Special author of the Hong Kong Film Nostalgia Department [Headline Entertainment Jun], see the in-depth interpretation of entertainment hotspots, and look for Li Yujun!
I. "The King of Comedy"
In 1999, Stephen Chow's self-directed and self-acting work "The King of Comedy" was released, starring Stephen Chow, Cecilia Cheung and Karen Mok.
"The King of Comedy" seemed at the time to be just one of the many classics in Stephen Chow's career. But today, looking back on the past, for Chow Sing-chi's works, "The King of Comedy" is indeed a real transformation work, that is, the opening of the "post-Chow Xingchi era" spread on the Internet.
In 1999, Hong Kong produced many classic films, such as "Glass Bottle", "The King of Comedy", "Dark War" and so on. In the top ten box office of that year, Stephen Chow occupied two seats, and "The King of Comedy" was the box office champion that year, earning 29.84 million Hong Kong dollars.
It is said that "the king does not see the king", but Zhou Xingchi and Jackie Chan made cameo appearances in each other's movies that year, and won the first and second place in the box office list that year, becoming a good story. "Double Weekly Success" was a box office guarantee in those days, and now it is indeed a thing.
At that time, Zhou Xingchi was not yet called the "King of Comedy", but the classics made were already in a basket. After the success of fame, people often slack off, just like Chen Kaige after filming "Overlord Farewell". But Zhou Xingchi was not like this, but after that, he made a peak work like "Kung Fu".
Many people regard "The King of Comedy" as Chow Sing Chi's autobiography, because Chow Sing Chi also starts from the dragon set and is also engaged in comedy, which is no problem, because looking closely at Zhou Xingchi's acting career from the dragon set, and Yin Tianqiu in the story is too similar.
But it's not just autobiography.
As one of Zhou Xingchi's transformation works, "The King of Comedy" also had a great influence on later comedy works, it did not have as much nonsense effect and story depth as "Journey to the West", but such a commercial film was more moving than more literary and art films. The reason may be the "real" emotion, and everyone can see their own shadow from the essence of the story.
The so-called "core of comedy is tragedy", Zhou Xingchi's works in this period, especially "Journey to the West" and "The King of Comedy", really influenced the aesthetics of Chinese comedy later.
Second, chase the dream of the child's heart
The Yin Tianqi in the story may be equivalent to Cheng Dieyi to Zhang Guorong. When people think of an actor, the first few roles that come to mind illustrate his success in portraying the role.
Yin Tianqiu in the movie is a real little person, or in other words, everyone who has a dream is a small person in his first days.
Yin Tianqiu works at a community welfare station with a meager salary and a poor bag with only a few bills and coins. But he also did not settle for life, with the dream of becoming an actor, every day when he had time, he ran to the crew, looking for opportunities to act, even if he did not want money.
At the beginning of the movie, Yin Tianqiu is talking to a group of extras in the crew, but he is only a mass actor. In Yin Tianqiu's eyes, acting must be professional, even if it is a dragon set role, playing a passerby without lines, or even playing a dead body, it should be taken seriously.
Yin Tianqiu's most precious item was the "Self-Cultivation of Actors", until he later met Liu Piaopiao, and he couldn't bear to send the book out. Maybe everyone has such a stage, has a firm belief, and not just lives for money.
The first thing we see is such an almost paranoid person. For Yin Tianqiu, the word "actor" is sacred and undefiled. That's the dream, and there's nothing cleaner than a dream. Therefore, Yin Tianqiu in the story seems so clean, but in life, there are too few adults who can be so clean, even if they have dreams.
At the beginning of the movie, Yin Tianqiu plays a priest, who is actually a character who is killed by a shot in the chaos. Yin Tianqiu is a little clever, adding some layers to his role, and the final effect is "how to die can not die".
After being picked up this time, he still kept calling his aunt who introduced him to acting opportunities until her aunt began to scold him. In fact, as can be seen from several pictures, Yin Tianqiu has done not many such things. For acting, his state may be more like going crazy, immersed in the world of self and unable to extricate himself.
Dreams are constantly reconstructed in reality. Keep trying, keep failing, keep struggling in the world of the self. Some people persevered, some people compromised with reality, most of them.
Yin Tianqiu is a small person who is low to the dust, but the other side of the small person is persistence.
