At the Hong Kong Film Awards last night, Paul Cheng won the best director for "Homicide".
is a bit unexpected.
But enough of a surprise.
Because one of the most obvious trends is that after returning to Hong Kong, Zheng Baorui finally regained his original creative passion.
Not only were two works, " Wisdom Teeth " and "Homicide", shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival, with Douban ratings of over 7, they were also shortlisted for the Academy Awards with more than a dozen nominations, indicating an overall rebound in creative standards.
But is that all?
This is not the case.
Zheng Baorui's next work is coming soon.
is also another collaboration with the Galaxy Image team (the screenwriter is Ou Jianer of " Detective ", "Big Brother" and "JUDO DRAGON"). This time they didn't even go to Berlin, but were directly shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival. Midnight screening unit.
is correct.
Sir mentioned a few days ago -
The Siege of Kowloon Walled City
The movie will be released on May 1st.
should be the earliest film we can see from this year's Cannes Film Festival.
And this one.
What interests Sir the most is the unit in which the film was shortlisted, "Midnight Screening". You must know that the last Asian movies shortlisted for this unit were "big movies" such as " Train to Busan " and " The Bad Guys ". Scale” movie.
so.
After "Wisdom Teeth" and "Homicide", the standard of " Kowloon Walled City " has reached another level?
Sir is here to talk today. What kind of "large-scale" movie is
that is brave enough to spend 300 million Hong Kong dollars?
1
Play it real
When it comes to Kowloon Walled City, younger movie fans may not have much impression.
can be used once.
This is a subject that countless directors want to shoot but cannot complete.
Stephen Chow filmed the "Pig Cage Walled City" in " Kung Fu ".
A three-no-no zone.
Its prototype comes from the Kowloon Walled City:
"The place where I lived when I was a child was like this. It was a place full of people, as if everyone was stuck together." - Stephen Chow
Nolan in "Batman" ": Knight Begins" filmed an island where the villain plotted his conspiracy.
A cramped environment.
Its prototype is also the Kowloon Walled City:
"We want this place to be both historical and modern... The Kowloon Walled City is the prototype of the island, a slum surrounded by walls." - Nolan
And others .
For example, "Ghost in the Shell", "Blade Runner", etc., the Kowloon Walled City once became the source of inspiration for countless movies.
They arranged the chaotic and disordered social strata in this walled city.
Why is this happening?
Probably, we want to start with the history of the Walled City.
One word: Sin City.
Kowloon Walled City is a huge slum housing 50,000 people on an area of 0.027 square kilometers.
Due to historical reasons, coupled with the high population density and complex route environment in the city, it has gradually become a territory that the government has no control over. Even the Royal Hong Kong Police and the British Hong Kong Government have no right to enter.
In the book "city of darikness", the internal environment of Kowloon Walled City is recorded as follows:
The walled city has no wide roads, only dozens of small alleys, so except for a few bicycles, There are no other vehicles walking.
This space is no more than four feet. When you plunge in from the peaceful and ordinary world outside, the safe world outside has disappeared. The alley that goes down suddenly, twists and turns, swallows you up in the walled city.
It is a dangerous and fascinating city.
△ The picture comes from "city of darkness (City of Darkness)"
Here, the walled city has its own survival system, opening shops, factories, and clinics. The largest number of dentists operating without a license in the town is 97, and there are also Plastic factories, garment factories, manufacturing plants, pastry factories, etc.
Of course, in such a cramped space, illegal stalls such as brothels, gambling stalls, and heroin dens also harbor filth.
It can be said that it is a place abandoned by Hong Kong. It has nothing to do with the prosperity of Hong Kong and its international integration model.
Until 1994, the Kowloon Walled City was completely demolished.
This former "anarchist utopia" now has only a few demolished ruins left, becoming the last witness to this history. The same is true for
.
From 1982's "The People from the Walled City", to 1984's "Provincial and Hong Kong Flag Soldiers", and then to the last film before the demolition, " Crime Squad ", the eyes of Hong Kong directors have not turned from it. Left.
△ The above picture is "People coming out of the walled city"; the bottom picture is "Provincial and Hong Kong Flag Soldiers"
Even after the demolition.
