The author of this article is @NorthS of the Xiaowan family
Find everyone's spiritual nook in the movie
Stephen Chow, 61 years old this year, has recently become the focus again.
Two days ago, he posted a photo on his personal social media - holding a red wine glass, listening to Jay Chou's new album "Great Work", and shouting Zhou Dong "See you in Hong Kong" from the air.
Subsequently, Jay Chou also interacted on personal social media.
I saw him holding a playing card, next to him with a still from Stephen Chow's classic movie "Gambler 2 on the Beach Gambling Saint", and responded with a meme in the movie: "Xingye, do you want me to bring you a few bottles of red wine from France or do you want me to help you know the Piaca box." ”
Piaca Box is a French gambler who plays against Stephen Chow in "Gambler 2"
"Biweekly" suddenly dreamy linkage, suddenly made fans and fans excited, could it be that two superstars who have been away from the big screen for a long time want to make a movie together?
Later, some media asked Stephen Chow's agent, and the other party said that "in communication, but I can't disclose details for the time being." "It seems that the two heavenly kings do have the intention to cooperate, but in what form to cooperate, we can only wait for good news."
During the Spring Festival, Stephen Chow personally wrote a couplet to give to "people with fortune"
Looking back on the past three months, Stephen Chow, who has always been low-key, can be described as full of presence at the beginning of 2023.
After not updating social media for many years, he first posted heroes to openly look for "Web3" talents, and then shared a still from "God of Food" during the New Year, with the text "New year, what are your wishes, tell them all!" ”
As soon as this dynamic came out, not only did many netizens ask Xingye online for a new film, but even stars were also blown out to "make a wish online", actor Chen Handian appeared in the comment area and said: "I want to watch Xingye act again."
So, Stephen Chow replied to him very mischievously: "Since you are so popular, I only have to think about it!" ”
After many years, he personally responded that "considering" acting, which naturally whetted the appetite of countless fans.
Speaking of the last time I saw Xingye perform on the big screen, it was back in early 2008 with "Yangtze River Seven".
Exactly 15 years later, Qizai's cute appearance and Stephen Chow's poor worker appearance are still vividly remembered.
Over the years, we may all be accustomed to Stephen Chow, who is in front of the director, but behind the scenes, the heart that loves small people, encourages dreams, and soothes reality with movies is still hot, whether acting or directing, it is only a form for him to express his heart.
So today's "anniversary review", let's go back to "Yangtze River No. 7" 15 years ago, relive the "last" performance left by Stephen Chow on the big screen, and see how he touched the audience before and now.
In 2004, Stephen Chow once again established his status as the "king of comedy" with his ultra-high-quality "Kung Fu".
And he became more and more familiar with the road of directing, and he set his sights on the sci-fi theme that he loved.
In the early years, Stephen Chow, who was also in the TVB artist training class, saw Spielberg directing "E.T. Alien" for the first time, and fell deeply in love with this very childlike science fiction work.
So after completing "Kung Fu", which pays tribute to Cantonese fragments and martial arts movies, he decided to pay tribute to the classics again, creating a sci-fi + fantasy theme that Chinese directors had rarely been involved in before, and named it "Yangtze River No. 7".
In order to be more in line with the acceptance habits of the Chinese people, Stephen Chow invited the Hong Kong Wankuan special effects team that produced "The Legend of Shushan" to be responsible for the production of "aliens", and it took two years for the team to start from scratch and revise the draft more than a thousand times to create Stephen Chow's satisfactory alien image "Seven Boys".
In addition, the production team also specially designed and developed a software to be responsible for the expression and demeanor management of Qizai, so that it really looks like a child.
Qizai lived up to expectations and won the love of the audience from its birth
In addition to special effects, the selection of actors is also a major problem for "Yangtze River No. 7".
In the early days of film preparation, the protagonist migrant worker Zhou Tie originally planned to be played by Feng Xiaogang, but at that time Feng Xiaogang was busy making his own movie and couldn't get out, so he found Ge You again, but it was also unfortunate.
At this time, someone suggested to Stephen Chow: "You yourself are a good image of migrant workers, you don't need to find others." In the end, Stephen Chow decided to play Zhou Tie himself and interpret a father at the bottom.
In the choice of other leading actors, Stephen Chow is also trying to exclude the crowd, boldly using newcomers and anti-string actors.
