascend to the highest hall during the prosperity of Hong Kong films.
But the long-term dormancy did not dampen their enthusiasm for movies.
When the Hong Kong film was bleak, these two "little people" stood up.
One broke Hong Kong's local box office record, and the other's work was nominated for Best Film at the Academy Awards.
Some people said, "They let us smell that long-lost smell of Hong Kong."
But some people retorted, "They just ate the dividends of the times."
01、
The first savior is actor Huang Zihua.
He made a movie, "Poison Tongue Lawyer".
Hong Kong's local box office broke into 100 million, surpassing Stephen Chow, Jackie Chan and other big coffee.
Huang Zihua is a small person in the film industry, but he is a "generation of grandmasters" in the field of talk shows.
In the past two years, due to the rise of Xiaoguo culture, talk shows have surged in the mainland.
In interviews, stand-up comedians such as Li Sheng and Zhou Qimo all said that they cultivated their interest in stand-up comedy by watching Dong Duxiao in the early days.
Huang Zihua is the ancestor of Hong Kong's Dongdu Xiao and is known as the "Zihua God".
Now mainland stand-up comedians are taking advantage of the hit of "Talk Show Conference" to tour the country, and the audience is only 12,000 people.
As early as more than 10 years ago, Huang Zihua held a personal talk show on the four sides of the Hong Kong Red Hall, with an audience of tens of thousands of people.
Huang Zihua's talk show is not a simple homophonic meme and a regional meme, but full of philosophical reason, logic, and warmth.
For example, he compared the relationship between the motherland and Hong Kong to a mother and a rebellious son, although there are quarrels, but at the bottom of his heart he is still a family.
For example, at the Academy Awards ceremony, he said to the Japanese actors in the audience in a mocking way, go back and tell the Japanese that the Diaoyu Islands are Chinese.
Unfortunately, Wong speaks Cantonese, which is only popular in Hong Kong and Guangdong, and in recent years he has completely closed the wheat of the "golden basin gargle".
Wong Zihua is also extremely talented in acting, and he has shined in Hong Kong dramas.
"Male Love and Female Love", "Peerless Business Pride ", "My Sheng Lady"...
These dramas are basically ratings hits, and Huang Zihua not only won the emperor by playing a role, but also personally participated in the creation of the script.
In the past 20 years, the average rating of his TV series may be the highest among all TVB actors, and only Ouyang Zhenhua can match him, so he has gained the reputation of "Wireless Lucky Star".
But when it comes to the field of film, it has become a different matter.
Huang Zihua began making films in 1993 and has made nearly 40 works in 30 years, almost every one of which hit the street.
Even Huang Zihua himself ridiculed, pleading with the director not to print his name on the poster, so as not to affect the box office.
The name "box office poison" spread.
Unexpectedly, in 2018, Huang Zihua ushered in a transshipment.
The box office of "Agent Dongdu" starring him exceeded 40 million Hong Kong dollars, and it fought a turnaround battle.
In 2022, the Hong Kong box office of "Dinner Drama Attacking the Heart" starring him exceeded 70 million, becoming the second box office in the history of Hong Kong films.
The film was also introduced into the mainland and renamed "Still Think You Are the Best", with a Douban score of 7.4.
Because the title dragged his feet, Huang Zihua's appeal in the mainland was also average, and the box office just exceeded 100 million, but it was already a major breakthrough.
This year, he starred in "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" with a box office of more than 100 million in Hong Kong, breaking the local box office record of Hong Kong films.
After being introduced to the mainland, Douban scored 7.7 points, and the final box office is expected to exceed 180 million.
Andy Lau called for the film and said that he was looking forward to cooperating with Huang Zihua in comedy.
Under the attention of "predecessors", Huang Zihua changed from "box office poison" to "Hong Kong film savior".
What is somewhat poignant is that Huang Zihua is 62 years old this year, older than the "predecessors" Andy Lau and Stephen Chow.
But his time may have just begun.
02、
The second savior is director Weng Ziguang.
Last month, he brought 2 works in one go.
One is "When the Wind Rises Again" directed by him himself and starring Kwok Fucheng and Tony Leung.
