From "God" to "Man", this time Zhou Yunfa returned to basics

Drunken casinos, crazy gamblers, and fierce street fires, the trailer for "Don't Call Me a "God of Gamblers" suddenly reminds you of the heyday of Hong Kong gambling films.

"Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers" was originally called "The Sunshine Years". Many viewers feel that adding the word "God of Gamblers" to the title is the classic screen image of Zhou Yunfa "God of Gamblers" in order to forcibly rub Zhou Yunfa at the box office, and when the trailer of the movie came out, there were more and more doubts about the film's "fried gambling film cold rice" and "consumer Hong Kong film feelings".

But after the movie was released, I found that the title of "Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers" is the most consistent with the movie itself: "The Sunshine Years" has a strong sense of reluctance, as if looking back at the glory days of the past through the screen; But in "Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers", whether it is the words "Don't Call Me" or the quotation marks on the two words of God of Gamblers, it shows its anti-gambling posture and attitude of piercing the mythical filter on it.

Yes, this "Don't Call Me a God of Gamblers" is not a gambling film.

In the film, gambling is only the background and embellishment of the story, and the focus is more on the redemption story of the warm relationship between the father and son played by Brother Fa, Wu Guanghui, the "gambling ghost father", and the autistic son played by Ke Weilin.

After stripping away the heavy genre oil paint of gambling films, the whole film presents a moving realism and "anti-genre" temperament, and Hong Kong-style humor is not lost in addition to warmth.

And Chow Yun-fat also took advantage of the role of "Wu Guanghui", which is very close to himself, slowly walked down from the high altar of "God of Gamblers", returned to the basics, and completed his most natural and smooth performance on the big screen in recent years.

The first thing that attracts the attention of all audiences in this "Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers" should be its cast:

The two Chow Yun-fat and Yuen Wing-yee are both representatives of the golden age of Hong Kong films, and for all Hong Kong film fans, they are both youth memories that are difficult to avoid.

In addition to the two leading actors, Fang Zhongxin, who plays Fang Zhongsir in the film, and Liao Qizhi, who plays Uncle Hua, are also golden green leaves in Hong Kong films, who died of illness in 2021, and this "Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers" has also become one of his posthumous works. The appearance of these actors, together with the gambling films, ancient puzzle boys and other elements in the film, constitute the film's memories and projection of the "glorious days" of Hong Kong Film in the past.

As the starring Chow Yun-fat, he is now nearly seventy, and this "Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers" is also very likely to become his last leading role on the big screen.

At the same time, around the word "God of Gamblers", there is also a screen old story between Chow Yun-fat and Yuen Yongyi:

After filming "God of Gamblers 1" and "God of Gamblers 2" that year, Zhou Yunfa politely refused the contract of the third part directed by Wang Jing. In desperation, the plot of the third part changed from a continuation of the previous work to a prequel to the God of Gamblers, and Dawn was found to play the young God of Gamblers, and in "God of Gamblers 3", it was Yuen Yongyi who played the Dawn version of Gao Jin's girlfriend Xiaoqi. After 27 years, "Fine Seven" and "Gao Jin" finally reunited on the screen.

But unlike the time when "Gao Jin" babbled blood in a hail of bullets and crisscrossed the gambling table, Chow Yun-fat in "Don't Call Me a "God of Gamblers" performed the real bleak evening scene of a gambler in his old age.

Wu Guanghui used his life to interpret the four big words of "long gambling must lose", he lost not only the chips in his pocket, but also his own life: because of gambling, his pregnant girlfriend left him, the red paint of the debt collector was splashed on his face, people are not ghosts or ghosts, like a clown, more like a joke, and finally he moved from Hong Kong to Macau, both to avoid debts and to hide from that life like a rat in the waterway.

But after moving to Macau, he still lingered in casinos, changed a drain, and did not change his character as a bad gambler. Until one day, his former lover, Li Xi, played by Yuen Yongyi, appeared in front of him with his biological son Wu Yang and exchanged 100,000 yuan for him to accompany his son for a month.

Because he had no gambling funds on his body, and he was still carrying gambling debts, in the face of 100,000 yuan, Wu Guanghui agreed. What he didn't know was that Li Xi was terminally ill at this time, and he just wanted his autistic son to be able to entrust him. With his responsibility as a father and love for his son, Wu Guanghui also got out of the quagmire of gambling.