There are also films such as "O Chronicles of the Triad Files", " Chasing the Dragon " and "Three No Matters" that attempt to recreate the history of the Walled City.
includes Johnnie To, whom sir particularly likes.
For several years, he also tried to shoot a movie called "Kowloon Walled City". He wrote the script and established the project, but unfortunately it ended without any success.
takes it so seriously.
On the one hand, it is of course because of the mixed situation in the walled city.
On the other hand, just like a sentence in "Dark City" -
"In the eyes of some people, it is unprecedentedly crude, desperate, and evil; but in the eyes of others, it is unprecedentedly crude." Weird beauty. "
△ Picture from "City of Darkness"
It represents an excellent narrative space.
So of course Zheng Baorui couldn't let it go.
In the "City Special" of "Kowloon Walled City", director Paul Cheng wrote the definition of Kowloon Walled City:
"It has once been glorious, but it is a declining castle."
In order to restore this glory.
This time, Kowloon Walled City is even more serious.
Just look at these screenshots.
Because the floors are too high and close to the airport, there are often scenes of planes flying low against the floors;
Or, there are shops and alleys extending in all directions, and there are wires and cables almost overhead.
is almost identical to the photos left in the Kowloon Walled City.
△ Picture from "City of Darkness"
As the art director of "Kowloon Walled City", Mak Kwok-keung and the art team restored 80% to 90% similarity based on the image data.
not only built a shooting base, but also arranged the furniture and garbage as they were. Even the floor tiles from that era were pried out and used.
Therefore, after several of the actors came to the set, they were also shocked by the real scene that was built.
Louis Koo found it incredible, Ren Xianqi felt like he was on the scene, and Lin Feng even wondered how such a realistic scene could be built.
is not an exaggeration by sir.
Except for the previous scenes of "Crime Unit" that were actually shot in the Walled City, the Walled City in subsequent film and television works were either made too clean, or they looked like scenery.
often cannot reproduce 80% of the real thing.
But in "Kowloon Walled City", those dirty and chaotic scenes, those orderly amid chaos, will arouse people's expectations. Could this be a movie that really restores the taste of Kowloon Walled City?
2
New style of play
Of course, Paul Cheng's "Kowloon Walled City" has nothing to do with the one his master Johnnie To had planned to shoot.
This is an action movie.
as well.
It is adapted from the passionate fighting novel of the same name, which was also adapted into the kung fu comic "Kowloon Walled City".
So, the question is, will this look good? Is playing
enjoyable?
may be looking at Sammo Hung, Louis Koo, and Simon Yam in the cast, and just want to ask how old are you?
But don't worry.The director of
's action stunts was Kenji Tanigaki, who has filmed " Fury: Serious Case ", "The Righteous" and "Rurouni Kenshin". In terms of playing,
is most likely to be stable and ruthless.
And Zheng Baorui also opened up a very new way of playing.
adds a "comic-like" style of play.
For example, a scene showing the speed of fighting.
"Tornado" played by Louis Koo has a scene opposite Chen Luojun played by Raymond Lam.
Tornado flicked the cigarette in his hand and flew into the sky.
At the end of this action, he caught the cigarette again. Pictures like
really give people a sense of "nonsensical" comics and a sense of exaggeration.
However, there are many such very comic-like actions in the movie -
For example, when pushing Chen Luojun into a corner, is it better to hit the wall with one hand, or is it better to spin around and hit again.
is so delicate that director Zheng Baorui and action director Kenji Tanigaki had to discuss the design.
And it is these two images that set the overall action style of this movie.
What did you think of?
is correct.
"龙虎门".
As a kung fu movie, "Dragon Tiger Gate" is outstanding in terms of action.
Especially the hard-working performances by new actors such as Nicholas Tse and Donnie Yen's comic-like action design.
Looking back many years later.
still thinks this is a remarkable work.
This "Kowloon Walled City" is similar.
As Sir said yesterday, we can still see the inheritance of "old with new" here. In "Kowloon Walled City", there are still many young characters.
Veteran martial arts actor Sammo Hung still focuses on old-school fighting methods.
Pay attention to Zha Ma Bu, practice Hong Quan, and fight solidly and beautifully.
As for the younger generation of actors, they play "flowery" and exaggeratedly, play tricks, jump and chase.
