In addition to the two "Journey to the West", "The King of Comedy" is Chow's highest-rated film.
In 1999, Stephen Chow had already become the most box-office actor in the Hong Kong film industry. However, with the influence of multiple factors such as the Asian financial crisis, the return of Hong Kong, and the weakening of the radiation of Chinese culture to Southeast Asia, the Hong Kong film market has gradually fallen from the prosperity of the early 1990s to a sharply reduced predicament.
At the same time, Zhou Xingchi himself is not satisfied with being just an actor. Since 1994, he has consciously participated in the directing process, and together with Li Lizhi, he has jointly completed the directing work of many films such as "Domestic Lingling Paint" and "God Eater". With the help of Li Lizhi, Zhou Xingchi, who also served as an editor and director, entered the peak and most vigorous decade of his creative career.
I don't remember any director who once said, "Many good directors can maintain a creative cycle of decades." But a great director has only a decade in his career. The meaning of this sentence is that a person's artistic pursuit can be very long, but like any martial arts master, there is always a day when he will retire from the peak. Looking back today, Zhou Xingchi's golden creative period is obviously the years around 2000.
Twenty years ago, "The King of Comedy" is a peak that Zhou Xingchi himself may not be able to surpass in the future.
Although, the film is not so flawless. In terms of the completeness of the screenwriter, it lacks the amazing causal design of the two "Journey to the West" and the broad feelings of the overall sadness and compassion. The final ending of the film can even be said to be a hasty ending, and it is impossible to bear the affection created before. At the same time, from the perspective of borrowing from genre films, it also lacks the narrative elements of gourmet martial arts and modern movies in "God Eater", the postmodern interpretation of folk tales in "Tang Bohu Dian Qiu Xiang" and "Jiupin Sesame Official", or the transformation of action comedy in "Kung Fu" and "Domestic Lingling Lacquer".
"The King of Comedy" is a comedy film with a realistic tendency and a more realistic theme, which is also infused with the innuendo and portrayal of Stephen Chow's early acting career. Compared with the small character themes that Stephen Chow usually shows, such as "The King of Destruction", etc., this film is closer to the daily life of the audience. The "effort" and "struggle" shouted by the protagonist in the face of the sea at the beginning of the film, although it is inexplicable at first glance, it is touching and has become a kind of inspirational classic.
Why did he shout at the sea?
Because even if facing the vastness of the sea, it will not change because of anyone, the boy should also aspire to the heavens and the earth, and grasp the pride of changing the fate of heaven and earth. Even if it's just the moment, right now.
The protagonists in Stephen Chow's films, even if they are all small people, are divided into two categories. Some will have a lot of wisdom and cunning, such as "Journey to the West" and "God Eater", and some will be stupid enough to make people speechless, such as "The King of Destruction". In the latter category, when the characters develop to the point of stupidity like "Shaolin Football", the audience will be difficult to believe, and even sometimes laugh at such too low-minded characters, for a long time, they will feel a little irritable, and they will not be able to laugh.
The protagonist in "The King of Comedy" is actually a stunned young man who has a cerebral infarction to no return. Compared with the "King of Destruction" in the face of the goddess low to the dust licking dog "He Jinyin", "Yin Tianqiu" this inappropriate name, more like because I watched more Shaw martial arts movies when I was a child, from childhood inspiration to become a generation of kung fu superstars, but unfortunately born twenty years late, the ability can not support their dreams of the kind of low-level youth. Even if the audience can respect such a protagonist's ideals and sympathize with the current situation in which his dignity is ignored, they cannot fully agree from the position of whether his efforts are worth it. When the crew played by Wu Mengda angrily rebuked Yin Tianqiu for talking about ideals all day but not being able to achieve them, our feelings were complicated. If what you want to do is unattainable, whether you should continue to work hopelessly and persistently, or give up rationally, is a question that will never have a standard answer for all adults.
The ending of "The King of Comedy" collapsed, which is probably derived from this. When Stephen Chow realized that the exaggerated little character he played- which must be exaggerated for comedy, may really not be suitable for the acting stage, he can't force the character to defeat the fierce enemy with a move "Invincible Hot Wheel" like "The King of Destruction", or simply "God Eater" in "God Eater". For the acting career that he is truly familiar with and loves, Zhou Xingchi understands that he only has feelings but lacks talent, and he cannot survive in this line. Therefore, the happy ending of becoming an "emperor superstar" is that even if you deceive the audience, you can't exist. Now the "good ending" that the film seems to be acceptable to, in fact, it is just a scene where the tiger can't end it.
