In 2019, the school bullying movie "Young You", with a dark horse posture, won 1.558 billion box office, becoming the box office hegemon in this genre, and at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards the following year, "Young You" lived up to the name of dark horse, and became the biggest winner of the year.
Such a good achievement, should have been netizens running to congratulate each other, but the reality only stopped at the "fan ecstasy" layer, the reason is very simple, "Young You" is also known as "plagiarized you" and did not have to wash, we also think so, as for the "school bullying theme" movie, so far we still first promoted 33 years ago Lin Lingdong directed the "School Storm".
If nothing else, on the poster of "School Storm", the line of bold and eye-catching black characters is introduced: underworld pollution education! The film has been painted with heavy colors. When the title of the film "School Wind and Cloud" was published, "School" used black, the font was solemn, and the red font of "Wind and Cloud" was flamboyant, and Lin Lingdong's usual coldness jumped on the screen.
The plot of "School Storm" is just like its introduction, is a series of stories after the underworld forces invaded the campus, the school in the film is called "Southeast Middle School", located next to kai Tak Airport, a few minutes after recess, many students go to the roof to smoke, and can also see the plane roaring overhead, and the Kowloon Walled City next to the school.
The appearance of the four words "Kowloon City Walled", I believe that the audience who likes Hong Kong films and cyberpunk will immediately think of an independent kingdom full of evil and imagination, in general, in the old Hong Kong films, where there are heinous outlaws, Kowloon City Walled must be its standard.
From the perspective of "environmental determinism", a place controlled by grass, a school with black smoke, a group of helpless, ignorant and impulsive students, and the bad people around them are ready to invade the campus, and the fragile Southeast Middle School lives in it, and the protagonist Zhu Wanfang, played by Yuan Jieying, is also among them.
Such an environment, what will happen next, everyone can already think of, played by Zhang Yaoyang Xiao Brother began to create trouble, as a rising new evil force, Xiao Xiao Brother does not abide by the traditional morality of the older generation, but he does everything that can make money, and the student, the most easily used group, is naturally his preferred target.
In an unexpected encounter, Zhu Wanfang was involved in a gunfight involving human life outside the campus, offending Xiao Xiao's number one brother in the school, and the younger brother warned Zhu Wanfang not to talk nonsense and cooperate with the police.
Unfortunately, at this time, Zhu Wanfang was still an ignorant girl, although she grew up in a harsh environment, she still lacked considerable understanding of the dangers outside, so when she arrived at the police station, Zhu Wanfang told Lin Zhengying and huang Guangliang about many things, the original, to Lin Zhengying and the police partner played by Huang Guangliang, and the nightmare began.
Because of the lack of evidence, Brother Xiao is still dashing, but he can't swallow this breath, so Brother Xiao personally came forward to block Zhu Wanfang at the door of Southeast Middle School, at this time, another person who is willing to protect Zhu Wanfang appeared, he is the only teacher Wen in the school who still has conscience and integrity, and the role is played by Liu Songren.
But Teacher Wen is relatively a gentle, even a little cowardly person, Brother Xiao did not put him in his eyes at all, in front of many teachers and students of Southeast Middle School, Brother Xiao said the famous line to Teacher Wen: Inside the school you are the boss, outside I am the boss.
In the future, Zhu Wanfang's encounter, we can all think of her being taken to the base camp by Xiao Xiao Brother, in front of her many little brothers, she did her best to humiliate her, and at the same time, Xiao Wanfang also let Zhu Wanfang make unfounded compensation.
How can a female student with no financial resources compensate? In particular, Brother Xiao's compensation is basically a bottomless pit, helpless Zhu Wanfang, her psychological defense line gradually collapsed, at the mercy of Brother Xiao.
Here, "School Storm" does not directly say how many students and Zhu Wanfang have the same experience, but from the side description of the follow-up plot, we can still see that the number of victims will not be small, because Xiao Xiaoge's little brother specially rented a floor for these female students to engage in criminal activities, and when they encountered the inspection, their escape was very skilled.
After experiencing all kinds of things, especially Zhu Wanfang's classmates and girlfriends, but also because of the death of Xiao Xiao's little brother in a car accident, Zhu Wanfang has completely changed, she is no longer the ignorant middle school girl before, and the empty truths told by Teacher Wen in class have become a huge irony for Zhu Wanfang in real life.
In the case of Teacher Wen, he looked at his students, who were taken by Brother Xiao to be damaged step by step, and saw that the parents of the students wanted to protect their daughters, but they were stabbed to death by Brother Xiao's little brother in front of the police, and he himself, as a teacher, was threatened and ridiculed by Brother Xiao in front of the school.
No one can help Southeast Middle School, it is sinking, just like Zhu Wanfang and other students, and Xiao Xiao brother seems to be like a divine help, always able to easily escape sanctions.
At the school gate, in the downtown street, and even in the police station, Xiao Xiaoge laughed at everyone who wanted to deal with him, or he was laughing at the whole society.
