After watching the martial arts action film "Arrow Soldier Liu Bai Ape" directed by Xu Haofeng and starring Song Yang, Yu Chenghui, Zhao Zheng, Li Chengyuan, etc., it seems that I have slowly understood this unique martial arts jianghu system created by Xu Haofeng.
There is no dazzling fight design here, no audiovisual effect of flying cornices and walls, nor the complex use of various stunts, some are just one move and one style, one opening and one closing, internalized to the spiritual level of the character image, which is a kind of firmness in their hearts.
This film tells a series of stories that took place between the willow white ape and the jianghu during the Republic of China period.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the collapse of the martial arts order</h1>
The background of the story is selected during the Republic of China, when the warlords were in a scuffle, the people were not happy, the order of the whole society was completely destroyed, and the people in the martial forest were also lost here, and they did not know where to go.
Kuang Yimin, played by Yu Chenghui, is a world-class master, however, in this context, his choice is to assist a bright lord who can make a meritorious achievement. Unexpectedly, the person he chose each time was not unified with his inner pursuit, which eventually led to a rift in his heart.
It was as if it was a martial arts world that could not go back. The order he sought no longer existed.
The Liu Bai Ape played by Song Yang, because he experienced a change in his youth, his heart was greatly traumatized, so he became a monk who jumped off the wall, became a man again, met the Liu Bai Ape who specialized in stopping the martial arts disputes in the jianghu and presided over justice, and became the Liu Bai Ape, responsible for upholding justice, and thus offended many people.
However, in his heart, he always maintained this fairness and justice, including finally encountering the bully who bullied his sister, which also taught him a lesson and did not want his life.
At this time, I remembered a story in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", that is, Lü Buyuanmen shot the sword.
At that time, Liu Beitun was stationed in Xuzhou, and Yuan Shao sent Ji Ling to kill Liu Bei. Liu Bei asked Lü Bu for help, and Lü Bu invited Liu Bei and Ji Ling to come to the army at the same time.
They agreed that Lü Bu's weapon Fang Tianhua would be set up one hundred and fifty steps away, and if he shot an arrow, then the two sides would call off and stop the battle.
Sure enough, Lü Bu was hit by an arrow, and Ji Ling was afraid of Lü Bu and had no choice but to retreat.
It can be seen that since ancient times, this has been a way of stopping disputes.
In the play, Liu Bai Ape plays this role, the two families have a dispute, ready to move, when Liu Bai Ape arrived, he took a bow and shot arrows, shooting four arrows, the force was even, and an upcoming war stopped.
Because in the martial arts of the past, people believed in this, so this had an effect. However, after the warlord melee, this order is slowly collapsing, and people believe more in martial arts, guns, and the strong. Kuang Yimin's apprentice Guo Decheng in the play is such an example.
He defected to the warlords, framed the innocent, and did not hesitate to make enemies of his master for his own interests, turning his back on the spirit of martial arts.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > is a decisive battle and a farewell</h1>
At the end of the film, Liu Bai ape and Kuang Yimin have a decisive battle, and there is also a decisive battle between Kuang Yimin's apprentice Guo Decheng and the warlord he protects.
It was a decisive battle, and at the same time, it was a farewell. The film makes these two decisive battles poetic and emotional, which is the passing of an era.
The decisive battle between Liu Bai Ape and Kuang Yimin has a sense of solemnity and a sense of ceremony. The two sides chose to proceed on an open ground, behind which was a tall tower, surrounded by emptiness, but the melodious bells could be heard.
Liu Bai Ape took a bow and shot arrows, a total of four arrows, all of which were dissolved by Kuang Yimin, and finally, they began to fight closely, and after a few rounds, Liu Bai Ape won.
Although he won, they both lost, they lost to this era, lost to guns, leaving only a last word, as if this was the end of the Republic of China's martial arts. The most important thing is that there are no more willow white apes in the world. From then on, guns and guns decided the victory or defeat, and there was no longer a need to end the dispute by shooting arrows.
Kuang Yimin's apprentice Guo Decheng and his protector Yang Naixing also fought a decisive battle, Yang Naixing was shot and killed, and Guo Decheng died of Liu Bai ape's arrow.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a tribute to the passing martial arts</h1>
In Xu Haofeng's films, he can always feel a kind of respect for that martial world.
There, the chivalrous people are lonely at heart and their behavior is also strange, they live in their martial arts world, on the one hand, they maintain a firmness to the old rules, on the other hand, they have a resistance to the great changes of the times. As a result, their hearts are complex and struggling.
Xu Haofeng's film shows this struggle and determination. In this, there is a kind of reverence.
Just like these martial arts movies he shot, the style is relatively unique, some of the weapons in it, martial arts design, are very strange, but very profound, is a kind of real reproduction of the past, focusing on realism, freehand, showing a kind of practicality, and the inherent firmness of the character image.
These protagonists in the movie, they all look a little stubborn, a little axis, they are at the intersection of the times, they are retaining some things, and they are also breaking some things. Their state of mind is contradictory and optimistic, because of their persistence, their firmness.
Although most of these films shot by Xu Haofeng are not very good at the box office, he has been insisting, which is not only a kind of shooting, recording, recalling, but also a kind of inheritance and a kind of respect.