Some people say that Hong Kong is a "superstitious" city -
Fortune telling books can be seen everywhere on the roadside, the stars are eager for the White Dragon King, and the police and gangsters have to pay homage to Guan Gong.
It is also true that Hong Kong cinema has developed a unique genre of local ghost films since the late 1950s, which is most representative of Lee Han-hsiang's "Ghost of a Woman" in 1960.
By the 1980s, "ghost films" had become part of mainstream family movies, and the "Happy Ghosts" series cooperated by Huang Baiming and Gao Zhisen was the most representative. Add some thriller elements to the light-hearted comedy story, just like the seasoning to make the film unique.
Because Hong Kong people are particularly fond of this type of movie, ghost films with the theme of love have also come into being.
"My Wife Is Not a Human" cooperated by Leung Ka-fai and Guan Zhilin is a representative work of romantic comedy ghost films.
The film is the film debut of Academy Award-winning director Tan Duc Sen, and was written by Chen Qingjia, Chen Jianzhong and Ruan Jizhi.
Let's talk today about this movie and its behind-the-scenes story
One
Let's start with the story
Architect Tony (played by Leung Ka Fai) is an ordinary clerk of a construction company who has always had a crush on ellen (played by Aaron Chan), a goddess colleague in the same office.
One day, Tony finally plucked up the courage to send Ellen home, only to find out that Ellen already had a boyfriend, Michael Chow (played by Zhou Wenjian), and was also a rich man driving a luxury car.
Tony is a standard worker, and although a little disappointed, he is quickly washed away by the heavy workload.
One day, he followed his boss to the construction site to inspect, but on the construction site he saw a strange old man doing dangerous things on the scaffolding.
Tony tries to save him, but the strange old man suddenly disappears, causing him to fall from a high place.
In fact, this strange old man is a demon, and he wants to find Tony to be his own substitute ghost.
Just when his plan is about to succeed, the female ghost Jia Jia (played by Guan Zhilin) suddenly appears to save Tony.
During the fight, Jia Jia inadvertently sucked away one of Tony's Yang Qi, and she and Tony had an induction and needed to wait until the inhaled Yang Qi dissipated before leaving.
Jiajia has been living in Tony's house ever since, and when she learns that Tony has a crush on Ellen, she decides to help Tony track down Ellen.
Once the company's fax machine broke down and Ellen could not fax the documents, Tony asked Jia Jia to send the documents to win Ellen's favor, and the two decided to meet for dinner.
Ellen's boyfriend Michael also shows up at the dinner table, and he's a tough muscular man to deal with.
Jia Jia teases Michael with mischief, making him ugly in public, and saying that he actually only wants to play with Ellen's heart.
In the end, Michael is run away by the "invisible" Jiajia, and Tony has to drive Ellen home.
Tony has a deeper exchange with Ellen along the way, and Ellen gradually develops a fondness for Tony.
Tony is a man who does not know how to chase girls, Jia Jia had to teach him by hand, with Jia Jia's help, Tony and Ellen progressed rapidly, but at this time Jia Jia found that she gradually fell in love with Tony.
Tony thought of confessing to Ellen about the existence of the female ghost Jiajia, but Ellen was unprepared and was scared enough to escape from Tony's house.
Tony drives to chase Ellen, but the car is manipulated by Jiajia's father (played by Hu Feng).
Jiajia's father is also a ghost, and when he learns that his daughter likes Tony, he thinks of killing Tony so that Tony can be with Jiajia forever.
Tony's car hit the pole out of control, and the broken high-voltage electricity posed a threat to Tony, who was unconscious under the pole. In order to save Tony, Jia Jia was only half a soul left by the high voltage electricity, and also lost the memory of Tony.
Tony thought of a way to get Jia Jia to suck in his yang qi, and finally jia Jia recovered her vitality.
At the end of the movie, Tony finally comes together with Jia jia, although Jia Jia is a female ghost, But Tony does not mind, and the two have a wedding in the church.
Two
The actresses in the film
The heroine helps the male protagonist to pursue the female number two, but in the end the male protagonist finds that he really loves the female protagonist, which is also a very common routine in love movies.
