Zhou's mother said that Zhou Xingchi was an introverted child since childhood.
Not very talkative, only in front of very familiar people will become very lively.
And the most familiar "person" is the movie.
Longing for Bruce Lee, he made a wish for "Kung Fu" to die; looking back on the career of the dragon set, he deliberately pressed a bridge section of playing a "corpse" in "The King of Comedy"; sentimental and regretful love, he insisted on modifying the lyrics of "Journey to the West to Descend the Devil", "From now until now, love is still there"; and the father's love that has never dared to touch -
"Yangtze River No. 7".
In terms of box office, this film released in January 2008 is not outstanding in the Stephen Chow series, but its significance lies in the transformation of Stephen Chow as a filmmaker.
Not kitsch, not commercial, drastically reducing the proportion of "nonsense", and digging deep into the softness of the deep heart. Pull the audience's attention to the story line of the father-son relationship, and feel the sincerity of father's love from tiredness and helplessness.
Of course, "Yangtze River No. 7" is also the sealing work of Zhou Xingchi himself.
So far, it has not appeared on camera.
Zhou Xingchi said that the movie "Yangtze River No. 7" was made for the poor.
Even in the film, when talking about volunteering, Zhou Xiaodi (Xu Jiao) said: I want to be a poor person!
This is actually quite surprising.
Why?
Because Zhou Xingchi's greed for money is well known. In the early years, because the film salary rose day by day, he was chased and scolded by Wang Jing for half a street. It is hard to imagine that a person who is so obsessed with "money" would say in a movie without humility: I want to be a poor person.
Perhaps, it is a certain degree of "face-up".
Zhou Xingchi's childhood was very bitter.
Her mother, Ling Bao'er, fled from Guangdong to Hong Kong to earn a living under the identity of the "Black Five", and because she had no money, she found a mainland immigrant to live together. A family of five huddled in a cramped wooden house is typical of a poor household in Kowloon.
In the film, the funny story of Zhou Xiaodi's father and son fighting cockroaches after dinner comes from this memory, and Zhou Xingchi even reproduced the story of "can't afford to buy toys" to "Yangtze River No. 7". Lonely told reporters: My mother only had enough money to buy vegetables at that time, and finally she was beaten and did not buy, but my father was willing to buy it at that time...
For his father's love, Zhou Xingchi has regrets.
But the strange thing is that he does not hate his father, on the contrary, he is quite nostalgic for that childhood of only 7 years, and "Yangtze River No. 7" was selected to be filmed in Ningbo because his father's ancestral home was there.
In 2005, when he returned to his hometown to recognize his ancestors, Zhou Xingchi also called his father to tell him: I have seen the place where you used to live, and the old house where you lived is still there.
Therefore, Father Zhou (played by Zhou Xingchi) in "Yangtze River No. 7" is very kind.
Working at the construction site during the day, picking up garbage in the garbage heap at night, saving money and being frustrated, but he sent Xiao Di to the aristocratic school with all his heart, and his reason was very simple: study well, and he will not be like me in the future.
A scene of a construction site beating a swollen face and being fat was moved to tears -
The foreman of the contract (Lin Zicong) taunts Zhou Tie for not measuring up to his own strength, and a casual worker also learns to provide for the aristocratic school, and then contemptuously asks "How do you stand up?"?
"I can't stand it."
When answering, Zhou Tie's body was slightly bowed, without hesitation.
Interestingly, this question and answer Zhou Xingchi designed it 3 times, and finally the contractor roared, "You can't stand !!!." When Zhou Tie first did not answer, and then smiled self-deprecatingly, shaking his shoulders in passing, or that sentence ——
One tall and one short, one fat and one thin, one rich and one poor, the two people with obvious power classes, in the wrestling field of father's love, were dominated by Zhou Tie.
Extremely poor, but deeply loved.
Such a father is reclusive.
Interestingly, the character of Zhou Father, Zhou Xingchi originally belonged to Feng Xiaogang, but Feng Director did not have time to shoot "The Gathering Number" at that time. So he went to find Ge You again, but when he communicated, he was stopped by Han Sanping, the boss of the mainland investor China Film Group.
Boss Han persuaded Zhou Xingchi to act himself, but the latter was worried and thought that he could not play a migrant worker.
It is not Zhou Xingchi who plays the score, he originally made a home by playing a small person, but the image of Zhou Father is partial to sadness, but in the inherent consciousness of the audience, Zhou Xingchi has always been synonymous with "comedy", and it is risky to overlap with tragedy and joy and transposition.
At the critical moment, it was still Han Sanping who made up his mind.
He said firmly to Zhou Xingchi: You are a migrant worker.
Judging from the film, Zhou Xingchi not only did not act, but delicately poked people: dark skin, muddy fingernails, flashing eyes, not humble life proverbs...
"Ordinary and great", Zhou Xingchi portrayed the three points of the wood.
In addition to Zhou Xingchi's acting skills, "Yangtze River No. 7" also brought Zhang Yuqi into the public eye.
General star girls are divided into two categories:
Either extremely ugly, such as turkey, such as dream, pomegranate sister;
Or extremely beautiful, such as frost, purple xia, willow fluttering... And beauty in Stephen Chow's films is usually a code name for symbolism and comfort, acting as a spiritual beacon for the low-level characters, pinning their beauty on them.
