Talking about the "best partner" in Hong Kong film creation, many people must first think of the golden combination of Johnnie To and Wei Jiahui. As the creator and main creative force of the Milky Way image, the name combination "Du Wei" once became synonymous with high-quality works and the label of "Pure Hong Kong Film Holder" in the early 21st century. Whether it’s "The Birth of a Prefix", a noir commercial film like "Drug War", or a comedy genre of "Grumbling New Year's Fortune", "Zhong Wuyan", or "Single Man and Woman", "High Altitude Love II" "For urban romance films like this, they can maximize the commerciality of the film under the premise of accurately grasping the elements of the genre.
However, it should be 1990's "World of Love" that laid the foundation for their cooperation. What is surprising is that the first collision between the two is not a film noir, but the theme is family love. This movie is inspired by the 1966 Italian classic film of the same name. It tells the story of the stock broker Li Ziliang, played by Liu Songren, and his two sons, played by Huang Kunxuan, and Xiaobailin, after losing his wife. At the same time, Li Ziliang, encouraged by his colleagues played by Wu Mengda, went to the racecourse to make a desperate bet. Unexpectedly, the debts were so high that the whole family was trapped in an economic dilemma. Seeing this, his father-in-law (played by Liu Zhaoming) originally planned to bring his two grandchildren back to Vancouver to raise and help Li repay the debt. However, due to the deep affection between the father and the son, the father-in-law eventually left both his sons by Li Ziliang's side. On the one hand, the loan shark did not intend to let Li Ziliang go. Where will the fate of this family of
go? I believe this is also the driving force behind this film to attract the audience to fix their eyes on the last minute. The uniqueness of
"The World of Love" lies in the interpenetration and integration of gangster film elements and father-son love film elements. The situation of the protagonist Li Ziliang continues to deteriorate with the development of the story. In this terrible and nasty situation, the love between relatives has become the warmest background in the film world. From the tit-for-tat relationship between the father and son at the beginning, to the frankness at the end, the long-term accumulation of hopelessness is released and relieved. This is the biggest emotional catharsis of the film.
In order to enhance the appeal of the film, Du Wei designed some small details of life to lay the groundwork for the final tragedy: whether it is the elder son instead of the father hurriedly preparing breakfast for the younger brother, the two sons used paint to write the usury company. The big characters for debt collection are smeared out, or the elder son was taken away by the other party in order to get the watch for the father to repair. These plots are placed in ordinary warm movies. If the plot rhythm is not tight enough, it will not be too strong. Contrasting, but in a specific situation like this film, there is a force that makes the audience feel anxious, especially the result of the eldest son every time something goes wrong is a bifurcation for the fate of the family Point, it is like igniting the lead in the hearts of the audience, exploding as the film reaches the peak of sadness, and through the arrangement of these details, this paragraph of father and son is deeply emotional.
The tone of the film naturally reminds people of Johnnie To’s most representative film about the relationship between father and son, "The Story of A Lang". In fact, in the rendering of sadness, "The Story of Love" is compared with "The Story of A Lang". It can be said that it is not letting go. However, for the screenwriter Wei Jiahui of this film, his skill and experience in writing movie scripts at that time were not enough, and he had not yet reached the level of exquisiteness and exquisiteness that was later on. In many places, he obviously used too much force. Sometimes in order to highlight the tragedy, he ignored it. The preciseness of the script and the rationality of the plot of the characters weaken the sincerity of the film's main purpose. For example, is the law binding on usury companies? And why did Li Ziliang know the insidious methods of loan sharks, and when his grandfather returned to China, he didn't let his grandfather take away his two children? These plot settings that lack a reasonable explanation will inevitably appear deliberate, which makes people feel "tragedy for tragedy, sensational for sensationalism".
But from today’s point of view, the film’s merits, apart from the series of dramatic conflicts, are the most precious of the two most popular boy stars in Hong Kong’s film industry at the end of the 1980s, Huang Kunxuan and Little Berlin. In a movie. Because of his participation in "A Lang's Story", Huang Kunxuan once again interprets this kind of well-behaved and sensible son, but always encounters unfair treatment from the heavens. He is already familiar with the road, and almost no one can replace it. It can be said that he contracted the film. Most of the tears inAt one point, he even took the rhythm of Liu Songren's performance for a while, which was very powerful.
Four years after the film came out, Taiwanese director Zhu Yanping also directed a similar film called "Grandfather and Grandson Love", starring Lin Zhiying and Hao Shaowen. It is similar to some of the plots in "The World of Love". It is also that the elder brother who does not need to do any housework takes care of his younger brother. The result is full of confusion, more and more troubles, and there are also precious images of parents. The video tape was accidentally washed off by his brother. The drama axis is all the brother. If "Grandfather and Grandson Love" and the film are just "coincidence", I am afraid no one will believe it.
Objectively speaking, the cooperation between Du Sheng and Wei Sheng was not too mature, but because of this opportunity, it planted the seeds for the two years of continuous cooperation.