In terms of action design, the form is more tricky. The long 1v1 alleyway with flying overhangs and walls, while pursuing a sense of tension, also allows the fighting space to extend horizontally.
Moreover, in the hands of these actors, in addition to punching, they are hard to fight.
There are also different weapons used, from small knives to Western long knives, to axes, hammers, and guns. Eighteen kinds of weapons are almost used in turn.
For the first time, Mesozoic actors felt what "real martial arts" was. They were even dragged by the director to learn fighting for a period of time.
Today I really get to know what sparring is.
In the past, we just wrote down the movements
or the postures
I had no idea what it felt like to punch.
And the veteran actors "strike hard."
In a rivalry scene between Louis Koo and Sammo Hung, the punches were a bit too strong. After filming, he asked if he was okay.
Sammo Hung also pretended that nothing happened and said: It's nothing, it just hurts.
is quite "duplicitous".
In this movie, the actors tried their best in every action to achieve the most perfect state.
This is a way where new and old actors come together. How come
is not the glory of Hong Kong’s action film “old with new” style again?
3
Large-scale
But is the action only what people look forward to in "Kowloon Walled City"?
no.
Back to the beginning, when we saw the news that the film was shortlisted for the Cannes Midnight Screening Unit, we will know that action is only its basic skill, and scale is the "highlight" of this film.
especially when it is about to be released in mainland China. Whether
can be "authentic" may be more worrying or worth looking forward to.
in recent years.
Zheng Baorui's works have always been on the edge of large scale.
"Wisdom Teeth" is classified as a Category III film (iii), and "Homicide" is classified as unsuitable for teenagers and children (ii b).
And this time.
"Kowloon Walled City" has also followed the same classification (ii b) path as "Homicide".
sir saw these two scenes in the trailer of the movie.
I was really impressed -
A motorcycle jumped into the air and hit the two gunmen directly, knocking them flat.
Another one was during a fight, when a person fell over his shoulder and directly smashed a person through the wall.
Is it just to attract attention by filming the movie so harshly?
is actually not the case either.
Zheng Baorui still wants to use these "large scales" to depict each underlying portrait.
For example, in "Wisdom Teeth", people are like ants. In the
movie, the scene that appears the most and is also the most uncomfortable to remember is the dirty and terrifying garbage dump.
The "large scale" happening here is more like a perverted killer putting his chaotic inner world into the real world and visualizing it.
In "Homicide", people cannot control their own destiny.
In the last scene of the movie, the madman and the sky are fighting on the rooftop. Lin Jiadong's crazy words, sanity and madness are swaying left and right in this moment.
In Zheng Baorui's movies, the more "large-scale" they are, the more they go straight to the core of the story.
Violence is actually violence itself.
is not a gimmick.
is not about aesthetics.
but reality itself.
Therefore, in "Kowloon Walled City", people fight hand-to-hand in a cage-like living space, just like the fight between trapped animals.
Whoever wins can get out of here alive.
Here, it is the law of survival of the weak and the strong.
It does not have the mercy of "click and stop", and it is almost no longer the usual Hong Kong movie, where enemies can be eliminated with a few punches and kicks.
Instead, he used this kind of fist to touch the flesh, and the sword saw blood.
allows you to look directly at reality.
but.
It's like Cheng Pauli's understanding of the Kowloon Walled City -
The Walled City is actually the epitome of Hong Kong, a place where people come in to work hard and then go out.
We know that just like those young people, Zheng Baorui himself has been out of business. Although he made money, he also lost his "feathers".
So now it’s back to the local area. What
sir is more looking forward to is, in this film, how does Cheng Baorui regain the core of Hong Kong movies, take root in Hong Kong urban culture, and reshape the face of Hong Kong movies?
needs to know.
Today’s Hong Kong movies are no longer the routine Hong Kong movies we think of.
is like "Diary of a Young Man" or "Under the Sun".
They are more realistic, more detailed, and have an increasingly abundant desire for expression. Even if they cannot change the reality, they still try to make their own weak voice to this society.
As for "Kowloon Walled City". Under the guise of a "large-scale" spectacle, how will
break out of the inherent impression of mainland audiences and create another scene?
is fast.
We will see the answer given by Zheng Baorui.
The pictures in this article come from the Internet