Zhang Yuqi, who is now very popular, made her successful debut with Teacher Yuan in "Yangtze River No. 7" and became the much-anticipated "star girl".
The actor who played Zhou Tie's son Zhou Xiaodi in the film was Xu Jiao, a girl who was only 11 years old at the time.
Stephen Chow explained in an interview that the girls interviewed back then were better than boys in performance and demeanor, and Xu Jiao made Stephen Chow think of his childhood.
So Xu Jiao, a beautiful little girl, became the little "male" protagonist in "Yangtze River No. 7".
In addition to Xu Jiao, supporting roles such as Chen Junsheng (played by Huang Lei) and Tyrannosaurus (played by Yao Wenxue) are also played by female anti-strings.
On January 30, 2008, "Yangtze River No. 7" was released as scheduled.
The film is based on the background of the impoverished father Zhou Tie accidentally picking up the alien Qizai and giving his son Zhou Xiaodi as a gift, telling the interesting story of what happened between the father and son and an alien.
The movie has laughter and tears, and shows the simple emotional relationship of the people at the bottom through the shell of science fiction, especially the touching father-son relationship.
However, this emotional sci-fi drama that Stephen Chow took four years to create did not meet the audience's expectations.
Many viewers at that time, after watching "Yangtze River No. 7", said that the story of the film was a little young, and lost the humor and nonsense unique to "Zhou-style comedy".
The relatively mediocre reputation was also reflected in the box office, and finally "Yangtze River No. 7" received 51.44 million at the box office in Hong Kong, China, which was no match for Stephen Chow's first two directed works ("Kung Fu Football" 60.73 million, "Kung Fu" 61.27 million), and the mainland box office was 200 million, which was not as expected
In terms of awards, "Yangtze River No. 7" only allowed Xu Jiao to win an Academy Award for Best New Actor.
At the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards that year, Stephen Chow unfortunately lost to Liu Qizhi ("Witness"), and missed the Academy Award for Best Actor for the second time (the first time was "Thunderbolt Pioneer").
Since then, Stephen Chow, who is nearly fifty years old, also bid farewell to his actor career, and disappeared behind the scenes as a director and producer - "Journey to the West" officially opened the mainland Spring Festival file, and "Mermaid" set the highest box office record for domestic films at that time.
However, as an actor, Stephen Chow was never seen again.
After many years, when you look at "Yangtze River No. 7" now, you will find that it actually has many shining points that were overlooked.
For example, we can clearly feel that Stephen Chow is deliberately getting rid of nonsensical labels, and wants to express a somewhat cruel reality theme with a simple and sharp perspective.
The contrast between luxury cars and bicycles, palatial buildings and humble houses, aristocratic schools and poor elementary school students all directly reflect the difference between rich and poor.
In addition, "Yangtze River No. 7" also criticized the education system of the time.
How is the education suitable for children, and aristocratic schools must be able to teach good students? I believe that every audience who has seen the movie will have their own answer.
Although the migrant worker father played by Xing Ye has no culture, the conversation he said to his son is enough to make everyone think:
"Although we are poor, we don't talk nonsense, we don't steal, we don't rob, we won't take things that don't belong to us, you have to study hard and be a useful person in the future."
Therefore, even if we miss Xing Ye's nonsense, we must admit that he has gradually grown from the original kid who likes to laugh and "pretend to be crazy and sell stupidity" to a mature filmmaker with responsibility and expression.
In essence, Stephen Chow's film is not just a funny film for the audience to laugh, but a serious work that looks at the adult world from the perspective of a child.
All we can do is cherish his past performances and respect his ambitions as a director.
It is gratifying that after time precipitation, "Yangtze River No. 7" has gradually been recognized by many people, and its Douban movie score has risen to more than 7 points.
Years later, everyone seems to understand Stephen Chow's painstaking efforts and begin to examine this Zhou work with a childlike and compassionate heart with a rational eye.
From "Kung Fu Football" in 2001 to "Kung Fu" in 2004, and then to "Yangtze River No. 7" 15 years ago, Stephen Chow completed his childhood memories through movies.
Perhaps from the first tweet of the New Year 2023, the little universe he wants to act in his heart is burning again.
In the future, whether it is to join hands with Jay Chou to "go out of the mountain" or cooperate with other filmmakers in other forms, we can really look forward to the day when Stephen Chow returns to perform in front of the screen.