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In 1992, Johnnie To and Stephen Chow collaborated on "The Trial Officer", winning 49.88 million at the box office, breaking the Hong Kong box office record.
This also contributed to the second cooperation between Johnny Du and Stephen Chow-"Jigong"
"Jigong" although the title is "Jigong", but in fact it only borrows the "character shell" of Jigong legend in history, and the stories are all about Original. In terms of
style, Stephen Chow's nonsensical nature is only the surface, and Johnnie To's fatalism is dominant. The
movie investment is not big, and the whole creates a dark and strange atmosphere. The
film was released in 1993. Although Johnnie To and Stephen Chow were very dedicated to this film, the box office was not satisfactory and only sold 21.56 million. It also became the worst of the three movies released by Stephen Chow that year. After
, Taiwanese filmmaker Wang Yingxiang bought the film's distribution rights in Taiwan for 30 million Taiwan dollars, and the box office still failed miserably after it was released. The decline of Hong Kong movies bombarded by Wang Jing began with "Jigong".
is Johnnie To’s stunning work, how should the film "Jigong" be evaluated? Pico wrote this article today and shared it with you in four parts-
1. Qifeng Tou’s fate story and Stephen Chow’s nonsensical
If the nonsensical plot belonging to Stephen Chow is removed, the movie tells a philosophical story about the cycle of cause and effect. .
Jianglong Arhat was dissatisfied with the attitude of the heavenly immortals' disregard of mortals, and behaved in the heavenly court, so he angered the Jade Emperor and wanted him to be reduced to a pig dog.
Under the mediation of Avalokitesvara Avalokitesvara, the Jade Emperor promised to give Jianglong Arhat another opportunity and bet with him that if Jianglong Arhat could not use mana, he would use his sincerity to influence the three destined to be the ninth beggar, the ninth pheasant and the nine. The people of the world's wicked, make them change their destiny, and the Jade Emperor will no longer pursue them.
Jianglong Arhat came to the mortal world and was reborn as Li Xiuyuan, the son of the upright official Li Maochun.
When he met these three people, he just forcibly changed the lives of these three people at the beginning, but soon found that doing so did not help.
Later he discovered that everyone has weaknesses in their hearts. Only by making them self-reliant can their destiny be changed.
But people are not as good as the heavens. The ninth beggar Zhu Dachang was eventually killed by the ninth villain Yuan Batian;
the ninth pheasant Xiaoyu disfigured himself because of love;
the ninth villain Yuan Batian also committed suicide.
and Li Xiuyuan used his golden body to travel between the Yin and Yang world to hell to find the soul of the beggar Zhu Dachang without authorization. After being tricked by the evil demon Black Rakshasa, the golden body was taken away, causing the black Rakshasa to return to the world.
Li Xiuyuan wanted to protect the world, and finally jumped into the mouth of Black Rakshasa and died with him. The story of
seems to have ended in tragedy, but the cycle of cause and effect and the end of life, although Zhu Dachang was killed, he recovered his self-esteem before he died, and was reborn in a wealthy family, no longer a beggar;
Xiaoyu was disfigured , But Congliang went to sell tofu and lived a normal life;
and Yuan Batian found out that before committing suicide, he reincarnated as a pig because of self-blame and vows to stop being a man.
Although the dragon descended in ashes, he won the bet with the Jade Emperor, and because he eliminated the black Rakshasa and prevented a catastrophe in the world, he was named the Lord of the Dragon. Although the story of
is an original movie and has nothing to do with Li Xiuyuan's life or "The Complete Biography of Jigong", it is witty and full of philosophy. However, with Stephen Chow's nonsensical funny plot and setting, it seems a bit nondescript and not serious enough.
2. Zhou Xingchi Jigong looks like
When we mention Jigong, the first thing we think of is the image of Jigong You Benchang, which was once popular in the 1980s.
In fact, Jigong's image in the paintings and calligraphy works of the past dynasties is also referenced by Jigong in You Benchang. Hong Kong people and Taiwanese may not have seen Jigong by You Benchang, but they are already familiar with the image of Jigong in the portrait.
Zhou Xingchi plays Jigong. First of all, he is a little out of age. The image of the Beatles is not like Jigong, but more like Su Qier wearing a cape. The image of the protagonist is a big factor in the success of a work, and Zhou Xingchi's Jigong was not pleased from the beginning.
is even more disgusting with the image of the ninth beggar Zhu Dachang, who deliberately dressed him dirty and put a piece on his face and chest, which is really disgusting. The overall image of
plus the actors are mainly gray and dark tones, and most of the time the whole film is shot in a studio, with dim light. These are the shortcomings of the film. The appearance of
evil demon Black Raksha brings the movie into a weird atmosphere, which is rare in Stephen Chow's movies.
Du Qifeng spent a lot of thoughts on this monster as tall as Ultraman. The atmosphere of horror is very strong. The battle with Jigong at the climax is no longer a comedy movie of gods and monsters, but more like a horror movie.
3. Is "Jigong" the cause of the decline of Hong Kong movies?
Perhaps it is precisely because of the above shortcomings that when "Jigong" was released in Taiwan, it was coldly treated by Taiwanese, which caused Taiwanese filmmaker Wang Yingxiang to suffer losses.
According to Wang Jing, it was from that time that investors in Taiwan became cautious when buying the distribution rights of Hong Kong films, paying more attention to film quality instead of blindly pursuing celebrity effects.
Taiwanese filmmakers have turned their attention to American films with more guaranteed box office revenues, one after the other, with the introduction of a large number of American blockbusters, the life of Hong Kong films is getting more and more difficult.
The box office failure of "Jigong" in Taiwan has become an incentive for the decline of Hong Kong movies?
Of course, these are Wang Jing's statements and only represent his own views.
Pico doesn't think it has much convincing power. After all, "Jigong" is a work in 1993. The glorious period of Hong Kong movies will continue for many years!
Maybe Wang Jing just wants to put a hat on Zhou Xingchi and let him be a sinner, after all, there are those contradictions between them. Besides, when did Hong Kong movies decline, and why did they decline? Don’t we know?
4. The image of Jigong is imitated, but the connotation of the movie is difficult to replicate.
Although "Jigong" has such shortcomings and does not appear to be excellent in Stephen Chow's movies, it still has some merits.
is based on Zhou Xingchi's principle that everything can be copied, and the image of Jigong he radiated with a beaten head was imitated by many later film and television works.
But these works only imitate one form, John To's fate story is difficult to be copied, so most of them are only made into a farce.
In fact, the connotation of "Jigong" is very deep. Those about life and reincarnation, fall and redemption, change of fate and generous death, all have philosophical thinking about life's destiny and the positive meaning of guiding people to good.
Therefore, if you watch this movie twice, you will have a deeper experience, and it is indeed a missed masterpiece.
Text/Pippi Film Editor: Passionate Heart
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