A new variable in Hong Kong cinema

This generation's memory of the glory of Hong Kong films is still in the 80s and 90s of the last century, and Hong Kong films have defined almost all the modes and imaginations of films. At that time, the video hall was full of hot-blooded young people, one second the dashing of the brother's trench coat fluttering and igniting banknotes made us stunned and worshiped, and the next moment we were immersed in the emotional sword of the crazy kung fu film "East Becomes West", and the final ending is most likely Xing Ye's nonsense, which has the sadness and reluctance of countless little people. After 97, Hong Kong films have become a little confused, once the best genre films are sluggish, TVB star-making mechanism is insufficient blood supply, the key is that the overall industry and aesthetics lag behind Hollywood, let alone meet the appetite and vision of mainland audiences with higher and higher appetites. The once love became "wrong love", and many people lamented that "Hong Kong films are dead". After experiencing the short "rejuvenation" of the "Infernal Affairs" series, Hong Kong films still seem to rely heavily on Stephen Chow's transformation, and in the 15 years from 2000 to 2014, the top three local box office and more than 50 million yuan were only Xing Ye's "Shaolin Football", "Kung Fu" and "Yangtze River No. 7".

In the atmosphere where everyone is not optimistic, the new crown epidemic has made things worse. However, Hong Kong films have completed the fastest "gorgeous turn" in the global film industry, not only the local box office of "Anita Mui" in 2021 exceeded 60 million Hong Kong dollars, "Tomorrow's War" in 2022 exceeded 80 million, and "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" set a record of more than 100 million in 2023, three steps in three years, and the Hong Kong Film Festival was the first to resume offline viewing and activities. This kind of swiftness and efficiency is very similar to Wing Chun's fist to flesh in the "Ip Man" series, and the faint atmospheric tolerance and pampering do not coincide with the temperament of "Grandmaster", and I feel that "Mama's Wonder Boy" has come back alive.

David Bordwell, a famous American film scholar, commented on Hong Kong films in his reissue of "Hong Kong Planet", "All Too Extravagant, Too Gratuitously Wild". In addition to inheriting this style of over-exertion and all-encompassing, Hong Kong films in the new century have gradually revealed a new delicate balance and full momentum, perhaps the greatest variable is the deepest expectation.

Above: Jet Li "Wong Feihong Series".

The type in the "Greater China Circle" is bigger and the aesthetics are stronger

"Times make heroes". In the history of Hong Kong films, the fate of Hong Kong films is closely related to the mainland and Chinese circles. Hong Kong films opened the "upgrade and fight monsters" mode after 1949. The earliest "Huang Feihong Series" was created at this time, creating the first generation of local stars Guan Dexing, Cao Dahua, Shi Jian and others; Run Run Shaw, who returned from Xinma, established Shaw, and the two film giants of Denmao competed with each other and cherished each other, but achieved the golden age of song and dance films and family dramas; The film industry quickly integrated with international standards, produced colorful films, introduced the Hollywood studio system, and once appeared the miracle of "seven days fresh" (completing a film in seven days). These are all due to the influx of filmmakers from the mainland and the market contribution of the Greater China Circle. Today, the multi-genre foundation and practical industrial aesthetics of Hong Kong film and television were gradually completed during this period.

However, before and after the 97 handover, Hong Kong people generally felt anxious and confused, and "hometown cowardice" and "2046 plot" became a black hood that Hong Kong people put on their heads, blindfolded their eyes, and also made film production extremely shrinking, from three or four hundred films a year in the golden period to dozens of films at once, and the quality was not as good as before. The mature genre has become "film fast sales", and short-sightedness, short-term success, crying and laughing, over-commercialization, and backward industrial flow have become the characteristics of millennial Hong Kong films.

The signing of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) in 2003 has enabled Hong Kong films to find a new way out in the new century, which is the "co-production model". David Bordwell's book also contains a discussion of "The Chinese Connections." In this context, local filmmakers have "gone north" and integrated into the huge and broad market of the motherland, Wang Jing proposed "only Chinese films", and Jackie Chan said that "there is only one kind of film called Chinese movies now". Some people arbitrarily believe that "Hong Kong films are dead" in the co-production mode. This is actually very naïve "zero-sum thinking". Relying on the Greater China Circle, Hong Kong films actually burst out new vitality and maintained unique genre advantages and aesthetic characteristics.