The box office was dismal, the reputation collapsed, and was scolded by netizens as "relying on defense".
The other is the small-budget film "The Corridor of Justice" that he supervised.
Word of mouth exploded, won multiple nominations for the Academy Awards, and was known as the best Hong Kong film in 2022.
Because the scale of the picture is too large, it cannot be released in the mainland, and resources have only flowed out recently.
Why can a director with a mixed reputation be called a "savior"?
Weng Ziguang was born in a non-professional class, and in his early years, he spent 40,000 Hong Kong dollars to participate in a crash course, and then mixed into the set to specialize in miscellaneous work.
He participated in the filming of "In the Mood for Love", worked as a small worker for Michelle Yeoh's company, followed the crew to Beijing as a North Drifter, submitted articles to magazines as a film critic, and went to TV as a commentator.
In the crew, he went from scene writer to screenwriter and then assistant director.
Finally, in 2009, with the encouragement of his mentor Xu Anhua, he made his debut film "Sunny Bright" with 300,000 Hong Kong dollars, and was immediately nominated for the Academy Award for new director.
I thought I could make a name for myself in the film industry, but this nomination did not bring him investment.
In desperation, he had to become a third-level film director and filmed "Micro Girl".
Weng Ziguang is a man of letters, with the arrogance of a literati.
For example, he criticized many Hong Kong directors for going to the mainland, wanting to be grounded, but lacking cultural penetration;
For example, he bluntly said that Hong Kong movies have no culture and are full of hedonism;
For example, he commented that director Chen Kexin was a businessman, but still respected him.
When such a director with pursuit and thinking is reduced to a third-level film director, how sad he should be in his heart.
What's even sadder is that this turned out to be his fate, and he was born to do this.
Later, "Stepping on the Snow to Find Mei" and "The Corridor of Justice" are inseparable from such heavy topics as aiding girls, murdering and dismembering, and killing relatives against their sons.
In "The Corridor of Justice", the protagonist is a narcissistic murderer.
He participated in an actor interview and vowed that he could make erotic tertiary films artistic, which was actually a self-ridicule by Weng Ziguang (he is the producer and producer of the film).
Weng Ziguang has "light" in his name, he doesn't want to be just a third-level film director who can't see the light, he has been waiting for the opportunity to shoot his own blockbuster.
"Micro Girl" is a third-grade film, and he recognized it in order to make a name for himself.
"Stepping on the Snow to Find Mei" is also a third-grade film, but he refuses to compromise and wants to shoot according to his artistic ideas.
Finally, the investor said, you are the second stubborn director I have seen after Xu Anhua, we will not continue to "rape" your script, you find someone else.
One sentence put the script on hold for three years.
During this period, Weng Ziguang was tricked into writing 2 more scripts, and he couldn't see the news of the start of filming of his work.
It wasn't until 3 years later that things took a turn.
He invited Kwok Fucheng to star, and his artistic imagination also impressed Kwok Fucheng, and Kwok Fucheng even agreed to reduce his salary by half.
With Guo Fucheng at the bottom, the boss of Meiya also sent an investment of 20 million.
"Stepping on the Snow to Find Mei" won 7 awards at the Academy Awards after its release, and Weng Ziguang became one.
Capital also took the initiative to move closer, and when he got a large amount of investment, Weng Ziguang began to plan a bigger move.
He used this money to invite Kwok Fucheng and Tony Leung, and repeatedly asked Xu Guanwen to come out of the mountain, and he wanted to shoot his own blockbuster.
He set his sights on the story of Lame Hao and Inspector Leiluo, although this story has been filmed more than a dozen times, he just wants to shoot a version that belongs to Weng Ziguang alone;
Hong Kong's history cannot carry epic blockbusters, but he still has to shoot a magnificent "Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong".
Weng Ziguang is best at shooting marginal characters and telling curious stories, and has been labeled as a "third-level film director".
But he just stubbornly wants to make a blockbuster film that he can't control, and calls it "a love letter to Hong Kong."
"When the Wind Rises Again" was hidden in the snow for 5 years after filming, and the box office reputation was very poor after its release.
