Hu Jinquan and Xu Ke are important representatives of Chinese martial arts films and occupy a pivotal position.
Xu Ke's martial arts films often have a strong personal style, with a bright narrative rhythm and strong visual impact.
Hu Jinquan has a rigorous attitude towards filming and has a unique insight into martial arts films.
In contrast, although the artistic value of Hu Jinquan's works is extremely high, the box office is always unsatisfactory.
In 1992, Hu Jinquan boldly tried to make a commercial martial arts film "The Yin and Yang King of Painted Skins", and even invited a large number of actors such as Wang Zuxian, Zheng Shaoqiu, Hong Jinbao, Lin Zhengying and so on.
As a result, the audience did not buy it, and finally froze at the box office of 1.31 million, which was called Hu Jinquan's "imperfect" legacy.
1. The knot in the heart of "martial arts master" Hu Jinquan in his later years
In 1982, Hu Jinquan traveled back and forth between Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States to raise funds for his long-conceived "History of Chinese Workers' Blood and Tears".
But when they stepped on the iron shoes, they were all turned away.
In desperation, Hu Jinquan only has one last way left: make money by making movies by himself!
To this end, after thinking about it again and again, Hu Jinquan decided to make a work that caters to the market, similar to the fantasy martial arts film of "Ghost of Qiannu".
So in the cast, Hu Jinquan can be described as carefully selected, finding Zheng Shaoqiu, who is quite heroic, Wang Zuxian, the most beautiful "female ghost", and Lin Zhengying, the chief of the zombie road.
The film took about three months to shoot, and it was the first time that director Hu Jinquan went to the mainland to shoot a film.
Later, because the production fee was not enough, and the finished film was slightly different from what Hu Jinquan thought, it was originally a film of about two hours and cut into about an hour and a half.
Before the release, the production company was worried that the film was not attractive enough, so it changed the title to "The Yin and Yang King of the Painted Skin".
The film is based on the story of "Painting Skin" in "Liaozhai Zhiyi" and reproduces Pu Songling's strange wind and bones.
2. "Man and Ghost" in the Traditional Literati
The beginning of the story is similar to some of the plots in Painted Skin.
Wang Shunsheng (played by Zheng Shaoqiu), a student of luodi, has been married to his wife for many years and has not been able to have children.
One day, when Wang Shunsheng was rushing home from the city, he met a beautiful young woman You Feng (played by Wang Zuxian).
Because she learned that she had a pitiful life and was forced to marry into a large family as a concubine, she helped her with righteousness and let her live in the family temporarily.
That night, Wang Shun had a non-divided thought, but was rejected by You Feng on the grounds that he was unwell.
The next day, Wang Shunsheng ran to the city to buy rouge gouache to please You Feng, only to meet Yu Qingdao (played by Liu Xun) and was told that he was haunted by evil qi, but Wang Shunsheng did not think so.
After returning home, Wang Shunsheng told his wife that he intended Na Youfeng to be a concubine.
However, his wife Chen Shi unexpectedly found that You Feng was actually a female ghost with a painted skin.
So the couple ran to Ask for help from Zhang Daoling, a Jade Qing Daoist, and when the other party heard about it, they went down the mountain with their brother Feng Daoren (played by Noon Horse).
So from You Feng's mouth, I heard about the bitter experience of her previous life.
Originally, between the two realms of yin and yang, there is a middle zone called the yin and yang realm.
This place is run by a non-human and non-ghost Yin-Yang Dharma King, and the gods and demons can't do anything about him.
Because of this, in order to strengthen his own power, he constantly prevented the reincarnation of passing ghosts.
You Feng was originally a singer before he was born, but he was struck by lightning and died while singing the Divine Drama, and his soul was lost and captured by the Yin and Yang Dharma King.
As a result, it drifts between yin and yang, and cannot be born yang as a human being, and cannot be reincarnated after death.
At this time, You Feng asked Zhang Daoling and Feng Daoren for help, but the Yin and Yang Dharma King's mana was so strong that the two could not deal with it.
So the two took You Feng with them and went to invite The Dao Gao ren Tai Yi to come out of the mountain.
At the same time, in order to capture You Feng, the Yin-Yang Emperor came to the Yang Realm and possessed Wang Shunsheng's body.
In the end, Taiyi Shangren, Zhang Daoling, You Feng and others fought against the Yin and Yang Dharma King for 300 rounds and won with difficulty.
You Feng was also able to reincarnate as a result, and before leaving, she tore off the skin of the painting and revealed her original face.
After reincarnation, "he" became the son of Wang Shunsheng and Chen.
3. Hu Jinquan's "compromise" failed to achieve his wishes
Looking at the film, "The Yin and Yang King of Painted Skin" actually does not conform to director Hu Jinquan's previous film style.
However, the whole story contains some of the director's personal feelings.
Hu Jinquan was born and raised in China, but left his homeland very early and followed his parents to settle in the United States.
But abroad, Hu Jinquan always felt that he was different from the people in that place and could not feel the warmth of home.
However, coming home felt very uncomfortable.
So, to a certain extent, Hu Jinquan felt as if he were an "intermediary.".
And the "Yin and Yang Dharma King" in the film is an allusion to his own image.
It hovered between the yin and yang realms, like a lone ghost, caught in a very awkward situation.
Not only that, some of the fantasy elements in the film can see Hu Jinquan's intentions, he is not good at making such a movie, but he strives to make it well and wants to please the audience.
Despite the screenwriter of Zhong Acheng, the basic story structure and narrative are very problematic.
The old-fashioned style and ambiguous story make the audience very unbeaten.
In the end, just 6 days after the release of "The Yin and Yang King of Painted Skin", it was removed from the shelves of major theaters.
However, the film's box office failure cannot be all the responsibility of Hu Jinquan.
Although after entering the 90s, Hu Jinquan himself felt that he could not keep up with the pace of the times, but in the general environment at that time, the audience preferred the films of Stephen Chow, Jet Li and Jackie Chan.
Since then, Hu Jinquan's directorial career has encountered an unprecedented crisis, and it is difficult to produce new good works.