Because it received 9 nominations at the 39th Hong Kong Film Awards, "Mai Luren" starring Aaron Kwok and Miriam Yeung has been highly anticipated.
This film focuses on the homeless, low-income people who spend the night in fast food restaurants. When telling the story behind them, they also presented their warmth of helping each other and snuggling for warmth in front of the audience.
Aaron Kwok's "Bo Ge" was originally a financial talent who responded to everything, and after experiencing the great changes of imprisonment and release from prison, he chose to escape with guilt for his family and became a member of the "Mai Lu People". As a former "leader", he relied on his own ability to become the core of the "Mai Luren" squad, leading them to struggle to survive in the whirlpool of life.
Behind each of these "Mai Lu people" is a story, either about love, or about family, or about responsibility. The director did not shy away from their shortcomings, nor did he over-add soft light filters. The film's narrative piling up and emotional incitement cannot hide the shining point of the characters.
"Ah Zhen" who has been obsessed with ten years because of an encounter, "Deep Boy" who learned to grow up because of a wayward departure from home, "Mother" who burned up his "mother" because he could not give up his old feelings, "Saliva Xiang" who was always discriminated against because of his appearance... Everyone's body is a world of fireworks.
The most different of these is still "waiting for the uncle".
The difference between "waiting for the uncle" is that he has money.
Poverty is the common denominator of the "Mai Lu people".
Therefore, the "waiting uncle" who can easily pull out a stack of large bills from his body is enough to arouse the curiosity of the viewer. The film also uses the mouth of "deep boy" to ask questions instead of the audience.
And the answer of "Waiting for Bo" is different every time, which further deepens the audience's doubts.
But the director did not dwell on this point to continue to "make things up", and soon let "Ah Bo" explain - it turned out that "Waiting for Bo" obviously had money and a house but did not go home, because he saw his wife jump off the building and commit suicide.
Subsequently, the film also did a scene of extras through "Mai Luren", so that "Waiting For Bo" was in tears at the scene of the props placed by the crew.
But unless you experience it yourself, no one can truly experience the pain of others. Therefore, the deep feelings and painful memories of "Waiting for Bo" for his deceased wife are just a sentence of "good acting" in the eyes of the crew.
The pain of "waiting for the uncle" is not only the loss of his wife, but also the loneliness of the empty nest old man. According to the plot given in the film, "Waiting for The Uncle" has no children, or even no other relatives who are closely related. So, even if he has a good pension and a house to live in, money and a house cannot give him happiness.
Only like the homeless "saliva xiang" them, living in a fast food restaurant, relying on these people and drawing a little warmth.
Here, became his home.
The "Abo" who was originally a stranger became his family.
When fast food restaurants are no longer open to the public one night because of routine disinfection, the "waiting uncle" who has lost his place to stay collapses. Constantly kneeling to the diners in the next shop, begging for money to change places...
At this point, the second difference of "waiting for the uncle" also has an answer.
Because he was too painful, he resisted accepting the fact that his wife had died and lived in an illusion he had constructed. He stuck to the fast food restaurant, not only making it his home, but also finding a reason for himself to wait for his wife to return only here.
What is home?
Not a big house, not a luxurious decoration, but a place where there are relatives, which makes people feel at ease and warm.
Only such a place will make people want to "return"...
Playing the role of "Waiting for Bo" in the film is Wan Ziliang, 63 years old this year.
The third difference of "Waiting for Bo" is that Wan Ziliang is the only unrecognizable actor among all the characters.
The gray hair, round-rimmed glasses, the bloated figure of the blessed, and the mentally abnormal character setting of "Waiting for Bo" have made this character on the screen completely different from the Wan Ziliang that the audience is familiar with.
Audiences who are not familiar with Wan Ziliang will never think that the actor of "Waiting for Bo" is a "big guy" figure in the Hong Kong film and television circle who once promoted Stephen Chow.
Wan Ziliang's original surname was Hu, because his family was poor, and he was given by his parents to adopt a family with a family of ten thousand surnames shortly after birth. At the age of 19, Wan Ziliang was admitted to the Hong Kong Li TV Artist Training Class, and after graduation, he became a contracted actor of the TV station.
Among film and television artists, the face is rounded and square, and even Wan Ziliang, who lacked a "sense of youth" when he was young, is actually not outstanding in appearance. But the temperament of his body, which is both good and evil, adds to the plasticity.
Perhaps because of this, the 20-year-old Wan Ziliang's first appearance was to play the male protagonist "Xie Xiaofeng" in "The Sword of the Three Young Masters".
After that, he starred in Xu Anhua's "Crazy Robbery".
That year, Wan Ziliang was 22 years old.
"Crazy Robbery" later received 5 nominations at the 17th Golden Horse Awards, and finally received 3 nominations. Although Wan Ziliang did not win any awards as a male protagonist, he also gained a firm foothold in the film circle, and then continuously starred in many films such as "Man and Woman" and "Waiting for Dawn".
At the same time, Wan Ziliang's development in the television industry is also smooth, which can be called "two blossoms of film and television". But his real popularity was through 1986's Rogue Tycoon.
Since then, Wan Ziliang has not only sat firmly in the position of TVB's first-line students, but also soared like a bird in the sky. The ratings of the drama series are not worried, and the film awards are in hand.
In 1988, Wan Ziliang ended his golden horse award with "Wu Jincheng" in "Big Head Boy" and won the best actor award.
He was 31 years old.
After entering the 1990s, with the reduction of works, Wan Ziliang's acting road began to gradually decline. In the "Ancient Puzzle Boy" series, he starred in "Jiang Tianyang", becoming wan Ziliang's last role that impressed the audience.
To this day, some people still call him "Mr. Jiang".
Starring in "Waiting for Bo" in "Mai Lu Ren", Wan Ziliang was nominated for the Academy Award again after a gap of 7 years. Although the final award was won by Zhang Daming, who played "Saliva Xiang", for Wan Ziliang, not only did he have one more representative role in the work list, but also let the audience see his acting skills that had not regressed.
The "big guy" is old, but the skill is still there.