People who are interested in Cantonese culture or Hong Kong culture may know the movie "Poison Tongue Lawyer".
This legal Hong Kong film starring Huang Zihua broke Hong Kong's historical box office record at the beginning of the year, director Wu Weilun mentioned in an interview that friends in the circle had expected it to reach 40 million to 70 million box office, but "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" exceeded 100 million in 32 days.
To be honest, "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" is a decent legal film, it focuses on a single issue in a regular manner, no more or no less to finish a genre story, and many viewers also see the shadow of "Nine Pins Sesame Officer".
But perhaps it is precisely because of this ambition that has not gone too far, the audience fully receives the message conveyed by the film. After a rather depressing few years, such "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" provides the public with the most simple emotional value.
The story in the movie and the reality outside the movie have ushered in hard-won Happy Ending, and even if "Poison Tongue Lawyer" is too idealistic, it hears people's inner depression and grievance, which is really a rare experience for too long.
1.
Lin cool water, the mudslide of the elite world
Director Wu Weilun's judgment of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" is actually very accurate, as early as before the movie exploded, he said that this is a movie that helps the audience vent their emotions. Judging from the results, "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" accurately hit the long-suppressed emotions of Hong Kong citizens, and used the most simple and straightforward plot to "get back a justice" for everyone.
Fairness is undoubtedly the most prominent keyword in this film, but before more analysis, let's start with the story itself. Lin Liangshui (played by Huang Zihua) was originally a hanger judge, and after experiencing a boring and suppressed working life, he decided to accept the invitation of his friend and take off his judge's robe to become a lawyer. Taking advantage of the opportunity to change jobs, Lin Liangshui wanted to completely give up his legal ideals, become a "brother of the contract" (which can be simply understood as "grandson") who serves the elites, do some idle work, and then live a life of high society.
Soon, Lin Liangshui received a child abuse case and defended the mother in the case, the female model Zeng Jieer, but because of his dereliction of duty, Zeng Jieer was wrongfully imprisoned, and he was also crushed by greater power, namely the Hong Kong powerful Zhong family.
This incident became a turning point in Lin Liangshui's career, pouring a large basin of cold water on him. After that, he moved out of the law firm, and although he worked in a forced old residential building, he couldn't let go of this knot and tried to overturn the case for Zeng Jieer. After overcoming many difficulties, Lin Liangshui won the case with his unique method and sought justice for the truth he believed.
It is not difficult to see that "Poison Tongue Lawyer" follows a very standard narrative, that is: encounter difficulties - character transformation - overcome difficulties. In this narrative, Lin Liangshui is the most surprising element - a popular elite.
Although he has been a judge and a barrister, Lin Liangshui's penchant for work and his belly full of "groove" water make his image closer to that of a 9-to-5 social animal. The audience will not think of him as a high-ranking elite, but more like a classmate who did not study much in school but got good grades. And Huang Zihua played this role, which not only increased the comedy color, but also reminded many audiences of the representative of social animals in the classic Hong Kong drama "Male Love and Female Love" - legal assistant Yu Letian.
Therefore, the biggest difference between "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" and Hong Kong's past legal films is that it is not to create a "longing elite life", but to create a rebellious and even offensive "elite mudslide" in the Tiangong.
As a promotional slogan on the movie poster says, Lin Liangshui is "fighting poison with poison", and he uses many crooked tricks to fight lawsuits, and conduct street brawl-style debates in serious courtrooms, like a cunning stone in a shoe. And the popular sentiment reflected by the popularity of this narrative is naturally self-evident - in this place, "everything is wrong" (Lin Liangshui's classic line in the film).
What resonates particularly with Lin Liangshui is that he has many vulgar expressions, such as calling himself "Qidi". "Qidi" can be simply understood as "the person who holds the smelly feet" or "grandson" (the grandson who swears), in the early stage of the movie, Lin Liangshui is a "qidi" who has been worn out by his work and is ready to put down all pursuits and become a "qidi" who completely serves the powerful. But reality gave him another slap, and his power to "kneel and lick" betrayed him, resulting in a tragic result of wanting ideals without ideals, and being rich without wealth.
Lin Liangshui, who fell into a trough, said to his police friend Lu Dingheng (played by Norma Lin), "I have looked down on sluts all my life, it turns out that I am the slut", this line speaks the hearts of many people, after all, who has not been idealistic, but gradually learned to compromise.
