As the finale of this flash mob, on the evening of April 14, Professor Mao Jian of East China Normal University, Sun Mengjin, senior film critic, and Tang Weijie, associate professor of Tongji University, gathered here to chat about Leslie Cheung and Hong Kong movies with the theme of "Life Without You, Will It Be Different".
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Recently, walking into the Duoyun Academy Drama Store on Changle Road in Shanghai, you will feel like surrounded by Leslie Cheung's movie lines. A pop-up event of "Brother Cheung Forever" in collaboration with Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House is being held here.
In the lower right corner is the new version of "61 with Him"
As the finale of this flash mob, on the evening of April 14, Professor Mao Jian of East China Normal University, Sun Mengjin, senior film critic, and Tang Weijie, associate professor of Tongji University, gathered here to chat about Leslie Cheung and Hong Kong movies with the theme of "Life Without You, Will It Be Different".
Leslie Cheung defines the role
There are many superstars who have passed away, but there are not many who can be regarded as idols by the younger generation, and Leslie Cheung is one. Why is that? Mao Jian replied with the phrase "I am me": "Leslie Cheung is Leslie Cheung." Wong Kar-wai once said that Leslie Cheung would bring his own things with him in any role. Leslie Cheung is not defined by roles, Leslie Cheung is defining roles and defining beauty. ”
She gave the example of "The True Color of Heroes", thinking that back then, among the three leading actors, Chow Yun-fat was known as box office poison, Dillon was a martial arts star, only Leslie Cheung became popular in the music industry, and John Woo relied on him to pull film investment, get out of the trough, and return to the peak. But in this movie, Leslie Cheung plays the most unflattering role. But he injected bright colors into the role, playing the growth of a young policeman.
"The True Color of Heroes"
I remember once at midnight in "The True Color of Heroes", Leslie Cheung sat next to Lin Yanni and waited to see the audience's reaction, saying: "I'm going to die, the audience likes Fa Zi so much, but I am a policeman who wants to arrest Fa Zi and my brother." But every time he saw himself appear, he clapped his hands happily and said innocently: "I don't shoot anyone first, I have to drive the audience to clap their hands." Under his lead, the audience who did not know the truth really clapped their hands. But after the end, the role of A-jie has always been hateful, and Leslie Cheung comforted himself: The audience hates me, which proves that I played well.
Later, John Woo filmed "Across the Seas", originally the goddess Zhong Chuhong fell in love with Chow Yun-fat in the play, and later Chow Yun-fat gave way to Leslie Cheung. "Fortunately, it is given to Leslie Cheung, this story can still be a fairy tale, if it is replaced by someone else, it will be tragic." Mao Jian said, "Leslie Cheung is a person who can change the grammar and structure of films. ”
"Across the Seas"
In 2009, the Hong Kong Film Awards celebrated the centenary of Hong Kong cinema by reinterpreting the 1909 comedy short film "Roasting Duck" on stage. In Mao Jian's view, the history of Hong Kong films can be traced back to "Stealing Roasted Duck" in 1909, and also to the feature film "Rouge" directed by Li Beihai and Li Minwei in 1925, but the real beginning of Hong Kong films should be the "Wong Fei Hong" series starring Kwan Dexing that began in 1949. Later, Zhang Che's martial arts and new wave heroes appeared, and in the 80s, the golden decade of Hong Kong films officially opened. And this decade happens to be intertextualized with Leslie Cheung's film career.
"We are people who came from the golden age, and naturally we feel a big gap." Looking at today's Hong Kong films, Mao Jian bluntly said that he was pessimistic, "I have never felt that business and art are antonyms, although Hong Kong films at their peak are very commercial, they are not opposed to art, on the contrary, they are very brilliant and do everything to the extreme." For example, Zhang Che's martial arts films, unloading an arm at every turn, and the anti-common sense gut battle, now it seems bloody that it must be an R-rated film, but there is an extreme sense of mythology and martial arts in the blood. Another example is "Qiannu Ghost", the electrical inspection office does not allow the filming of bed scenes, but Leslie Cheung and Wang Zuxian can turn the whole heaven and earth into a bed - you see that outdoor scene, Wang Zuxian just used his bare feet to play in the water, which makes you feel that the whole heaven and earth are beds, full of wind and moon."
