During the "golden age" of Hong Kong cinema in the mid-1970s and early 1990s, in this small city on the southern coast of China, more than a dozen crews worked at the same time every day. The beautiful boys and beauties who came out of the Hong Kong Wireless Artist Training Class walked together and played between the various crews. Film and television companies such as Jiahe, Shaw and New Art City have invested a lot of money to excavate and train new talents to compete in the showbiz circle. This also created the miracle that Hong Kong films produced more than 200 films a year in the 1980s.
That golden age of Hong Kong cinema gave birth to countless film superstars, who may be as good-looking as Chow Yun-fat, Andy Lau and Leung Chao-wai, with first-class acting skills, and become hot first-line actors. Or like Hong Jinbao, Jackie Chan, Yuan Biao, Yuan Hua, the artist is bold, in order to complete the eye-catching stunt action at the expense of sacrificing his life to become an action superstar.
But people who can write and direct, and are unique in artistic expression, can create a personal style, and even break out of another way to make a movie, I think Xingye is one of the best.
His "Chow Comedy" nonsense style and special attention to small character themes are enough to make him sit at the top of the Chinese comedy, and it is no exaggeration to call him "Asian Jim Carrey".
Today we will talk about the best work of Xingye after the 21st century - "Kung Fu"
First, the self-cultivation of "little people"
The story of "Kung Fu" still inherits the tradition of Xingye's "small character narrative", telling the story of Shanghai in the 1940s, when A Xing, a street gangster who had been bullied since childhood, extorted and extorted money in the "Pig Cage City Wall" in order to get ahead and pretend to be a "axe gang", which attracted the real "axe gang" forces.
The accidental invasion of gangster forces disturbed the quiet life in the slums, and also disturbed the four world-class kung fu masters who were entrenched here- the inheritors of The Bagua Stick of Wulang, the Hongjia Clematis and the Shaolin Twelve Road Tan Leg.
The gangsters are naturally not the opponents of the divine skills, but the arrogant axe gang boss Kun Ge is unwilling to give up, so he uses the gang power to constantly invite the world's masters to try to bulldoze the "Pig Cage City Wall" in one fell swoop. And each attack of Kun Ge will provoke more hidden "high people" in this small pool of water that is not proud of the world. Until, Kun Ge used his necklace human head to sacrifice the Ultimate Killer King Fire Cloud Evil God, and his opponent was the little rogue A Xing who set off this storm.
Xingye wrote and directed himself, focusing the guide on the small person A Xing, making him a witness and key participant in this contest between "criminal and evil forces" and "pig cage city wall". Every turn in the war between the two sides was created by Ah Xing's inadvertent speculation.
The first time was when he saw that he was about to be beaten by the residents of the walled city, so he had to learn the way the axe gang used fireworks to call people, and threw a cannonball. It just exploded into the head of the Leader of the Axe Gang passing by the wall. Immediately after that, the wicked man first filed a complaint and planted the charge on the residents of the walled city, which triggered a conflict between the two forces.
The second turning point is that Ah Xing, with a great desire to get ahead, put down all courtesies and shame to join the Axe Gang, and as a result, the first task he received was to rescue the Great Demon Fire Cloud Evil God from the mental hospital.
Ah Xing knew that his behavior was wrong. But he seemed to have been overwhelmed by the desire to achieve fame. Thus, with the release of the Fire Cloud Evil God, an uncontrolled force of destruction also swept through the entire Axe Gang and the walled city.
The third turning point is that when the chartered woman and the chartered public duel in the axe gang base camp, Ah Xing faces the three masters who are entangled with each other and chooses to use the wooden stick to hit the fire cloud evil god.
The little bastard Ah Xing finally stood on the side of justice this time. But this also caused the Fire Cloud Evil God to directly run away, swinging his fist to interrupt the meridians of Ah Xing's whole body, and his life was hanging in the balance. It was precisely because of this incident that the ghost gate was closed, and the potential of Ah Xing's "martial arts wizard" completely exploded.
It can be said that in the first half of the film, Ah Xing has always been a small who slips through the door and picks locks and speculates on the upside down. For fame and fortune, he can join gangs, bully civilians, and even rob a girl who sells candy.
But after all, he is only a small person, without noble virtue and without the fierceness of great treachery and great evil, between good and evil and good and evil. He did not dare to kill, did not dare to set fire, did not dare to rape, and after blackmailing and being bitten by a snake, he had to hide in a traffic light box alone and silently digest the pain.
But it is also after experiencing a series of setbacks and tribulations that Ah Xing finally realized how precious the opportunity to be a good person is, and how despicable it is to be willing to degenerate on the old road of a small. Thus, at the moment when he completed the choice between good and evil, the potential hidden deep in his body also completely exploded.
2. Eight Kung Fu stunts, bringing together Chinese martial arts
Since the film is called "Kung Fu", the most core element of the story is naturally Chinese martial arts. In the "imaginary China" in Jin Yong and Gu Long wuxia novels, Chinese martial arts can be described as having a long history and many branches, shaolin, Wudang, Emei, Cai Gang, and Taiji gate factions have their own kung fu, which together paint a world of happiness and vengeance, sword and light sword shadow.
On the one hand, Xingye's "Kung Fu" continues the tradition of Hong Kong martial arts novels, on the other hand, it inherits the mantle of Hong Kong martial arts movies and kung fu films, and the eight kung fu that appear in it can be said to be both a reinterpretation of traditional Chinese kung fu and a tribute to Hong Kong classic kung fu films.