Regarding "Qidi", Huang Zihua said in an interview with "Economic Weekly", "Everyone has gone through the stage of 'Qidi'. It's just that one day when you don't need to be a 'brother of the contract', don't be too 'brother'. This well summarizes Lin Liangshui's character growth line, and it is in this pull of reality and ideals that the audience can truly feel the values and personality charm represented by Lin Liangshui's character.
2.
The limited nature of the law
In the film, Lin Liangshui has many wonderful debates, and "justice" is one of the most impressive words, and he repeatedly emphasizes that Hong Kong law should give justice to the defendant Zeng Jieer. The so-called "justice is in the hearts of the people", this sentence emphasizes the "hearts of the people", it will not be bought by the elite, is it an exception to the certification of the truth of legal judgments, or a torture of the rule of law system - have we really restored the truth?
We know that the law seeks justice, but it does not equal justice. Zhan Qingyun, a well-known debater and legal practitioner, once said in the audio program "Think Like a Lawyer", "Law is a very complex set of rules, which are constantly being rewritten, interpreted, and even used." She also mentioned that her university professor once compared the work of a lawyer to playing cards, "Of course, this deck contains not only justice, not only facts, but also complex procedures, laws, and judges' preferences, including public opinion at that time." ”
On the whole, although "Poison Tongue Lawyer" adds a lot of dramatic conflicts to the process of litigation, the film's presentation of legal rules still has a bright spot. In addition to Lin Liangshui, who loves tricks, another barrister in the film, Jin Yuanshan (played by Xie Junhao), stands on the side of "procedural justice", which is in stark contrast to Lin Liangshui. The game between the two shows different aspects of legal rules, and they revolve around the legal process, making the film more enlightening.
For example, at the beginning of the overturning case, Lin Liangshui arranged for a lawyer that the opponent might find to interview the defendant Zeng Jieer, so that the defendant Zeng Jieer pretended to want to cooperate with them, but in fact took advantage of the fact that they had already talked with Zeng Jieer, so that they could not become the prosecution's lawyer in the future due to the request to avoid suspicion, so as to eliminate the opponent's "qualification".
For example, in several court debates, Lin Liangshui repeatedly emphasized to the jury the truth of "fairness and ease in people's hearts", trying to "play the emotional card" and guide the jury with moral pressure. More dramatically, Lin Liangshui even publicly broadcast the unprocessed, illegally recorded recording in the courtroom, thereby reversing the jury's perception of the truth of the case.
These tactics are not very decent lobbying tactics in the eyes of opponent Jin Yuanshan, who uses people's sensibility to make up for his weaknesses in legal procedures, such as the thin evidence of overturning the case and the death of key witnesses.
In contrast, the character of Jin Yuanshan is a bit fundamentalist. As a lawyer, he is professional, decent, respects procedural justice, and does not engage in small actions, because for him, respecting procedures and rules is also respecting and affirming the profession of lawyers. However, after Lin Liangshui crossed the line to convey the truth many times, Jin Yuanshan compromised his fundamentalist pursuit and turned to help Lin Liangshui, or rather, between procedural justice and truth, he chose to stand on the side of the truth.
After the lawsuit, Jin Yuanshan told Lin Liangshui that he hated this "unprofessional" behavior and was ashamed of himself, but he would rather be amateur than be punished by heaven. Through Jin Yuanshan's compromise, the film once again emphasizes the power and value of "justice", putting consequential justice above procedural justice.
Although Jin Yuanshan has a position to follow the procedure regardless of the truth, his choice shows that he believes there is something more important than procedural justice and professional integrity, and the film also uses this to ask whether existing legal rules can really help victims. Of course, the film is not to deny the legitimacy of the legal process, although from the ending, the result justice is given greater meaning, but as a line by Jin Yuanshan said, he sticks to the rules, the purpose is not to make anyone guilty, but to let everyone get a fair trial. Although the system has problems, its existence is the foundation of the rule of law, so he has never been able to agree with Lin Liangshui's transgression operation, and can only regard it as an exception.
