| Drama of the past
Police films are a golden signboard in Hong Kong movies, but the original police films are not so popular, when Hong Kong films were fully conquered by comedies, it was Wu Yusen who used "Hero Nature" to pull police films out of the niche film classification and gradually carry them forward, and formed a signature film category with strong Hong Kong characteristics.
Then Wu Yusen broke into Hollywood, and quickly became a frontline of Hollywood directors, in recent years, Wu Yusen wants to return to China, he remade Chinese films, but the box office is not satisfactory, and now Wu Yusen can still get back what he lost through his own hands?
When it comes to police films, many plots in "The True Colors of Heroes" have become immutable laws in police films in the future.
The audience can see the scene of Zhou Runfa holding a double gun and crossing the rain of bullets and bullets, hitting the flesh and blood, as well as the scene of the good and evil sides holding guns.
To say why Wu Yusen's violence can become aesthetics, because his violent scenes not only exist for sensory stimulation, but more importantly, everyone can feel the love and righteousness between people in it.
Wu Yusen is known for his fondness for pigeons.
He would always release doves behind bloody gun battles, and he was a devout Christian himself, and the doves were peace and hope for him.
He integrates these images into the film, violence and peace are two opposites, and the addition of the white dove symbolizes that after barbaric violence, people will eventually go to peace.
Born in 1946 in Guangzhou, Wu Yusen was born in a war-torn era, and the family moved to Hong Kong in 1951 to escape the war.
But in Hong Kong life is not so peaceful, before in Guangzhou, Wu Yusen had a serious illness, but his father never gave up on him, in order to treat the disease, the family's money has little left, and later moved to Hong Kong, can only live in the slum of Shi Jiaowei.
There are everyone around, drug dealers, underworld, gamblers gathered together, Wu Yusen recalled that at that time, Gu Qiuzai held a knife all day to cut people, they were pulling little brothers at any time, if they refused their requests, there would inevitably be a scuffle.
Five- or six-year-old Wu Yusen got up every day and the first thing he did was not to brush his teeth and wash his face, but to find something to take advantage of as a weapon, for the life at that time, Wu Yusen felt like living in hell.
The classic line of Xiao Ma Ge in "The True Colors of Heroes": I will not always let people point a gun at my head, which is the real experience of Wu Yusen.
Because of his poverty, Wu Yusen could not even afford to read, and finally he was able to receive education under the financial support of the church. This is also the reason why the pigeon has become an important symbol in Wu Yusen's films, in his darkest and darkest period, it was the church that accepted him, and Wu Yusen became the most devout Christian.
Whenever Wu Yusen wants to escape the hellish reality, in addition to hiding in the church, he also likes to hide in the movie theater.
At that time, the popular song and dance film on the big screen, Wu Senyu looked at the world in the movie, no matter how much difficulty they faced, as long as the protagonists opened their mouths to sing, they would become peaceful and happy and prosperous. It is often said that the gunfight shots in Wu Yusen's films are as romantic as dancing, especially the unique slow mirror, so that the fierce battles also have a dance-like rhythmic sense.
Watching more movies, Wu Yusen himself also wants to go to the world of movies, and at the beginning his first ambition was not to be a director, but to be an actor himself.
But Wu Yusen looks mediocre, saying that handsome is definitely not counted, but saying ugly, it seems that there is no ugly feature, so he can only run the dragon set in the set.
There are more people in the dragon set, and how many can become big stars.
Wu Yusen simply made up his mind, he found a group of people who also loved movies, together saved a piece of eight cents from the meal money, pooled the money to buy film, made his own movie, this movie is naturally played by Wu Yusen as the male lead, enough actor addiction, but no one invests, there is no audience appreciation, and the things they shoot are only appreciated by themselves. Wu Yusen still decided to go to the set to work hard.
Hong Kong film shooting sets generally use apprenticeship system, a person wants to be a director, must start from the miscellaneous field notes, when the photography, do editing, and then have the opportunity to step up to the assistant director, and finally get the favor of investors, before having the opportunity to be promoted to director.
Once you're unlucky, you won't have a chance to shoot a scene on the set for decades. Wu Yusen is a person who has survived the head, he has the privilege of catching up with the New Wave movement of Hong Kong films, but the same batch of directors as him, which is not a rich brother who is well-bred, has enough to have leisure to make movies.