In "Yangtze River No. 7", Zhang Yuqi plays the empathetic teacher Yuan, who does not have many lines, but every smile is gentle. Harshly calculated, the total length of the 87-minute film, Zhang Yuqi's scene will not exceed 20 minutes in the sky, but it is just a few clips that make people remember deeply.
I would like to ask, who was not amazed by this white cheongsam photo back then?
The figure is obviously so hot, but it is neutralized by the gentleness in the eyes, and the simple and neat single ponytail makes people flash back to the youth campus.
A shot, an image, Zhang Yuqi's beautiful girl's persona stood.
This must be said to talk about a topic that is often discussed on the Internet:
Why is Chow's royal supporting role not popular without Chou Xingchi?
The reason is simple.
Zhou Xingchi is attentive.
He is one of the few directors who can even package personality traits in supporting roles. Even if there is only one shot, it must be distinctive and the effect is full.
In order to set off the image of Teacher Yuan's white moonlight, Zhou Xingchi specially arranged a mercenary Director Cao (Played by Li Shangzheng). Big back, suit and leather shoes, full of grease.
Encouraging students to become bosses and actors, the annual income of tens of millions is his grand ambition, typical of the poor love the rich. In the film, Director Cao more than once let Xiao Di stay away from him, and the latter kindly picked up the pen, and Director Cao had to wrap it in a paper towel and pinch it, for fear of being defiled.
In contrast, Teacher Yuan is much closer.
She will crouch down to wipe Xiao Di's tears, and she doesn't mind the slightest filthy Xiao Di rushing into her arms to spoil her, she is gentle and tolerant, and there is no worldly prejudice.
This also explains why Zhang Yuqi in the film always wears white clothes to show people: she is a symbol of purity.
In order to play this role well, Zhang Yuqi lost 20 pounds in a short period of time, and in order to be photogenic, she specially sewed double eyelids. The plot is full, the characters fit, and Zhang Yuqi is out of the circle quickly.
Even if he later parted ways, went to court and talked about Zhou Xingchi, Zhang Yuqi still respected him. She said: To learn the skill, you have to follow the best master, and in the comedy class, I got my wish.
It turns out that Zhou Xingchi will still train actors.
In "Mermaid", the violent beauty girl made Zhang Yuqi popular again, and the "30 billion" terrier even played with herself.
Zhou Xingchi, in the end, is Zhou Xingchi.
At the time of the announcement of "Yangtze River No. 7", the host Cao Kefan asked Zhou Xingchi: Do you like others to call you "the king of comedy"?
According to Zhou Xingchi's introverted and unobtrusive style, he should have been low-key.
But surprisingly, he said bluntly: I like it.
This actually represents a kind of recognition.
In particular, the concept of "king" means to make something to a height that is difficult for others to reach.
Summed up in two words, called: Extreme.
For example, in the film, there is a shot of star ye watching the spaceship take off, and this shot is real shot, not special effects. It was made by the staff holding Wea and pulling the spaceship below. In order to make this spaceship, the crew spent a full 1 million yuan, divided into 5 backups;
For example, the house where the Zhou father and son live in the film is also real, and it is the house of the Zhejiang nail household. In order to shoot, Zhou Xingchi specifically petitioned and talked with the homeowner. But the house was demolished after filming, and then Zhou Xingchi came back to make up some shots, so he rebuilt it 1:1;
For example, several migrant workers' plays in the construction site really found two real migrant workers to perform. A total of three lines, Zhou Xingchi repeatedly and perfectly filmed for more than ten hours, even if it is a dragon set, Zhou Xingchi will repeatedly tell them. This caused Lin Zicong, who originally had a role, to wait by the side for a day;
There is also the scene of being dragged by a steel cylinder and falling off the building, which was played by Zhou Xingchi himself, and there was no use for a stand-in...
We always say that Stephen Chow's films have a unique Zhou style.
What is the Chow style?
Spoof? Anti-string? Exaggerated? Or is it sad and joyful? But whether it is filmed for money in the early days, or in the middle and late stages of their own mastery and complete control, there is one thing that has not changed -
That's love.
The love of the play itself, the love to the point of not being able to tolerate a single flaw, must be perfect.
I call it a playing ghost.
Back to the question at the beginning:
Why does the money-hungry Stephen Chow say in the movie: I want to be a poor person?
It is not really a praise for the greatness of the poor man's two sleeves of fresh wind, but no one understands better than Zhou Xingchi how powerful the "poor" is.
Only when you are truly poor can you understand how deep the desire to pursue wealth is; only when you are really at the bottom can you understand how precious the opportunity to climb up step by step is; and only when you are truly hopeless can you understand the meaning of hope itself.
Just like Xingye's self-interpretation of "Zhou Xingchi's works".
What are the essential elements?
dream.
"The most important thing for people is to have dreams, and through hard work, they can achieve their dreams."
To live, there must be light in the heart.
Perhaps, this is what "Yangtze River 7" wants to tell the audience. #Zhang Yuqi ##周星驰 #
. END .
【Text| Lili Ginger 】
Edit | Knowing The Fool
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