Lin Liangshui used "crooked doors" to complete a small correction of Hong Kong's judicial system, and the audience was refreshed. But I have to admit that as a commercial movie, "Poison Tongue Lawyer" has limited critical power. The face-painted villain and Jin Yuanshan's overly simple concessions have weakened the weight of Lin Liangshui's pursuit of justice, as if everything is just falling into place.
But back to the original evaluation, "Poison Tongue Lawyer" completes the story of a redress case, and its ambition may just be to provide the audience with a vehicle to vent their emotions, and it did.
Huang Zihua described "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" as a chivalrous movie. "Not everyone can do it, but Xia is a value that a society should have." We are all more or less cowardly in the face of injustice and authority, but we must at least agree in our hearts that injustice needs to be corrected, rather than pretending not to see because it has nothing to do with us.
This is the meaning of "Xia" as a social background, and it is also the concept that "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" wants to convey.
3.
Hong Kong films, is there hope?
Interestingly, although "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" broke the box office record of Hong Kong films in Hong Kong and wrote a new mark in Hong Kong film history, it actually performed mediocre in the mainland. The reason, in addition to different social emotions, is probably language barriers, which makes it difficult for the film to hit mainland audiences. So far, it's hard to imagine the excitement the film has generated in Hong Kong.
In 2002, "Infernal Affairs" was released and saved the moribund Hong Kong film market. After that, it seems that every once in a while, there will be a discussion of "whether Hong Kong films have a chance to make a comeback", and under the astonishing performance of "Poison Tongue Lawyer", it is difficult not to ask this question again.
This question certainly deserves a paper, but here I want to share Huang Zihua's views first. He said that when the rules were blurred, people often did not know what to do and how to do it, but now that the situation is clear, whether it is good or bad, people know how to deal with it. Therefore, he believes that it is possible for future Hong Kong film creators to blaze a new trail. Perhaps the same is true for the audience, when the general environment is clear, the direction of life and emotional needs become certain, which allows film and television practitioners to better capture market demand and produce responsive works.
In recent years, in fact, many remarkable Hong Kong films have appeared intermittently, such as "Furious Heavy Case" and "Detective Wars" that mainland audiences are more familiar with, and more realistic ones such as "Muddy Water Drifting", "Justice Corridor" and "Narrow Road Dust". These films reflect different concentrations of social emotions, ranging from maniacal shouts to heavy whispers, and what they all have in common is the utterance of "something is wrong" ("Poison Tongue Lawyer" lines).
What "Poison Tongue Lawyer" does better is to translate this common emotional background into popular, even stand-up comedy-like lines. At present, the most empathetic person for Hong Kong citizens is Lin Liangshui - a person who has experienced betrayal and defeat, but is still not dead in his heart and still wants to fight for something.
Huang Zihua contributed his best performance to the movie, playing a mean good person. He also successfully tore off the label of "box office poison" with "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" and last year's romantic comedy "Attack on the Heart of Rice Drama" (breaking 70 million box office). In the Hong Kong film industry, there has not been a person with such appeal for a long time.
After the 2018 special "Golden Basin Kou" ("Golden Basin Gargle"), Wong Zihua retired from the Dong Tu Laughing Circle (Cantonese stand-up comedy). Over the past four years, many media have asked Huang Zihua when he will come back to do Dong Du Xiao, and his answer has basically not changed: not in the short term, because of limited talent, and because "Hong Kong people will not laugh."
Huang Zihua's insight is not unreasonable. The expectation of laughter has been blank for many years, and has been occupied by other, more violent tears. "(Back then) we watched Stephen Chow that the whole people were convincedly looking forward to watching, and the expectation of laughter was very powerful." Huang Zihua said in the interview. By "power," he may mean a desire for happiness and a relaxed state of mind. Today, the momentum of national expectation seems to be showing signs of recovery, and whether Wong Zihua and the Hong Kong films behind him can support this expectation deserves our continued attention.
Film is a popular art, which always reflects people's desires, pains and demands in reality to some extent. The 100 million box office of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer", whether it is a return to light or a new beginning, it finally hit the long-lost emotions of thousands of viewers, forming a certain positive response and resonance.
Resources:
Interview with Huang Zihua | Economy Week EDigest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFn9fZfTaw8
Written by: Blue Cool Water
Executive Producer: Master Mao
Pictured: "Poison Tongue Lawyer" official stills and trailer