The persistence and perfection of the Hong Kong film genre can be seen in the two successful directors of the north, Chen Kexin and Tsui Hark. The former has successively tried song and dance films ("If Love"), kung fu films ("Cast Name", "Wuxia"), business war films ("Chinese Partner"), realistic themes ("Dear"), etc., applauded and applauded; Tsui Hark is basically deeply engaged in martial arts, focusing on historical legends, represented by the "Di Renjie" series, "Seven Swords" and "Dragon Gate Flying Armor". The secret of the success of the two is that the mainland provides rich materials and shooting conditions, and they carry out genre creation, especially the sense of character detail and magnificent fantasy style that they are good at. Mainland resources + Hong Kong people development is the "hand" of co-production, on this basis, both have completed the transformation of the "main theme", Chen Kexin's "Winning the Championship" and Tsui Hark's "Outsmart the Tiger Mountain" and "Changjin Lake" series are examples. So co-production is to make the path of Hong Kong films wider and wider, and the stage bigger and bigger, not the other way around.

The aesthetic strength of Hong Kong films is reflected in the rich and diversified expression. In 2021, representing Hong Kong, China, to participate in the Oscar Best Foreign Language Film competition is "Young You", focusing on mainland college entrance examination teenagers, as well as profound social issues such as school bullying, but under the control of Hong Kong director Tsang Guoxiang, it incorporates the characteristics of Hong Kong youth films, especially the rebellious unruliness of Hong Kong Shao under the lens of Yan Hao and Tsui Hark in the 80s, and the open and dark battle of the "Confused Boy" series in the 90s, holding a mirror, following and fast editing and even some of the feeling of To Qifeng's gangster film. Zeng Guoxiang's other "July and Ansheng" abandons the bloody and clichés of the love triangle of mainland youth films, but draws more on Japan and South Korea, putting the growth and confusion of girls in the first place. Another local filmmaker, Xu Hongyu, started from editing, integrating the experience of the mainland, Hong Kong and Hollywood, bringing the concept and techniques of the American film industry system back to China, and his "Home at One Point" is close to current affairs and full of fashion, splicing hot topics of youth entrepreneurship and rural poverty alleviation, and using the perspective and skills of Hong Kong directors to build a vivid Chinese story. Similarly, veteran filmmaker Liu Weiqiang injected the national righteousness and feelings that were once ignored by Hong Kong films in his Hong Kong films "Blood Drops" and "Jingwu Fengyun", while in his "new mainstream" blockbusters "Army Building", "Chinese Captain" and "Chinese Doctor" emphasized the aesthetic embodiment of commercial types.

In the future, "Greater Bay Area Films" have great prospects, and Hong Kong films will definitely become bigger and stronger within the framework of the "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area": Hong Kong films have gradually upgraded to Lingnan characteristics, and the animated film "Lion Boy", the feature film "Tropical Past", and the opera film "Nanyue Palace Words" all have a real southern charm; Guangdong is the largest box office for Cantonese films, and the mainland box office of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" basically comes from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Buddhism and other places. The upcoming movie "Tempest", directed by Pearl River Film Group, directed by Hong Kong director Chen Jiashang, co-starring Hong Kong actor Chen Weiting and mainland actor Wang Qianyuan, filmed in Shantou, tells a red past at the Guangdong secret traffic station in the 30s of the last century. This may be the best epitome of "Greater Bay Area movies".

The balance of commercial markets, artistic exploration, and social reality

"Dancing in Shackles" fully reflects the difficulties and achievements of Hong Kong films. In order to cater to the mainland market and comply with the stricter review system, Hong Kong filmmakers often have to obey the ideas of producers and capital. The co-production genre could not break through, local artistic exploration faced the limitations of commercial rules, and some Hong Kong films gradually became "four unlike", lost their storytelling ability, and gradually lost the basic plate of Hong Kong films. In 1980, Jackie Chan's "Junior Brother Comes Out" exceeded 10 million yuan at the box office for the first time, and the box office of "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" exceeded 100 million yuan in 2023, which is a 43-year leap. The success of "Poisonous Tongue" lies precisely in the ease between business, art and reality, which is also the secret of Hong Kong film breakthroughs in recent years.

Above: "Poison Tongue Lawyer".

The unexpected fire of "Poisonous Tongue" is actually it picking up the glorious tradition of Hong Kong films: giving voice to the characters at the bottom. Whether it is the phrase "I am a migrant worker in the class of "Half a Pound and Eight Taels" in the theme song of "Half a Pound and Eight Taels" in the 80s, or Xing Ye's "box lunch life" in "The King of Comedy" in 1999, there is this tradition. What "Poisonous Tongue" fights against is the seemingly omnipotent power, the lawsuit may be slim, there may be a gap between the rich and the poor, and class oppression cannot escape, but the people need catharsis. Using social reality to enter the topic, the inspirational and reversal of art has finally been recognized by the market.