"Qiannu Ghost"
In "Colorful Guts: The Aesthetics of Divine Madness in Hong Kong Movies", Mao Jian also wrote about another famous water scene in "Qiannu Ghost": "Ning Caichen was pressed underwater by Xiaoqian, but after all, he couldn't hold it for too long, and the dryad grandmother and female disciple Xiaoqing felt that the smell in Xiaoqian's house was strange, and Xiaoqian's various movements disturbed their attention, but Grandma and Xiaoqing were not fuel-efficient." At a critical moment, Xiao Qian sacrificed the great method of changing clothes, the red wedding dress interfered with her grandmother's vision, but the youthful body when changing clothes let Ning Caichen, who was breathable with water, look at it squarely, seeing that Ning Caichen was about to exclaim, Xiao Qian leaned over and kissed him, and then a string of bubbles appeared in the water. This paragraph is extremely beautiful, and the clothes are all hued everywhere, but Nie Xiaoqian's spring light is only seen by Ning Caichen alone, and the whole process does not challenge the electrical inspection for a second but is full of grace, plus Ning Caichen himself is also a top match, a red clothes, a jade face, a beauty, an obsessive, directly stunned the audience with the beauty of people and sex, so bold can be called bold. ”
Such boldness, in this way, to the extreme, can cross the century to the present day and reconnect with young people. At the symposium, one of the words most mentioned about Leslie Cheung was "ahead". Sun Mengjin said that many of the characters played by Leslie Cheung have a kind of "aggressiveness", such as "Rouge Button", such as "Spring Light": "In "Spring Light", Tony Leung is the weak party, and Leslie Cheung is very aggressive. But when you see him dancing tango with Tony Leung, the body language is bright; When he left Tony Leung to dance with foreigners, his body was gloomy. Wong Kar-wai uses him to express a sense of apocalypse. ”
The two dances of "Spring Light"
Life is different without you
"Life will be different without you?"
The answer is obvious.
"Adolescence meets the heyday of Hong Kong films, and for us, it's like seeing a beautiful world." Mao Jian said, "Leslie Cheung, who is many years ahead of his time, seems to let us see the future direction of evolution. And his departure is like throwing us back to a world that disappears in the future. We return to our ordinary lives full of regrets, struggling with ourselves and surrounded by weightlessness. In the past, Hong Kong movies made us feel like teenagers, and we could fly in the next second. ”
John Woo said: "After Leslie Cheung left, the Hong Kong film industry changed from a square to a triangle. ”
He said this to South Korean journalist Zhu Shengche. As a senior Korean reporter, Zhu Shengche has interviewed many famous Hong Kong directors and actors: John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, Kwan Jinpeng, Chen Kexin, Li Rengang, Jackie Chan... Because he likes Leslie Cheung, every time he asks them questions about Leslie Cheung. What surprised me was that no matter what event they attended at that time or which movie was launched, these interviewees would give enough time and patience when talking about Leslie Cheung, who seemed to have nothing to do with the subject, not only chatting deeply with the foreign reporters they met for the first time about the past ten or twenty years, but even often showing their nostalgia and reluctance for Leslie Cheung.
Zhu Shengche's "Forever Brother Leslie Cheung"
Jackie Chan and Zhu Shengche talked about the casting of "Rouge Button" that year, saying that he recommended Leslie Cheung to star: "Aside from the star image, I simply think that he will be very cool to play Cantonese opera." The Cantonese opera movements (in the movie) are also choreographed by the Chengjia class. He also described Leslie Cheung as a person who is "sad but not sad", and although he is sad in his heart, he will not show it. After suffering from depression, once Leslie Cheung felt that his chest was too tight and left his dinner early, Jackie Chan said to Zhu Shengche: "Leslie Cheung has always been a smiling brother in front of me, and that day was the first time I worried about him." ”
"Rouge Button"
Li Rengang, who collaborated with "Star-Moon Fairy Tale", said: "I was originally a person who liked fast editing, but Leslie Cheung is the kind of person who looks quietly and feels very beautiful, so I didn't split the shot, so I let the camera follow him all the time." ”
"Star Moon Fairy Tale"
Wong Kar-wai, who re-edited "East Evil West Poison" into "East Evil West Poison: Ultimate Edition", said: "In fact, there are no major changes in the movie, I only hope that two changes can be made. One is to divide the story according to the seasons to add a sense of cycle; The second is to put the stories of those who came to find Ouyang Feng into his monologue. Maybe the final scene will make people feel that Ouyang Feng looks like a ghost, but in any case, I hope to be different from "East Evil West Poison" and end the movie with Leslie Cheung. He also mentioned that he deliberately chose to hold the world premiere of the ultimate version in Cannes because Leslie Cheung once attached great importance to this stage and wanted to fulfill his wish.