Weng Ziguang cares.
He posted a long article just to prove that "the film I made did not rely on defense."
He personally sent an apology to Tony Leung for worrying about injuring the other party, and Tony Leung comforted him that "all movies are an experiment."
Weng Ziguang returned to his old profession after going crazy.
Even if it is a shallow taste, this director from a bad background has made Hong Kong films shine once with the courage of knowing that he cannot do it.
03、
Huang Zihua and Weng Ziguang.
These two Hong Kong filmmakers who have little to do with each other, why should we put them together and call them the "saviors of Hong Kong films"?
Because the two faced the same topic, they answered with two completely different works, "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" and "The Corridor of Justice".
We often say that Hong Kong films do not have "Hong Kong flavor", but what is "Hong Kong flavor"?
In layman's terms, it is something that Hong Kong has but the mainland does not.
including, wonderful gunfight scenes, such as "The True Color of Heroes";
nonsensical comedies, such as Stephen Chow movies;
There are also curious urban oddities, urban adventures.
After these "Hong Kong flavors" enter the mainland, it is inevitable that they will be "unsatisfied".
Some can only be killed in the face of the censorship system, and most of Weng Ziguang's works are this fate;
Some have been improved, but there is no Hong Kong flavor, such as Tsui Hark's "Outsmart Tiger Mountain", can you still say that this is a Hong Kong film?
Some are served in their original flavor, and mainland audiences will also pay for it, such as "Furious Heavy Case".
Some have been cleverly converted and can also shine.
For example, Stephen Chow's comedy, if there is only the original Cantonese version, the market communication will encounter obvious bottlenecks.
At this time, Shi Banyu's dubbing plays an important role in opening the audience.
Those "Hong Kong flavors" left by screening are repeatedly used and processed into assembly line products, stimulating the taste buds of the audience again and again until everyone can no longer smell the original taste.
For example, "XX Storm", "XX Empire" and "XX Storm" that fill the screen, but the gunfight scene is changed to a set and repeated over and over again;
For example, Stephen Chow's nonsensical comedy, after he retreated into the background, has fallen behind the times, and it is difficult for a new generation of audiences to appreciate this crazy performance style.
And what Huang Zihua and Weng Ziguang did was to rediscover the previously forgotten taste of Hong Kong.
04、
The Hong Kong flavor that Huang Zihua found, ordinary people really can't play.
In the TV series, Huang Zihua plays that kind of mean role, much like him on the talk show stage, and the audience can still accept it.
But on the big screen, this kind of performance is very contradictory, the audience does not buy it, and Huang Zihua has also become "box office poison".
How did Huang Zihua get the hang of it later?
He uses the subject matter of the film to play to his linguistic advantage, rather than framing himself in a fixed mean character.
For example, 2018's "Agent Don Du".
The name itself is grafted with Huang Zihua's "Dong Du Xiao", and the theme provides him with enough comfortable performance space, he can just act easily, and does not need to maintain a mean character.
For example, last year's "Dinner Play Attacks the Heart".
To put it bluntly, this drama is the Hong Kong version of the sitcom, the theme itself is supported by a large amount of dialogue, Huang Zihua plays an affectionate male protagonist, but he can still rely on the theme itself to play his own language advantages.
There is also the recently released "Poison Tongue Lawyer".
The title is the answer, this is a legal drama, Huang Zihua plays a lawyer, which itself requires a lot of lines, and how his character setting does not affect his ability to show his sharp teeth.
You see, Huang Zihua relied on small costs, small casts, and small productions, and took the "Cantonese terrier" as a breakthrough to fight a turnaround.
Because Hong Kong itself is a small projectile land, Hong Kong restaurants are mainly small and exquisite, Huang Zihua's temperament and Hong Kong films match, instantly shined.
Of course, although the "Cantonese terrier" is Hong Kong flavorful, mainland audiences cannot understand it, which is the problem Huang Zihua is currently facing, and it is also the fundamental reason why he has no box office appeal in the mainland.
But at least he was on the right path.
05、
What kind of Hong Kong flavor did Weng Ziguang find?