Xu Ke is a good friend of Wu Yusen, the two have co-produced a lot of movies, and they also appreciate each other, but their family situation is simply a world of difference, Xu Ke studied in the United States for 8 years, and once he came back, he could become a director, and Wu Yusen played on the set for eight years before becoming a director, watching other people's faces every day.
Wu Yusen's preference for police films can be said to be both the impact of his childhood experience on him and the tribute to the nobleman Zhang Che.
Zhang Che is the first director of Shaw directors to make a million box office movies, accustomed to Zhang Million, Zhang Che loves to make martial arts films, and the chivalrous and righteous galls in the film are also passed on to Wu Yusen, he followed Zhang Che to work in Shaw for many years, Zhang Che likes him, and rest assured that he will hand over his films to him to cut.
Wu Yusen learned a lot under Zhang Che, and when he finally had the opportunity to be an independent director, he took all the time to shoot what he had seen and heard for many years, and this "Passerby" was eventually banned because the scene was too violent, until After Wu Yusen became famous, the distribution company rubbed his heat and changed the name of the film to release.
The first film was tragically banned, Wu Yusen in order to mix food to eat, but also had to bow his head to shoot some decent comedy films, the audience loves to watch, the director desperately made some soup and do not change the medicine of the movie, Wu Yusen himself feels that the ambition is difficult to reward, he hides in the room all day to borrow wine to pour sorrow.
Wu Yusen has no interest in comedy, and the movie of forced smile cannot amuse the audience, and now the movie he has made cannot even guarantee the box office, and Wu Yusen's director position is already in jeopardy.
Some people say that There are two stages of Hong Kong cinema, one is the Hong Kong film before the emergence of "The True Colors of Heroes", and the other is the Hong Kong films after the appearance of "The True Colors of Heroes".
To put it bluntly, "The True Colors of Heroes" is the originator of Hong Kong police films. At that time, the frustrated Wu Yusen and the hero Dillon, the box office poison Zhou Runfa, and the cream boy Zhang Guorong, these people got together, and no one was optimistic about them.
Dillon was once Zhang Che's beloved general, in the era when martial arts films led the trend, he was also a big star admired by thousands of people, but the wheels of the times rushed by, and Dillon had long been forgotten in the corner. Although Zhou Runfa's Xu Wenqiang was widely acclaimed, it was limited to a small screen that did not require money, and when he turned to the big screen, the audience seemed to have discussed it and did not want to buy it for him.
Although Zhang Guorong is loved by thousands of fans, the stubborn expert judges are not pleasing to the eye and feel that he is not suitable for acting. Not to mention, Wu Yusen is already in his 40s and has no reputation, and if this film is not successful again, he is still more suitable for returning home for the elderly.
Before Wu Yusen, no one thought that modern people can also make action movies, and the martial arts that have been handed down in ancient times are suitable for flying cornices to walk on the wall, overturning a mountain with one slap, and when the fight is fierce, what electric smoke and sparks are added upwards. And Wu Yusen suddenly thought, the flowing robe into a trench coat, the sword and light sword shadow into a gun and bullet rain, the children's love was also replaced by brotherly love, Wu Yusen took the set in Zhang Che's film to use, but there is a different style.
"The True Colors of Heroes" was a great success, not only in China, this film has caused a sensation all over the world, women shed tears for Song Zijie, played by Zhang Guorong, men are boiling with blood on the road of revenge of Xiao Ma Ge and Song Zihao, Hong Kong film fans Quentin is also full of praise after watching this film, in many of his films, you can see the tribute to Wu Yusen.
The gun battle in "The Matrix" is also a must, and the directors, the Wachowski brothers, admit that it was Zhou Runfa, who was armed with a double gun, who inspired them.
Wu Yusen's name has also been launched since then, in "Haibian King", super killing woman can casually say that Wu Yusen's first movie is the renamed "Iron Han Tenderness", "Screaming Laughter" also took Wu Dao's beloved white pigeon as a terrier, Wu Yusen's earth-shattering shot, laying his position in the film world.
Wu Yusen loves to shoot action scenes, some action film directors tend to favor one over the other, the action scenes are filmed well, but the lines will always be so bad, Wu Yusen's lines have a strong humanistic flavor.