The commercial success of Hong Kong films goes without saying. But many people will question the artistry of Hong Kong films. In fact, in addition to the accuracy and efficiency of the genre mentioned above, Hong Kong films are unique in their "nonsensical" approach, divine style, and violent aesthetics. Another thing that everyone may take for granted but is particularly important is the martial arts guidance tradition pioneered by Hong Kong films, and in the world film industry, Martial Arts Director, commonly known as martial arts fingers, has become an indispensable position and enjoys a high reputation.

Since the beginning of the new century, the artistic exploration of Hong Kong films has been obvious to all. One of the brightest female directors in the Hong Kong New Wave, Cheung Wanting, who once had the "Immigration Trilogy", returned to Hong Kong from an international perspective to local life, changing from the myriad of feature films to the sincere simplicity of documentaries. Her "To Nineteen-Year-Old Me" (2022) is a campus documentary originating from her alma mater, "Anglo-Chinese Girls' School Building Reconstruction", but focusing on the mixed tastes of millennials under test-taking education, personal dreams, family burdens, and social transformation. The film spans more than ten years, interviewing more than 100 students, challenging ethical dilemmas, that is, the voyeurism of the camera and the voice of the interviewed girls, and the "presence" and resistance go hand in hand. Although it was suspended after the release by the starring questioning, it provided an ontological rethinking of the documentary.

Then answer the artistic innovation of genre films. Take the most skilled gangster police and bandit films in Hong Kong films as an example, from performance to metaphor, from wild to falling, from John Woo's bullets flying and white doves soaring to extreme introverted, the police and bandit shootouts in the new era are all electric flint, point to point, such as "Tree Big Move" (2016). weakened the heroism of the protagonist in those years, emphasized the recovery of the French Open, and paid more attention to the delicate mentality changes of the characters, rather than the extravagant rendering of the scene. This is a positive guidance brought about by Hong Kong's return to the motherland. In addition, Chen Guo's "That Night, I Got on the Red VAN in Mong Kok to Tai Po" (2014) injected a strong "magical realism" color into the ghost film, while Weng Ziguang's "Stepping on the Snow to Find Mei" (2015) retained the "Hong Kong characteristics" of bold violent and bloody pornography in the suspenseful case-solving, but paid more attention to the analysis of social significance, adapting it from real cases, showing the powerlessness of immigrants and grass people in the metropolis in a real and suffocating way.

Therefore, in the past few years, Hong Kong has produced a large number of films focusing on the underprivileged, including street sleepers, emotional patients, mental patients, transgender people, disabled people, etc. The exposure and appeal of social reality has reached an unprecedented height and profoundness. But even with vulnerable groups as the protagonists, these movies are not simply selling misery or selling feelings, and pay more attention to how to use the artistic expression of the film to seek more market listening and care, "Mai Roadman", "Uncle Uncle", "Trisy", "Fallen Man", "Mom's Wonder Boy", "Ignorance" and "Muddy Water Drifting" are typical.

"Hong Kong slices and Hong Kong flavor" is always the only way

Some people say that when the feelings of Hong Kong films are exhausted, Hong Kong films really decline. Not quite. Feelings can be positive or negative, and nostalgia is also a double-edged sword. The real way out for Hong Kong films is "Hong Kong film and Hong Kong taste", and this "Hong Kong flavor" can refer to down-to-earth and storytelling, just like Zhang Wanting's "To Nineteen-Year-Old Me" tracks middle school girls for decades, trying to enter their world with an eye-level attitude, and will also be like the new directors Wu Yongshan and Yang Chaokai's "Like You Are You" to look at the ambiguous friendship and emotions between female students on campus from a romantic and youthful perspective. "Hong Kong flavor" can also be a local story of Hong Kong, there is no need to be curious, but it must be "unfamiliarized", which will win more attention from the mainland and the world. For example, the two comedies "Family Spicy" and "Still Think You Are the Best" start from the Hong Kong New Year comedy routine, there are no jokes that are not satisfied, and they are all topics and jokes that resonate with Hong Kong people; And "Yuan Lu Shan Xuan" is a love letter to Hong Kong people, telling the current feelings in Hong Kong with the love story of Hong Kong Mountain.

Above: "Family Spicy".

"Hong Kong taste" also includes what film critic Mao Jian called "dishes that cannot be served with rice are all 'hooligans'" - in Mao Jian's view, the reason why Hong Kong films can compete with Hollywood is first of all because Hong Kong films demonstrate what is delicious for global films. "Whether it's Hollywood or Hong Kong films, it's good to be able to shoot the civilian nature of food." Full and Han banquet or state banquet food is food revisionism, and what really shakes our hearts is always ordinary food. Just like the classic line in TVB and many Hong Kong films, "Are you hungry?" I'll cook bowls of noodles for you." Another cup of warm hot lemon tea, the movie soothes people's hearts and stomachs. (Written by|Ma Lunpeng, Associate Professor, Zhejiang University of Media and Communication)