Although it was a mistake in creating people, in terms of results, Li Xi saved the life of the gambling ghost Wu Guanghui.

After peeling back the mythical cloak of "God of Gamblers" that is typified and legendary to "gambling", the story between Wu Guanghui and Li Xi may be the realistic version of Gao Jin and Xiaoqi in "God of Gamblers".

In the film, Wu Guanghui, who knows all the truth and repents, will take his son and the ashes of his deceased wife to a desert that his wife has been thinking about, as a ceremony for him to repent to his deceased wife and bid farewell to his past. Such a plot setting is unconsciously reminiscent of Zhou Yunfa's "Alang's Story".

The meaning of "the prodigal son does not change his money" does not mean that after a person is changed, the mistakes he has made can be written off, but that those who have made mistakes can also have the right to be good people after paying the price.

Whether it is Ah Lang falling off a motorcycle again and again in order to return to the race in "The Story of Alang", or Wu Guanghui in "Don't Call Me a "God of Gamblers" in order to be able to fulfill his deceased wife's wishes, they all atone for the sins they have committed with physical austerity.

A still from "Alang's Story"

In the entire film, in addition to Wu Guanghui played by Brother Fa, the most eye-catching thing is the performance of Ke Weilin, who plays his autistic son in the film.

The antagonistic scenes of the two people occupy a considerable proportion in the film, and whether this autistic character can be interpreted well is the key to whether the audience can believe the story and empathize with the father and son.

Judging from the performance in the film, although he is a new-generation actor, Ke Weilin completely took over Brother Fa's play, and his interpretation of the role of the autistic son is not inferior to the article in "Ocean Paradise", which completely establishes the audience's sense of belief in this story.

At the same time, the spirit embodied in this "Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers" also reminds me of a masterpiece that can be called a portrait of the Hong Kong people to some extent - "The Thief of Years".

Although it tells the story of the prodigal son turning back, but unlike the tragic ending of the final car crash and death in "Alang's Story", in "Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers", Wu Guanghui, who fulfilled his deceased wife's long-cherished wish with his autistic son, chose to face the next life with his son.

Although to a certain extent, it is self-inflicted, but objectively, Wu Guanghui's life can be described by the word "miserable": as a gambler, he has a life of confusion, like a gutter rat to avoid debts every day; Because he was a gambler, he was abandoned by his lover, and after he woke up, his lover had died; Fortunately, he has a son, but he has autism.

But it's like the classic line in "The Thief of Years": shoes are half difficult, but also half good, and you must always "believe" as a person.

This "faith" is the "faith" of faith. And it is this "letter" word that supports Wu Guanghui's determination to make changes and start training long-distance running with his son.

In the movie, the pair of running shoes hanging on the door is hardly the director's implicit tribute to the "Thief of Years". Just as Hong Kong film and Hong Kong dramas often say, "losing for a while does not necessarily mean losing a lifetime", "without "yang" and "nothing" brilliance, it may not be a day without glory.

In the end, back to Brother Fa. In his early years, trapped in the role images of "Little Pony" and "God of Gamblers", and after leaving Hollywood, he was limited by his Chinese identity, Zhou Yunfa has been in film for half of his life, but he has starred in most of the movies in genre films, and he has rarely filmed realistic themes, and he has hardly played a role with a strong sense of life such as "Wu Guanghui".

But after washing away the lead of the genre film, the superstar temperament has become more prominent, and the performance is smooth and natural, like water popping in a river. Just like the phrase "be water, my friend" he said to Bruce Lee's figure in the movie, it is also comfortable and anxious, but turbulent and slow.

And these eight words are also a portrayal of the current Hong Kong movies. In the era of "turbulence" in which genre commercial films are in full swing, from "Uncle Against the Current", "Mai Roader" to "Don't Call Me "God of Gamblers", Hong Kong films have shown a trend towards the realism of still water in recent years.

For the development of film artistry and the accumulation of industry talents, this is not necessarily a bad thing, and we also look forward to the accumulation and momentum of such accumulation, Hong Kong films can also usher in its next golden era.