Every director has his own favorite, such as Du Qifeng, everyone likes his "Gunfire" and "Dark War", but he loves "Judo Dragon and Tiger List"; Jackie Chan has the "Police Story" series, "A Plan" series, but he likes "Miracle"; and wu Yusen, a master of violent aesthetics, everyone loves "Hero Nature", "Blood Double Male", but he likes "Blood Street" the most.
In 1990, Wu Yusen's "Blood Street" is a love story of three brothers. Wu Yusen once revealed that "Blood Street" is the work he invests the most emotion into, because it contains his growth experience as a child. However, "Blood Street" cut the original film for about 30 minutes in order to go to the theater, which has also become Wu Yusen's permanent regret.
1. Wu Yusen's favorite work, the uncrowned king of losses
In 1986, Wu Yusen had just got rid of the title of "past director" because of the "salted fish reborn" of "The True Colors of Heroes", and the limelight was the same. Later, with the support of the "Golden Princess", he established his own Wu Yusen Production Co., Ltd.
"Blood Street" is an entrepreneurial work, spending a lot of effort, containing strong personal feelings, and also inviting an old friend Zhang Jiazhen, who was still the general manager of the "film studio" at the time. "Streets of Blood" received more than 20 million Hong Kong dollars of investment from the Golden Princess, which was one of the best productions at that time.
"Blood Street" was the most expensive movie of the year, and it was seriously overspended when it was filmed, which was the most ambitious grand attempt of Wu Yusen's life. But what struck him was that after the release of "Street of Blood", it only received 8.54 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, and it had to bear such a huge loss at the beginning of the business.
At that time, the audience preferred comedies such as "Gambler Saint" and "Gambler", and the tragedy of the protagonist's group annihilation was doomed to be too advanced and unpleasant to the market. At the Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, Wong Kar-wai's "The Legend of Ah Fei" swept the best picture and best actor, and Wu Yusen only received a few nominations.
Fortunately, Zhang Jiazhen relied on selling overseas copyrights and recovered part of the cost, so as not to lose money. Wu Yusen was painfully determined, no longer obsessed with "Wu Yusen production", at the end of 1990, he established a new milestone with Zhang Jiazhen and others, and filmed a large-making second entrepreneurial work "Across the World", which can be regarded as a success in returning to blood.
Because of the overseas distribution and future dissemination, the uniqueness of "Blood Street" has gradually been discovered by everyone, and it can be called the "uncrowned king" of Wu Yusen's violent aesthetic works.
In Wu Yusen's world, brotherhood always overrides love. The love in the film is all ended in a rough way by the director. Jacky Cheung and Li Zixiong never had any friends of the opposite sex, and Liang Chaowei killed someone for Jacky Cheung on the night of his wedding, and later met Zhen Xiuqing, but there was no happy ending.
The three brothers grew up in Shijiaowei, poor and destitute, but still full of hope for life. Brotherhood in times of peace often develops beautifully, but when war strikes, it faces the ultimate test.
Liang Chaowei was loved by his mother and carefree, and although Jacky Cheung was often beaten by his parents, he was still simple and righteous.
Only Li Zixiong was very concerned about being the father of the "garbage guy" (sweeping the street), laying the groundwork for the complete blackening of the later stage, and he vowed to get ahead.
Ah Rong is a very competitive person, he rides a bicycle and only cares about winning by himself, but Ah B has always looked after Hui Zai next to him and pulled Hui Zai along. The early stages of the film conceal the portrayal of the characters of the three people. Until here, it is still the appearance of a cruel youth film.
Ah Rong may only have a different concept from the other two in his daily life, once there is a war, once he faces a life and death choice, Ah Rong's true heart is exposed. His goal is clear, that is, to transport gold back to Hong Kong; to think clearly and to act opportunistically.
It is also natural that he did not want to take Zhen Xiuqing with him for the sake of gold, because Liang Chaowei was angry and threw the gold into the water and turned his back.
In the end, because of the fear of the injured Jacky Cheung's groaning, he attracted the enemy and got off the killer, step by step to the abyss.
The film adds elements of war, but also makes the pattern of the film more grand, it looks expensive, helicopters, ammunition, so that the middle section looks like a war film.
"Blood Street" is a typical Hong Kong film habit - the atmosphere is greater than logic. In the final battle of "Blood Street", Liang Chaowei had ten thousand ways to kill Li Zixiong, but he chose the most costly and tragic method: personal duel, blood street.
The same place, the same people, but things are already human. In the street gunfights of flying bicycles, the past years have emerged one after another. In "Blood Street", the beauty and ugliness of extreme humanity are shown, and there is no middleman.
The most memorable thing for every fan is the harmonica song in the film, which appears in every touching plot. The classic soundtrack of "Street of Blood", "Dandelion", life is like a dandelion, seemingly free but involuntary. "It's a big deal like a dandelion, blown by the wind, and it takes root wherever it blows." In the film, Jacky Cheung blows peanut peel and laughs.
The film "Streets of Blood" is called "Bullet in the Head" in English. The last shot in the head was Played by Jacky Cheung, and Jacky Cheung's presence in the film is naturally the strongest.
Jacky Cheung is also a typical example of acting skills that has been ignored because his musical talent is too perfect. People often remember the heat map meme that Jacky Cheung's eyeballs stare out of the eye sockets. But in fact, each of his films is very dramatic, can be put away, and is also solemn and harmonious.
In the stone kipper tail brothers pushed their hearts and laughed happily.
After becoming a prisoner, he was forced to shoot and kill, and then he was coerced by Liang Chaowei with a gun, laughing with tears, and multiple expressions flashed on his face, and the performance of "madness" was impressive.
The head shot could not be taken out, and Jacky Cheung's temperament changed greatly by taking drugs to relieve the pain, but after seeing Liang Chaowei, he still recognized him, and the two played each other's acting skills.
Unexpectedly, Jacky Cheung was also nominated for the Academy Awards that year, but unfortunately lost to Zhang Guorong.
Liang Chaowei in the 80s was also extremely pure, handsome, clear smile, melancholy eyes, touching people's hearts. The war damage state is also a face value critical hit.
This film is a great tragedy of brotherhood and the protagonist almost annihilating. Especially at the end of the duel between Ab and Xiao Rong, through the montage of the car gunfight, the two teenagers constantly flashed back to the frolicking of the bicycle when they were teenagers, such a cruel care, the audience can easily think of the temperament of "Once Upon a Time in America".
However, the character setting of "Blood Street" is borrowed from Wu Yusen's master, the big director Zhang Che's "Thorn Horse". Wu Yusen was a screenwriter before joining Shaw, joined Shaw Film Company in 1971, and once served as the second deputy director under Zhang Che, who is good at martial arts and can be described as the originator of the violent aesthetics of Hong Kong films.
Wu Yusen had a dream of becoming an actor, and his mentor Zhang Che was as wise as a torch, knowing that he was not the material for being an actor and was destined to be a director. However, Wu Yusen has never given up his dream of becoming an actor, and always likes to appear in his own movies, such as the policeman of "The True Colors of Heroes", coincidentally, "Blood Street" is also a policeman.
In addition to a number of protagonists, Yuan Jieying's Xiaozhen is also amazing, which can be called the peak of her appearance, and she missed the role of Zhao Min twice that year, which is a big regret.
"Blood Street" failed miserably at the box office that year, and like "Knife", "A Knife Falling City", "The Legend of Ah Fei", "The Legend of Shushan" and other works, they are all "lost pearls" of Hong Kong movies, and they are well-deserved "uncrowned kings" in the hearts of film fans. (Author: Mankei Wu)