The classic line of Little Margo "I have waited for three years, just to wait for an opportunity, I want to fight for a breath, not to prove that I am great, I just want to tell people that what I lost must be taken back." 」 It is Wu Yusen's deep cry in his heart, he also realized this sentence, before going to Hollywood to develop the film "Blood Double Male", "Across the Sea" and other movies, all of which are classics in the history of Hong Kong cinema.
Another reason why Wu Yusen went to Hollywood to develop is that he feels that it is not interesting to shoot in Hong Kong, his road in Hong Kong has reached the top, and the other place he is about to conquer is Hollywood, the center of world cinema.
When he first entered Hollywood, Wu Yusen soon suffered the first setback, there was always a difference in culture between the East and the West, and if he filmed in the oriental way, he would soon be kicked out. He began to delve into the background and culture of the United States.
In 1997, Wu Yusen handed over his research assignment: "Changing Faces", which combined the spirit of Western humanity with his usual violent aesthetics, while also carrying a strong oriental atmosphere, the events told in the film are very bizarre, and the good guy police have carried out an incredible "face-changing technique" with terrorists in order to set out the secrets of the bomb.
Good people become bad people, and bad people wake up and force doctors to give themselves back the face of good people and become good people. When the people in this world who can prove that the identities of the two people are no longer there, they face their new identities and new lives, and where should they go. Wu Yusen's film is like a tai chi diagram.
The policeman is a positive role, but he does not value his family for work, and the terrorist is a negative role, but after he became a policeman, he also let the policeman's family experience the rare family warmth, and the good and evil between one good and one evil are inseparable, and finally the four people face each other with guns, and God witnesses the picture of the gun falling and the white dove flying, which can be called the ultimate of violent aesthetics. The director of "Infernal Affairs" was inspired by this to make another peak of Hong Kong police films.
As the first Chinese director to successfully gain a foothold in Hollywood, Wu Yusen's status needless to say, as early as 2002, he left a handprint on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, plus he was seriously ill when he was a child, his health is not too good, even if he retired after filming "Mission Impossible 2", he will still be a director on the altar.
However, Wu Yusen returned to China to develop in the later stage, and a large part of the reason was the death of director Zhang Che.
In 2002, 56-year-old Wu Yusen's "Mission Impossible 2", which won a box office of $550 million worldwide, was the time when the spring breeze was triumphant, suddenly heard the news that Zhang Che was seriously ill, Wu Yusen immediately transferred from Europe to Hong Kong, and the result was still one step late, and he could only sit in the front row of the spiritual hall to bid farewell to his deceased mentor.
At this time, Wu Yusen was already one of the few major international directors in Hollywood with the final editing rights, but he put down everything in the United States and was determined to return to China, because this is where Zhang Che worked, and there are still a bunch of old friends waiting for him.
In 2007, Wu Yusen's first film when he returned to China was "Chibi", a large production with an investment of more than 500 million yuan but became a laughing stock of the public.
The film is based on the famous Battle of Chibi in the Three Kingdoms, which is the most familiar piece of history in Chinese, Wu Yusen knows how to immerse himself in Western culture, but in the face of his own history, his bold changes seem to be a bit nonsense.
Cao Cao is a famous tyrant, although there are many lustful acts, but also will not be for the Bomei people to laugh, let the military camp discipline chaos, the film many magic changes also make the audience can not bear to look directly, and finally pounced on the street to even the cost can not be recovered.
Wu Yusen even returned to the Three Kingdoms period, but also reluctant to give up the modern Christ pigeon, the whole film is not in the middle, the foreign is not yang, Wu Yusen's reputation has begun to fall all the way, the follow-up filming of "Taiping Wheel", "Hunting" The amount of investment is also getting less and less, some people say that Wu Yusen has fallen off the altar, simply retired to recuperate.
Wu Yusen, as a director who has worked hard all the way from the bottom, it is not easy to get to today's position, he has a love for movies, he will climb the peak again and again, but sometimes it is too high, and it is difficult to go further.
Wu Yusen has climbed to the peak of his career, created the precedent of Hong Kong police films, and achieved himself in Hollywood, now he is 75 years old, and he is also a little powerless in the Chinese film industry after the surge, in the early years, Wu Yusen suffered from cancer, and his physical strength was not as good as before, in fact, he already had a film masterpiece that could be passed down, and then rested in his life, it is not impossible.