In fact, in this process, Zhu Wanfang did not think of compromise, she dropped out of school to find a boyfriend who mixed society, the two lived in the spider web-like Kowloon City Walled, but the boyfriend is still the little brother of Xiao Xiao brother, it seems that Zhu Wanfang's life is completely controlled by Xiao Xiao Brother, and there is no way to break free.
So it seems that the direction of the whole thing can only be the way out of the "jianghu affairs", if this can also be called the way out, Xiao Xiao brother committed a big taboo in the jianghu, the younger brother is determined to help his girlfriend Zhu Wanfang against the water, and at the same time, the dashing brother who is too prosperous and bad things to do absolutely has lost the foreign aid of his jianghu friends and become the target of everyone.
The final conflict returned to the Southeast Middle School, and the Dashing Brother who lived in the upper peak was once again overwhelmed, and the weak and deceitful Teacher Wen appeared with a knife, cut off the left hand of the Dashing Brother with a knife, and returned the classic line: Outside you are the boss, inside the school I am the boss.
Later, with the death of Xiao Xiao's brother, the story of "School Storm" came to an end, and several people involved in the whole thing were punished by the law, and it was gratifying that Teacher Wen belonged to self-defense and injured people and was acquitted. (This article is original by "Sharp Film Review", and reproduction without permission is prohibited!) )
The heroine Zhu Wanfang's ending is also good, although she was accused of armed injury, but suspended for two years, she can continue to study, but we can't know whether she can still study with peace of mind after experiencing so much.
Unlike the "romantic gangster" Hong Kong movies of the 90s, "School Storm" did not give anyone a decent face, perhaps director Lin Lingdong started from the selection of materials, he has already planned so, because in the last century in Hong Kong, the underworld invaded the campus, this matter is real, especially those schools that are more general in all aspects, often stubborn and fashionable.
But it is very sad that in this matter, everyone is unwilling to face it, the government is embarrassed to admit it, the school does not want to admit it, face and reputation are the big thing, and even students and parents pretend not to know, after all, the victims are only some people, or some poor people, and the future of more students is more important.
Leaving only helpless students, alone in the face of the evil forces like Brother Xiao, their fate is very much like a gamble, completely relying on luck to gamble on the ending, lucky or let go, or being blackmailed, bad luck like Zhu Wanfang, obviously a good girl, hard to be pulled off the growth trajectory.
Lin Lingdong told "School Storm" in an almost cruel way as a pure gangster story, everyone in the film lost the director's pity, the protagonist did not have the inherent aura in the film and television drama, the supporting characters were more miserable than one, the dashing brother of the school brother, the arrest and attack police were killed, and Zhu Wanfang's girlfriend died in a tragic car accident.
What is even more rare is that in Lin Lingdong's campus bullying topic, the theme has been sublimated again and again, bullying, gangsters, youth, growth, society, etc., all the elements are intertwined, making "School Storm" seem particularly real.
In addition to the boldness of director Lin Lingdong, several leading actors and supporting roles in "School Storm" have quite good acting skills, yuan jieying, who plays Zhu Wanfang, was just 19 years old at the time, and before starring in "School Storm", she was also one of the energetic members of the "Happy Girls Group".
After meeting Lin Lingdong, Yuan Jieying suddenly couldn't be happy, became a tortured Zhu Wanfang, Yuan Jieying's image changed greatly, showing a "fierce" side, and in the future, Blue Phoenix and other people in "Smiling Proud of the Rivers and Lakes" were laid in the "School Storm" period, Yuan Jieying met back to "Dashing Brother" Lin Lingdong on the road.
As for the real "dashing brother" Zhang Yaoyang, he is like an actor tailor-made for director Lin Lingdong, and the three films made by Zhang Yaoyang on his debut are Lin Lingdong's famous "Fengyun Trilogy" series, of which he is a cameo in "Dragon and Tiger Storm", and "Prison Storm" and "School Storm" have left a deep impression on the audience.
Other performances such as Liu Songren, Lin Zhengying, Li Lixin and others are also very brilliant, and it is more difficult to grasp that the main actors in "School Storm" actually did not have too explosive moments, but several of their supporting roles, after suffering from endless injustice, have hysterical venting, especially Liu Songren's classic line: You are the boss on the outside, and I am the boss in the school.
Finally, I want to say an actor, his name is Huo Ruihua, in the film he plays Zhu Wanfang's boyfriend Scar Boy, the role is also relatively much, but I don't know how, although Huo Ruihua has a cameo in many classic movies, he can never let the audience remember himself, a bit of a pity.
Today, a full 33 years have passed since "School Storm", but looking at the entire Chinese film industry, such a real and cruel "school bullying theme" movie as "School Storm" has hardly appeared again, not to mention that it can also sublimate the theme again and again, triggering public resonance, sometimes we are thinking, I am afraid that it is a difficult thing to copy "School Storm" now.