"When the Wind Rises Again" is a meaningful trial and error, and after fulfilling his blockbuster wish, Weng Ziguang calmly went back to shoot the case theme he was good at.
He likes to pay attention to the marginalized people of society, he was ashamed of it in the past, and now he has reached a reconciliation with himself and has upgraded step by step.
He filmed "When the Wind Rises Again" to let more people see him, and he supervised the production of "The Corridor of Justice" to let the audience see themselves deeper.
"Micro Girl" is a pure curiosity;
Based on a true story, "Finding Mei in the Snow" explores the difficult choices of three individuals facing their fate under the gimmick of a murder case.
Highlight two words: humanity.
"The Corridor of Justice" goes further, adapted from a sensational "rebellion against the son and murder case" in Hong Kong in 2013, and also has a heavy taste of the case restoration.
But in addition to exploring who the murderer is, a large number of court debate dramas are used to question the meaning of the existence of the court, whether it is a stage for justice or a show that obscures the truth.
Highlight two words: system.
It can be seen that even in the broken copper and iron, Weng Ziguang is sowing seeds hard and cultivating dazzling flowers little by little.
To describe it in a poem that smells a lot: "This is a ditch of desperate stagnant water, this is not where beauty lies, it is better to let ugliness reclaim and see what world he creates." ”
It is worth mentioning that on the day that the resources of "Justice Corridor" flowed, another case of shredding the corpse of a celebrity occurred in Hong Kong, and the details revealed by the police are staggering, similar to the "Justice Corridor", or even more bloody.
Therefore, we can understand that the "urban legend" photographed by Weng Ziguang is really not a distant legend;
The so-called heavy taste scenes in the movie are not deliberately eye-catching, and are likely to be a true depiction of reality;
The movie itself is not grandstanding, but has quite a profound cautionary significance.
The problem for Weng Ziguang was how to get his later works to pass the review and bring this slightly heavy Hong Kong flavor to the mainland table.
His current approach is to set his sights on the mainland and cook its ingredients with Hong Kong flavors.
He has been doing this for years.
He tried to bring the "Lu Rongyu No. 2682 Massacre" to the screen in 2011, and wrote the script "Sea Festival", which was changed 10 drafts before and after, and unfortunately died.
And the films he is about to make "Osmanthus Floating Township" and "China's Anti-Drug Secret War" are all cooperating with filmmakers in the mainland to shoot criminal cases in the mainland.
Whether he will be assimilated or will be able to retain the "Hong Kong flavor", we will see.
06、
Through the examples of Huang Zihua and Weng Ziguang, we can understand.
In Hong Kong films, the bright symbols are the police, triad, nonsense, martial arts, zombies, and wind and moon.
However, the core of Hong Kong Wei'er's success lies in the small, the refined, and the specialized.
Everyone focuses on one or two areas and develops to the extreme.
Slowly these films can form a style signboard, and together they will gather into a prosperous chapter of the Hong Kong film industry, so that the taste of Hong Kong will be soaked in the sky.
But this kind of "small, refined, specialized" is also doomed, and it is only a matter of time before Hong Kong films become barren.
In the current era, the film market has a new definition standard and clear boundaries.
Hong Kong films that only follow routines are difficult to become the mainstream of Chinese-language films.
However, Hong Kong films can still retain their characteristics and become a different flavoring agent in the Chinese film industry.
Just like what Huang Zihua and Weng Ziguang are doing now, of course, the premise is to let go of their obsession with the box office.
It's just that as this generation ages, Hong Kong films will eventually have a day when the candles run out, bringing the same declining "Hong Kong sister beauty pageant" as a funeral product.
We don't have to regret this too much.
In any era, the main theme of the film market is profit.
The pursuit of profit has rolled up the glory of Hong Kong films in the last century, and it will also roll out the film prosperity of the new era in the future.
The tide rises and falls, the flowers bloom, and only different faces and style expressions change.
The wheel of the times rolls forward, no one can control the times, and no one can always eat the dividends of the times.
It is important to follow the tide of the times and break the waves.
Continue to write the legend of cinema.
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Office: A Chicken
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