The priest played by Yin Tianqiu "can't die no matter how he dies" so that all the staff can only reshoot it once, resulting in everyone being unable to eat. When he was taken away, he went to the field manager played by Wu Mengda to get his meal, and was taught a lesson by the field manager, preferring to throw the rice on the ground and feed it to the dog rather than give it to him.
On the other side of life, Yin Tianqiu's community welfare station work is also meticulous. The salary is meager, and he can only communicate with the senseless old people and children every day, or deal with a few idle little.
But he never gave up. When the crew could not find the opportunity to act, Yin Tianqiu found someone to act in the community welfare station, and also said that he would teach people to act for free. Such a person doing such a thing is a joke to outsiders. But Yin Tianqiu is indeed doing it with a sincere mentality, he just wants to act.
The reason why people think that this is Zhou Xingchi's autobiographical work is also related to such a small character setting. Zhou Xingchi grew up in a single-parent family, and is quiet and taciturn on weekdays, but his pursuit of his heart is very firm. In 1980, after graduating from high school, Stephen Chow also began his dragon set career. At that time, Zhou Xingchi, like Yin Tianqiu in the movie, was a completely small person, with nothing but dreams.
Because he taught people to act at the community welfare station, Yin Tianqiu met Liu Piaopiao, played by Cecilia Cheung. In fact, Yin Tianqiu could neither act in movies nor stage plays at that time, nor did he look for him to learn acting, and he was like a dog.
Liu Piaopiao is a dancer in a bar, because of a first love activity, they do not have a pure feeling of first love, and they are pulled together to Learn how to act here in Yin Tianqiu. In the community welfare station, Liu Piaopiao and colleagues looked at Yin Tianqiu's serious look, laughed at him, and mouthed a "you are a dead runner", Yin Tianqiu replied seriously, "Actually, I am an actor."
After a few times, Yin Tianqiu tightened his smile and said, "If you must ask me to run the dragon set, can you not add a dead word in front of it?" ”
Then, Yin Tianqiu told them how to act, saying "out to sell." Liu Piaopiao suddenly burst into flames, picked up the bench and squashed Yin Tianqiu bitterly.
This plot is particularly well designed, the two meet for the first time, Liu Piaopiao is a fallen dancer, and Yin Tianqiu is a small person that everyone looks down upon. One doesn't want to be said to be "out for sale", and the other doesn't want to be said to be "running dragon sets". In fact, they are all just inferior, and they are all small people who live a meticulous life.
One day later, Liu Piaopiao coincidentally tried the method of Yin Tianqiu Sect, but did not expect to succeed in getting the favor of guests. So she specially ran to ask Yin Tianqiu again.
That day was still unhappy and dispersed, because Yin Tianqiu asked her about her bad memories. Liu Piaopiao was also an innocent girl in the past, she loved her first love very much, but she was forced by the man to become a dancer, and has since fallen into such a depraved life.
Liu Piaopiao is actually a typical little woman, who has no ideas of her own, and the focus of her life is on men. After being cheated by her first love boyfriend, she let herself degenerate and no longer believed in love, but deep inside herself she was still sincere and hoped to have a good life. Until he met Yin Tianqiu.
Later, when Yin Tianqiu and those little performed a drama together, Liu Piaopiao found him again. They talked a lot that day, and in the evening Liu Piaopiao spent the night with Yin Tianqiu.
Then there is the most classic part of the whole movie.
The next morning, Liu Piaopiao was leaving. Yin Tianqiu secretly put all his belongings on Liu Piaopiao's bag. When Liu Piaopiao left, she saw the money on the bag and said a heart-wrenching voice, "Thank you boss."
For Liu Piaopiao, she felt Yin Tianqiu's sincerity in life, and probably did not regard Yin Tianqiu as a business. For Yin Tianqiu, in his lowest days, there was such a woman who was willing to recognize him and believe in him, and her heart must also be attached. They are actually the same kind of people, just in life to meet each other.
When Liu Piaopiao left, Yin Tianqiu couldn't hold back his emotions and chased after him, so he had the most classic dialogue.
