There is a word in the Cantonese dialect called "food", which is used to refer to work, and the image is vivid.
The difficulty of eating has become the mantra of many people, and the taste of the city is overwhelming. After 1949, Hong Kong was liberated from the rule of the Japanese army and welcomed a large number of refugees who had fled due to war and turmoil. Food grabbing has become the most pressing issue. Many films reflect the survival of ordinary citizens in the new environment, and the Cantonese film "Dangerous Lou Chunxiao" is one of them.
[Dangerous Lou Chunxiao] Douban 7.6
In 1949, Chinese mainland released Zheng Junli's "The Crow and the Sparrow", which revolved around a group of tenants living in an old house in a shanghai alley, and the background was naturally the turbulent situation at that time, and people were suffering in order to make a living.
In 1953, Hong Kong, China, released a Cantonese film directed by Li Tie, "Spring Dawn in The Dangerous Building", which was similar in form to "Crows and Sparrows", presenting the life of a tenant in an old house and reflecting the livelihood problems of the people.
[Crows and Sparrows] 1949 Douban 8.6
The film begins with a series of shots of high-rise buildings and spacious avenues in the city alleys, pedestrians and spoilers walking through them, and then the scene follows the protagonist Luo Ming into an old house in Kuaifu Alley. Huang Daban, the city servant, was the first to meet with him, and although he was unemployed, he lived the most moist life by savings and lending.
The third aunt of the chartered mother was about to evict the second uncle's family who owed rent and rented the room to Luo Ming. In the corridor, everyone interceded, first Ah Fang, the cousin of Huang Daban's wife, gave up her room and stayed on the balcony overnight, and then it was Viagra and Miss Bai who helped to collect the rent, so that the second uncle's family would not fall into the street.
This small storm depicts the identity and personality of the tenants, two floors up and down, a small space, and the neighborhood feelings of the small people who have been promoted. Luo Ming, who is a teacher, wears a white suit all day; Miss Bai, who accompanies drinks in the nightclub, wears a slim cheongsam and behaves elegantly.
They are a new generation of social development, the hope in the old house, but at this time it is only decent on the outside, and the life behind them is as dilapidated as the environment in which they live.
In Chinese culture, Ichijing can probably correspond to the word jianghu.
The former is a social form developed in small commercial activities, especially in the form of neighborhood relations, which in turn affects the way they behave in the world, such as being calculating but maintaining a harmonious and mutual relationship; the latter is the product of a chivalrous culture, emphasizing a spirit of adventure and intrusiveness, with a certain idealism. In contrast, Ichijing is closer to the original taste of life.
The smell of the city in [Spring Dawn in the Dangerous Building] is reflected in the relationship between tenants in the two-story small building. The only public living area is the corridor, and the bitterness of life brings them closer together. Viagra is a peacemaker among tenants and a big brother of righteousness, firmly believing in the principle of "I am for everyone, everyone is for me", and adjusts the life of the neighborhood.
Of course, there must be a conflict of interest, the lender Huang Daban occupies the room and does not pay rent, the timid charter wife bullies the honest people, and the reasonable Luo Ming will become as mean as the charter wife when he is helpless.
Through the portrait of the tenants, the film conveys a very simple view of survival. In the end, Romin quit his rent collection job to help Viagra get through the difficulties. The building collapsed in the storm overnight, but the neighborhood became stronger. In the later Cantonese films [Difficult Brothers and Difficult Brothers] (1960), [Seventy-two Tenants] (1963), and [Caged People] (1992), Hong Kong films can be seen depicting the lives of small citizens helping each other, so as to reflect some people's livelihood problems.
Douban 7.6, [Seventy-two tenants] Douban 7.8, [Caged] Douban 8.9
Hong Kong in 1953 was in the early stages of the post-war economic recovery, and a large number of new immigrants caused employment difficulties and accommodation shortages in the short term, but provided the basis for the transformation of Hong Kong's economy from port trade to industrialization, and the processing and manufacturing industry developed rapidly. This development environment has created a diligent and pragmatic character of Hong Kong people.
At this time, the film industry had not yet entered the Shaw era, and mainstream films were Chinese films with traditional ethics, and the genre was not obvious. Cantonese films were also very popular at the same time, but the early Cantonese films were mostly starred by Cantonese opera celebrities, adapted from Cantonese opera, and the production was rough and simple. Wu Chufan, who played Viagra in "Dangerous Lou Chunxiao", joined forces with more than 20 Cantonese film filmmakers to establish Zoomlion Film Enterprise Company to improve the production level of Cantonese films, insist on using movies to reflect reality, and praise ordinary people. [Dangerous Lou Chunxiao] is the product of this creative concept.
The tenants in the old-fashioned buildings, the unemployed teachers, the Viagra who opened the rental, and the Miss Bai who accompanied the drinking in the nightclub were miniatures of the society at that time, just like Lao She's "Tea House", vividly reflecting the individual situation in the historical process. [Spring Dawn of the Dangerous Building] presents the life of Hong Kong citizens before the advent of the era of industrialization. What these films have in common is that the emotional core is very close to the real people, as is the scene design.
"Tea House" 1981, Douban 9.4
Through the film, the audience sees their own lives, or as if they are experiencing the family and country feuds that they previously felt only in opera, which is the most traditional and conservative artistic need of the Chinese.
Soon, that need changed.
As mentioned earlier, new immigrants have provided a large number of laborers for Hong Kong's economic development, while industrialization has promoted the rise of the middle class, Hong Kong has entered civil society, and basic livelihood problems have been solved or improved, so the audience's demand for film entertainment has gradually changed. In the 1960s, films like "Wei Lou Chunxiao", which adhered to traditional ethics and narratives, slowly faded, and genre films such as martial arts, opera, gangsters, and kung fu became popular. Civic comedy has also begun to makeovers, showing more workplace and love stories.
The content and form of the film has changed with the times. In the 1950s, the mainstream values of Hong Kong society were still relatively traditional, and most of the manipulators in the film industry grew up under the nourishment of traditional culture, so although the Hong Kong films of the 1950s and 1960s emphasized entertainment, the stories were quite realistic, close to mainstream values or real life.
With the formation of civil society, the forms and needs of entertainment have changed, and the overly old film content has gradually lost its market, and the newly grown filmmakers have explored a more diversified film language.