Du Qifeng's 1993 film "Three Heroes of the East" is not only a unique work of his own, but also regarded as an influential cult film in the Western world.
Cult movies refer to movies that are loved and respected by supporters in a small circle, usually a smorgasbord of science fiction, horror, music, animation, and comedy, with unique shooting methods, strange themes, sword-edged edges, strong styles, and extremely controversial.
To paraphrase this measure, this "Three Heroes of the East", starring the three actresses of Mui Yanfang, Maggie Cheung and Yang Ziqiong, is really a cult film.
First of all, it's a modern story of fantasy horror
The film is set in an uncertain era in the future, in a virtual city similar to Batman's Gotham City, and the villain boss is a costumed eunuch with superpowers in order to restore the Chinese monarchy.
He orders his subordinate Chen San (Yang Ziqiong) to put the stolen baby in captivity in a swamp-filled, hellish underground world, planning to select a future emperor from it, and the one who can't choose will grow up to become a man-eating monster enslaved by his father-in-law.
The father-in-law is also imprisoning a doctor to study such a high-tech thing as an invisibility suit for him, and it is close to success, but it cannot function in the sun.
Privately, Chen San developed undeserved feelings for the doctor.
Chen Qi, played by Maggie Cheung, was also captured by her father-in-law when she was a child, and then waited for an opportunity to escape, ostensibly a female headhunter who acts for money, but in fact has a strong sense of justice in her heart.
Another important figure, "Female Flying Man", is played by Mei Yanfang, ostensibly the wife of the policeman Liu Songren, who seems to be a typical virtuous wife and mother, who comes out every night to perform heroic deeds and become a mysterious force for maintaining social order.
The three female heroes met because of this incident of stealing babies, first playing the opposite role arranged by fate, and then sensing each other, joining forces against the evil forces represented by the father-in-law, and merging to become the "Three Heroes of the East".
Second, violent and bloody scenes appear unexpectedly
"Three Heroes of the East" continues Du Qifeng's violent aesthetic, and bloody scenes appear from time to time.
For example, Chen Jiu, played by Huang Qiusheng, would cut off his fingers every time he fought with Chen San, and once he simply shoved his broken fingers into his mouth.
Chen Jiu killed people in public with the blood droplets of legendary ancient weapons, and the picture was gloomy and bloody.
There is even a scene where the baby dies of violence: the flying woman rescues the baby, only to find that the blood on the back of the child's head gushes out, soaking the palm of the hand, and the camera cuts to a close-up of the nail in the bloody forest, creating a terrifying effect.
However, the overall style tends to be light and funny
The overall style of the film is relatively relaxed, for example, the style of Mei Yanfang's paintings when she appears as a housewife is always pleasant and harmonious, and even warm.
At the beginning of the movie, the agent took Mei Yanfang and his wife to see the house, and as a result, a thief wanted to steal the car, and the husband flew down from the second floor to subdue the thief, and the agent exclaimed: Wow, so sharp! Mei Yanfang said proudly: "Of course, my husband is a policeman."
When Maggie Cheung appeared, she whistled and wielded a machine gun to join the battle group with a Peking Opera-style rollover action, which was really handsome and funny.
Maggie Cheung is wearing a black leather jacket, leather shorts, knee pads and goggles, and the cool and heroic posture of driving a motorcycle is 8 years earlier than Julie's style in "Tomb Raider"!
The picture of Maggie Cheung driving a motorcycle and Mui Yanfang Yang Ziqiong riding in parallel also makes the film have a unique charm.
Even when fighting, it is full of spoofs of the traditional Hong Kong martial arts genre.
The action scenes combine modern gunfights with ancient weapons, and even Mei Yanfang's darts can turn Maggie Cheung's bullets in the opposite direction.
Consider it a first, putting a female action hero on the stage
On the big screen with male action movies as the protagonists, Du Qifeng created three female hero characters, while showing heroism, through the emphasis on gender, highlighting the concept of female warriors in martial arts films, which is a rare alternative peak.
The three of them had several confrontations, and after several trials, they gradually deepened their understanding, both in terms of force and personality. The three of them began to feel sorry for each other.
When they fell off a cliff, Mei Yanfang and Yang Ziqiong actually found that each other was a little sister who had been separated more than ten years ago.
Different fight scenes present different wonderful, it is the wonderful interpretation of the three female stars, so that "Three Heroes of the East" is regarded as a classic in the West, not only the martial arts action is heroic and stretched, the emotional interpretation is also meticulous.
Looking at the current domestic small flowers, I really can't find any three people who can perform this heroic love between women.
It is worth mentioning that this film uses the doll's song "Spring Festival" as the background music, which is really a god work! It is both dynamic and brisk, without losing the heroism of female heroes, and more importantly, you can definitely hear that such music is an exclusive hymn to female heroes, which is greatly different from any male hero.