The special place of this film is that the male protagonist and the female protagonist themselves are one person and one ghost, and the setting of this kind of human ghost love is also borrowed from the 1990 Hollywood movie "Man Ghost Love".
Not only that, the scene in the film where Jia Jia plays the piano for Tony also borrows the classic scene of Sam and Mei Li making porcelain in "The Ghost of Man".
The female ghost Jiajia played by Guan Zhilin actually has no terrible side at all, but is as beautiful and moving as a fairy, and her personality is also gentle and lovely, which makes people fall in love with it.
This female ghost image also influenced later thriller films.
Although Chen Yalun, who plays the female number two Ellen, is not as heavy as Guan Zhilin, she is the focus of the characters in the film, and the boys, including the male protagonist Tony, are around her most of the time.
And Aaron Chan herself is also good looking and in good shape, and has been a temperament actress in the Hong Kong film and television circle since her debut in the rookie singing competition in 1985.
In the film, a scene of the pool party is a big competition between the figure and temperament of Chen Yalun and Guan Zhilin.
When Chen Yalun appeared, she hugged back and forth like an empress, and her pink swimsuit was also gorgeous and eye-catching; while Guan Zhilin was wearing a black low-cut swimsuit, which was simple and proud of her figure, showing a different temperament.
One of these two people is a girl who is at the forefront of fashion, riding in a sports car, wearing expensive clothes, pearlescent, leading the trend, and falling generously, and the other is a small family jasper, clever and funny neighbor girl.
These two people are one brazen and one introverted, one is atmospheric and one is virtuous, which is actually two completely different goddess images.
Elevated to a philosophical point of view, Ellen and Jiajia represent the two most perfect images of girls in the minds of men.
Ellen is a hot, seductive, and intriguing goddess who is loved by everyone, while Jiajia is a family-oriented girl who is willing to stay at home and be backed by men.
In contrast, Jia Jia is obviously more suitable for marriage than Ellen, so Jia Jia becomes Tony's final choice. As for Jia Jia is a female ghost, the details of "human ghost special way" can be completely ignored in such a comedy movie.
It is worth mentioning that Li Dianlang, the eldest daughter of director Li Hanxiang, also made a cameo appearance in the movie, playing ye Tai, the boss lady of the construction company, and Mei Xiaohui had a wonderful and funny rivalry scene.
Three
The male actors in the film
The male protagonist, Leung Ka Fai, who has the highest starting point in Hong Kong, won the Academy Award when he debuted in 1983 for playing the Xianfeng Emperor in Lee Han-cheung's "Hanging Curtains and Listening to the Government".
But since then, it has been difficult to receive plays because the starting point is too high, and when he was in trouble, he even set up a street stall, but he also met his wife Jiang Jianian.
In the 90s, Liang Jiahui filmed almost every scene, and once created a despicable and funny character like Duan Zhixing, the Southern Emperor in "East becomes West".
Although his performance in this film is not so exaggerated, he can still show his comedic talent, which shows the diversity of Leung Ka Fai's acting skills.
It is a pity that Zhou Wenjian, who plays Ellen's boyfriend Michael Chow in the film, a muscular character who likes to create trouble for the male protagonist Tony.
Brutality, domineering, prank-loving, muscular, and powerful are all his characteristics, but there is little room for him to play his acting skills.
Other characters such as Jia Jia's father played by Hu Feng, Peter Li played by Peter Li, and Xiao Hui played by Mei Xiaohui, the side plot composed of their roles also added a lot to the film, leaving a deep impression on the audience.
Four
Some netizens on the Internet commented that each Hong Kong movie in the 90s was screwed out individually, and it could find the evocative places in the film.
Like this film with "wife is not a person" as a publicity gimmick, in fact, until the end of the film, the female ghost has become the real wife of the male protagonist.
However, with the help of the special identity of the female ghost, the whole film can show a variety of "special functions" scenes, which are the selling points of the movie.
"My Wife Is Not a Man" was released for only 1 week that year, and won 3.81 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, which is an ordinary achievement, but as a low-cost comedy, it is not a problem to recover the cost and make a small profit.
Pigo until today to take out to relive, can still be amused by the classic funny bridge in the film, and those emotional scenes, although not profound, but also appear simple and sincere, maybe our current comedy movies, what is missing are these things!
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Bloody Dan Heart
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