A series of underworld films shot by Du Qifeng are enough to become representative works of Hong Kong films. Among Du Daoyun's many films, the 1998 movie "Dark Flower" is not a special hit, but it is full of personal style, revealing the essence of Du Qifeng's films.
On the contrary, the movie that was later applauded, because the box office considered adding commercial elements, but lost its most original taste. "Dark Flower" is starred by two major film emperors Liang Chaowei and Liu Qingyun, and the whole story takes place in one night.
Ah Chen, played by Liang Chaowei, is the first protagonist of the film, and the first half of the film is also shot from his point of view. In one night, he went from being a figure who crisscrossed The black and white channels of Macao to a falling dog chased by black and white.
He was the second in the gang on one side and the powerful in the police force on the other, and he opened the scene with arrogance that something would be resolved after tonight.
As the story of the film develops, the conspiracy surrounding him slowly unfolds, because he said a wrong word, became an outcast of the gang to clean up the portal, and was forced to a dead end step by step.
The conversation with Liu Qingyun in the police station was a turning point in Liang Chaowei's transition from prosperity to decline. In the first half of the night, he also said that he wanted to find the killer, and he couldn't imagine that under the careful layout of the movie, he would finally become the killer.
When a person is forced to the end of the road, he will have an amazing will to survive. The trapped beast fight at the Hong Kong and Macao Wharf was a personal performance of Liang Chaowei's acting skills, from confusion and fear to psychological changes in struggle to survive.
Liu Qingyun doesn't seem to have much of a role in the movie, but he walks around with a bag and sits in the detention room playing table tennis, and the audience has been guessing what he is doing. He doesn't have much dialogue, but he's definitely the other half of the soul of the movie.
In the picture, the audience does not directly see what he is doing, but he is the person who laid out Liang Chaowei and predicted that Liang Chaowei would become the killer he has been pursuing.
The look in his eyes with Liang Chaowei was full of tension, and he didn't need words to explain the suspenseful atmosphere. This movie is not a two-man battle, he is also just a pawn, dancing in the palm of the Hong Kong gangster. The real speaker behind the scenes has only one figure in the movie, but his clever layout can't help but make the audience shoot the case.
The film has no heroine at all, and there is not enough time to add love lines in one night. The selling point is not Du Qifeng's usual gunfight and scene, and the final two-male duel is actually dispensable.
Although the picture is still strong and strong, the scene takes place after the climax of the movie, and everything is a foregone conclusion before it is given to the audience's eye dessert.
The scene where Liang Chaowei gets on the boat is very ironic, no matter how he struggles, the final result is futile, showing the helplessness of people in the jianghu.
This set of films has a rare good script, a collection of violent suspense and tension, and some people say that this film is a masterpiece of Hong Kong films showing Hollywood films the ability to make movies. Because the script of this film has reached a very high level, and the flowing plot advancement makes the audience have the impulse to keep their eyes on it and always want to look down.
The classic point of "Dark Flower" is that through one fine layout after another, the audience falls into the bridge designed by the screenwriter again and again, and finally when the mystery is revealed, everyone has a stunned shock.
"Dark Flower" can be said to be completely out of the framework of traditional gangster movies, under the script written by the screenwriter, so that the plot of this film has a unique sense of novelty, so that the seemingly traditional old story has a new life.
The casting part of this film can be said to be quite successful, the policeman played by Liang Chaowei is simply a licensed rogue, fierce and fierce, and there is no difference between the real underworld, and Liang Chaowei also interprets that fierceness very well.
Although Yaodong, played by Liu Qingyun, has a flat personality, this role is the most critical role in the whole movie, and it is he who drives the flow and progress of the entire script, and Liu Qingyun also plays a good role appropriately.
Although this film is very classic, it is not flawless - the story is too many coincidences, although it can be deduced that the screenwriter of "Dark Flower" has a set of skills for the description of turning points, but too many coincidences will also make the audience feel that they are justifying themselves.
Although this film has many shortcomings, it is not hidden, because the rhythm of "Dark Flower" is clear and bright, and the core themes and topics to be discussed are very clearly expressed to the audience, which is very rare. I believe that the executive producers Du Qifeng and Wei Jiahui have given the director a lot of guidance, because "Dark Flower" is really a movie with Du Qifeng's color.
The good looks of "Dark Flower" needless to say, it can be called the best work of Hong Kong films of the year, the level of script is so high that the works produced by Galaxy Image are looking forward to it; recommended to you who like suspense movies.