But in any case, at least in the movies, we can still have love.
"The King of Comedy", compared to inspirational, is a love movie.
This is a work tidbit that cannot be seen in movies.
In reality, Stephen Chow and Cecilia Cheung have also had gossip.
Love is about a certain life wish that is as difficult as a career in reality - to use an inappropriate analogy, even if the acting fact is as successful as the king of heaven, Zhou Xingchi, he is now more than half a hundred years old.
But in any film — except for those that are too cruel — allowing the protagonist to finally receive a love is still a certain good wish in the hearts of all creators. "The King of Comedy" has the most precious love compared to "Journey to the West" or any other Chow Sing Chi movie.
In fact, compared with the efforts to describe the career of small people, once Zhou Xingchi focuses on describing love in the film, the pure and subtle parts of it can always inadvertently touch people's hearts. Whether it is "the original everyone is an orphan, no wonder so fate" in "Domestic Lingling Paint", or the staggering fate in "Journey to the West", they all belong to more moving elements than ordinary romance films.
And the piece of jade owned by "The King of Comedy" is 18-year-old Cecilia Cheung.
Actresses are beautiful and very common. But Cecilia Cheung's beauty is rare.
Since then, even Zhang himself has not been as beautiful as Cecilia Cheung, who is 18 years old and wears a large shirt.
Born in 1980, Cecilia Cheung was discovered by Stephen Chow at the age of 18, and became a hit in her debut film "The King of Comedy", and later established her image as a jade girl on the screen with the movie "Star Wish", and the limelight even overshadowed Zhou Huimin at that time. Then with several films such as "Can't Forget" and "Big Guy", he won the affirmation of various performance awards, and starred in films such as "Bai Lan" and "Wuji" to go international.
The talent of an actor, the first is the appearance. Cecilia Cheung's rounded and lovely youthful temperament when she debuted, coupled with the "wind and dust" discovered by Stephen Chow in "The King of Comedy", created a girl image of "in the mud heart like a white lotus", the neighbor's city, vulgar but not market servant, pure and unpretentious, to the actor Cecilia Cheung's life has been imprinted with a certain brand. Stephen Chow is not necessarily a first-class director, but he is undoubtedly the top actor. His sculpting of the actor's performance can often create the most classic screen image.
The cuteness of "Liu Piaopao" is that she does not hide her straightforward and vulgar personality, yearning for money and luxurious life, but in the end she still chooses the truth. If those "green teas" who talk elegantly and practically but only think about their own interests everywhere are the most annoying women in life, then "Liu Piaopao" is completely the opposite of this falsehood. The sons and daughters of the jianghu who dare to love and dare to hate are active, frank, and the most moving.
"I'll raise you." "Raise yourself a fool first."
However, he turned his head and secretly cried.
Why? Maybe I don't know.
When we were young, we believed that love could overcome everything. "The King of Comedy" finally achieved the audience's good wishes in the love point. Even if you are as arrogant as a star, I am afraid that I hope that someone can tolerate him and accompany him!
"Liu Piaopiao" is the peak of Chow Sing Chi's portrayal of female characters, and it is also the peak of Cecilia Cheung herself. The fledgling Cecilia Cheung, the untouched screen charm, far exceeds other actresses a hundred times. When Cecilia Cheung broke the news in reality later, in addition to the damage to the image of the actor himself, the screen image was a kind of collapse gap, which was difficult to accept.
The best years are clearly gone and never again.
Can you go all the way with money and love?
On the screen. The reality is often more complex, not necessarily.
The same is true of Stephen Chow. When a director begins to constantly dig out selling points from his former glory, it is obvious that he has a certain hesitation about his own creativity.
No matter how much we believe and wish, life will always step back from the peak and walk downhill step by step. Only a very few people can achieve the second peak in their lives. With the brilliance of Zhou Xingchi's past success, it is even more difficult to imagine that he may be more successful in the future than he did in the past. This possibility is, I'm afraid, as slim as a person's two million lottery tickets.
I've always been opposed to the reference to "owe a movie ticket to whoever owes it". The feelings you think are just the propaganda copy that others have changed.
Feelings, is in the quiet midnight, take out the good things themselves and look at it again. Even if his eyes are soaked, there is no one around him to raise and no one to complain about. Tomorrow the sun rises, still self-encouragement, hard work, struggle.
In the face of life, who is not the king of comedy?