After Yin Tianqiu showed his feelings, Liu Piaopiao also fell in love with him. Both gave each other hope of running to a better life. Later, Liu Piaopiao wanted to stop being a dancer, and even if she was beaten by the guests to the point that her face was covered in blood, she still refused to let go. When she was beaten, maybe her mind was full of Yin Tianqiu's face.
Yin Tianqiu on the other end has finally ushered in the sunshine of life. The big star Cuckoo took a fancy to him and wanted to make him the male number one. Yin Tianqiu got the opportunity, and life began to be full of sunshine. Before that, Yin Tianqiu's smile was stiff, and after that, his smile in the movie was really bright.
The plot that touched me the most was that Liu Piaopiao left the nightclub and looked for Yin Tianqiu, just happened to meet Cuckoo Er to pick him up, and Yin Tianqiu also pretended not to be familiar with her. Liu Piaopiao saw that Yin Tianqiu was exposed to a better life, afraid that he would lie to himself like his first love boyfriend. After leaving the car, he asked him aloud: "Last time you said you wanted to raise me, was it true?" ”
Unexpectedly, Yin Tianqiu did not hesitate to turn back and shout, "It's true! ”
This time Liu Piaopiao was not deceived, and Yin Tianqiu did not become another kind of adult. They are still themselves, even if they are not living well, they are still their true selves.
But the reality is always harsh. Later, the original male number one of the movie starring Yin Tianqiu suddenly had a schedule, so he could only quit. All hope suddenly came to naught again.
Then it comes to the end of the movie. One thing to say, "The King of Comedy" is indeed a bit of a tiger. The twist in the second half of the film is particularly blunt and even a little inexplicable compared to Stephen Chow's other classic films.
The turning point is that the field worker played by Wu Mengda found Yin Tianqiu. He's not actually a field worker, he's an undercover cop, so he's acting every day. He wanted to ask Yin Tianqiu to cooperate with him on a mission, giving him a chance to perform.
Yin Tianqiu did not perform this scene well after all, and in the villa of the gang, the identities of the two were exposed. Yin Tianqiu finally hid on the ground in the chaos and picked up the gun, firing indiscriminately, killing all the gangsters.
At the end of the movie, Yin Tianqiu and Liu Piaopiao took the little to perform Thunderstorm on the stage together, and Cuckoo Er also came to help. He did not become a big star after all, but he still did not give up his dream of being an actor.
There are many people who interpret "The King of Comedy". Some people say that the story ended after Yin Tianqiu lost male number one, and the rest are his fantasies. Some people say that Cuckoo Er is because Yin Tianqiu has a girlfriend, so he is not allowed to play male number one.
In fact, simply watching the story told in this movie is enough. The story itself is realistic enough, there is really no need to add any excessive interpretation, to increase its depth.
After all, at the end of the movie, Yin Tianqiu still did not become a big star, or a small person who loved acting.
Third, a generation will eventually grow old
Zhou Xingchi made this film, in addition to remembering his own struggle career, perhaps also has the meaning of recording the industry.
Before 2000, it can be said that Stephen Chow was the most diligent time, and several high-grossing classic films came out every year. But looking at all his works, in fact, the films made after success are better in quality. After all, after doing what you should do, you can do what you want to do.
Of course, in recent years, Stephen Chow's films have indeed been controversial. Whether it is fried cold rice or rotten films, in fact, it is harmless. People always say that they owe Star Ye a movie ticket, so there is no need to criticize his current movies, not to mention that these movies are actually not bad. It's just that the times are different, and the aesthetic concept has changed.
After all, Zhou Xingchi is no longer short of fame and fortune, and there is really no need to make some bad films to affect his reputation. From another point of view, even if Stephen Chow's current films are not as good as before, his contribution to the film is enough to make the audience understand. Just like Jackie Chan today.
A generation will eventually grow old, but there will always be people who are getting younger.
To this day, there are still many Yin Tianqi in this world. Zhou Xingchi, as one of the former ones, has retired from the work, but the "Yin Tianqiu" will always work hard in the places we can't see.
If one day they come out, we should look at them, just like we once watched the young Zhou Xingchi, step by step through that brilliant era. (Author: Tang Chong) #Toutiao Film and Television Archives ##头条观影指南 #
This article is written by the author as a special author of "Headline Entertainment Jun", to today's headlines to see entertainment, a little material and depth ~ ~