Chu Shengche wrote: "Whether or not he cooperates with Leslie Cheung, director John Woo can always make films with the same taste, but Wong Kar-wai when he does not work with Leslie Cheung is difficult to make films with the same taste." Perhaps, Wong Kar-wai himself felt that he edited the fragments of film that "East Evil and West Poison" could not be included in the film into Zedong's 30th anniversary special production "Distance of 0.01 cm". For Wong Kar-wai, who always likes to hide behind sunglasses and is moody, this can almost be said to be a public confession.
"Distance of 0.01 cm"
As we all know, there are many fans in South Korea, and I suspect that "The True Color of Heroes" may be the most implanted Hong Kong film in Korean film and television dramas. From "Please Answer 1988", "Security Officer", to "Extreme Occupation", which broke the box office record of Korean movies: when the police and drug dealers fought in groups and finally won the final victory, they sat tragically on the broken sofa on the pier, and the music of "Love of the Year" sounded...
"Extreme Class" imitates the famous scene of the "True Color of Heroes" series
In the Korean drama "Producer" starring Kim so-hyun, there was also a line such as "My mother used to like movie actor Leslie Cheung, so my father said that he gave my mother a hundred chocolates endorsed by Leslie Cheung, and it was hard to catch her". It can be seen how far-reaching the TO YOU chocolate advertisement he endorsed in South Korea that year was - Zhu Shengche wrote: "Leslie Cheung ate a bite of rain-soaked chocolate in the rain, as if to tell people that 'people who have not eaten chocolate wet with tears do not understand love'." "At that time, advertisers also knew how to design chocolate packaging as blank letter paper, encourage readers to write their love stories and send them, and they could travel to Hong Kong for free by lottery, so many Koreans had a bunch of TO YOU stationery at home, including Zhu Shengche.
Zhu Shengche also did what most fans do: go to the streets of Hong Kong to find all kinds of footprints of Leslie Cheung, from the environment in which he grew up, to a sugar water shop selling sugarcane juice in Central that appeared in "The Legend of Blue River"... Although he was very professional in the interview, he also showed the "irrational" side of fans in the book, such as the re-screening of "Spring Light" in South Korea, he went to the door of the cinema but did not enter because "although it is only a movie, I don't want to see him abandoned".
I wonder if Zhu Shengche went to Hong Kong for the 20th anniversary? The story is all written in the book
What is Leslie Cheung's best CP on screen?
At the end of the symposium, the host asked the guests to share three favorite Leslie Cheung movies. Sun Mengjin nodded and shared one, two, three, four, five, six... The department ("A Fei Zhengzhuan", "Spring Light", "Rouge Button", etc.), is a rhythm that cannot be stopped.
Tang Weijie's first choice is "The True Story of A Fei", and it must be watched on the big screen: "On the big screen, the green of the rainforest full screen will bring you whole in." Leslie Cheung walked to Maggie Cheung with the bag on his back, which made me feel that the bag was filled with youth. ”
"The True Story of A Fei"
And the choice of hair tips is different from all of them. "I don't resonate so much with Leslie Cheung's sad character now, but I think he has a very comic ability. Generally speaking, beauty cares about the image and does not play ugly comedy, but Leslie Cheung does not care. He subverts our impression that comedians are dirty and bad. So if I have to choose, I will choose "Family Happy Events", "The House of Great Wealth", "East Becomes West" - in "East Becomes West", he and Wang Zuxian practice 'love and sword', one dressed pink and blue, the other dressed pink, the scene is ghostly! There is also a 'Top Thirteen' scene "Double Feiyan" in this play that I think I can't find the second in movie history - Leslie Cheung was inspired by Leung Ka Fai's 'Village Entrance Wang's permed hairstyle', and improvised words on the spot - 'Beautiful Chanjuan, rare to see in a lifetime, the aroma of blue musk makes me extremely dizzy/You really praise me so much, how is the flower in the mist worth you to meet'... Such a talented, and such crazy word, it is really the supreme second goods, I will turn it out when I am in a low mood. ”
Pink, powder, blue and pink
Best of the night: Teacher Mao said that if I were to choose Leslie Cheung's Best CP on the screen, I wouldn't think it was XXX, I would choose... As she paused, my mind rolled through a series of names such as Zhong Chuhong, Maggie Cheung, Wang Zuxian, Mao Shunyun, and even Tony Leung, but her final landing point was: Leung Ka Fai.
"Be right"