(1) Such as the palm of God
The most invincible kung fu in the film" is actually a fiction of Hong Kong filmmakers. It first appeared in the Hong Kong film "Rulai Shenpao" in the last century, and was portrayed as Rulai Buddha's creation for Pudu sentient beings, with a total of ten styles.
At the end of the film, Ah Xing uses the ninth type of "Ten Thousand Buddhas Dynasty Sect". Later, after people continued to deduce, the Rulai Divine Palm became a kind of divine skill that was compatible with the "Heavenly Stump Foot".
(2) Toad Gong
"Toad Gong" was a must-kill skill of the Fire Cloud Evil God, and he once used this skill to put Ah Xing at a disadvantage.
Toad Gong is from Jin Yong's martial arts novel, which is the original stunt of Ouyang Feng, which was later passed on to his righteous son Yang Guo.
It is characterized by being like a toad preying on insects, waiting for an opportunity to move, braking statically, attacking people from behind, swooping down when the enemy attacks, concentrating all internal forces on a point and erupting, killing people in one blow.
(3) (4) Shaolin Southern Fist And North Leg - "Hong Fist" and "Tan Leg"
The tailors and coolies who live in seclusion in the Kowloon Walled City in the film are the descendants of Hong Quan and Tan Leg, respectively. Hong Quan was first created by Hong Xiguan, a Guangdong man of the Qing Dynasty, who when he was a teenager, he studied under Shaolin, and with his high understanding, he integrated the kung fu of northern and southern Shaolin, and created a "Hong Fist" that combines internal and external cultivation, uses fists and feet at the same time, and combines rigidity and softness.
The person who plays the tailor in the film, named Zhao Zhiling, is Huang Feihong's apprentice grandson, and the clematis he practices is also one of the five battles of Hong Fist.
The source of "Tan Leg" is widely said, including the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, Henan, and the Longtan Temple in Shandong, and many theories. Later, the Jingwu Society of Huo Yuanjia in Tianjin also taught this kind of kung fu. There is a proverb cloud "practice boxing without practicing legs, like a daredevil" can see the importance of kung fu on the legs. Tan leg style, exquisite action, changeable moves, rapid attack and defense, can complement the boxing very well.
(5) Goro Bagua Stick
The origin of this set of sticks is hidden in the name, the so-called "Wulang" refers to the Southern Song Dynasty against the Khitan Yang Wulang, who was defeated in the Battle of Jinsha beach when he accompanied his father in the war, and then disguised himself as a monk.
Later, he really went to Wutai Mountain to cut his hair as a monk, changed the Yang family gun method to a stick method, and created the "Wulang Bagua Stick". Playing the boss of the early stall Yang in the film is Dong Zhiping, a martial artist of Peking Opera, whose gun and stick techniques are first-class.
(6) Tai Chi Chuan
This can be said to be the most well-known kung fu in the film, and the chartered public in the film is the "Chen Taiji" from Chenjiagou in Henan. Taking the Taoist Tai Chi and Yin and Yang as the mental method, paying attention to both internal and external cultivation, rigidity and softness, with soft Ke Gang, four or two strokes of a thousand pounds.
Although the chartered gong can play the six-fingered piano demon between the palms of his hands with a set of amazing Tai Chi, he is a "rake ear", and he has to swallow his anger and bear the burden of humiliation in front of his wife's domestic violence.
(7) Lion Roar Gong
The Lion Roar Gong, which is comparable to an ultrasonic weapon in the film, is one of the Seventy-Two Skills of Shaolin. When performing the work, the qi is first immersed in the dantian, and then it is poured out for thousands of miles, but the sound can be transmitted for miles, and the smeller's heart is beating and the back is cold. As Du Fu said in his poem, "I overheard the roar of the lion in Hedong, and the staff fell into the palm of my hand in a daze." "Presumably, only a strong, domineering wife can control it freely."
(VIII) Three-Hole Qin Demon - Shaolin Dragon Claw Hand
In the film, the three-hole piano demon and the two of them caress a guqin, and the sound of the piano turns into a sword and light sword shadow, and the lights are extinguished and the grass is broken everywhere they go, and the killing is invisible. This kung fu can be regarded as the original of Xingye, which is a combination of the six fingerings of the guzheng and the Shaolin dragon claw hand.
Of course, Xingye was also inspired by the "Fuqin Style" and "Drum Style" in the Shaolin Dragon Gripper that Zhang Wuji had used in Jin Yong's novels.
3. Ten years of preparation is only for the realization of the "Kung Fu Dream"
The movie "Kung Fu", in fact, Star Ye wanted to put it on the stage as early as 2005. One of his original intentions when he set up his own color star company to shoot the journey to the west was to use the money he earned to shoot his dream work, "Kung Fu".
But who promised fate to mess with people, the nonsense style of "Journey to the West" exceeded the upper limit of the audience's understanding at that time, and encountered an unprecedented box office Waterloo, which directly led to the bankruptcy of the Color Star Company, and the plan to shoot "Kung Fu" was also stranded indefinitely.
During the period from 2005's Journey to the West to 2004's Kung Fu, Hoshiya also filmed another classic, 1999's The King of Comedy. It can be said that these three works, which are separated by five years from each other, together constitute the "iron triangle" of Zhou's comedy across the century with a very high standard.
Looking back now, in fact, the box office failure of "Journey to the West" at that time was not necessarily a bad thing, and it was precisely with the precipitation and grinding of the stars in the next decade that the script and works could be polished to such a delicate degree.
Moreover, with the level of special effects in the 90s of the last century to shoot kung fu, the final scene of the A Xingqun beating the Axe Gang and the Rulai God Palm defeating the fire cloud evil god will be very simple, difficult to achieve the desired effect, and can not perfectly interpret Xingye's understanding of kung fu.