"Prove the truth in words. - Tang Lei"
Who is Er Zheng Huangfang?
Er Dongsheng, Cheng Baorui, Huang Bin and Fang Ping can be regarded as the four gold medal film producers in Hong Kong film industry.
Just looking at the name, it is estimated that many people think it is abstract, but if it is compared with " Dragon in the End of the World ", "The True Story of a Madman", " People in New York ", " Infernal Affairs ", "Disciple", " "Accident", "Dog Eat Dog", and movies such as "The Overheard ", " Under the Day", " Unparalleled " and " Kowloon Walled City: The Siege ", we have a rough idea.
Their understanding and control of Hong Kong movies is very unparalleled.
And when four people sit opposite each other. How will
solve the dilemma of Hong Kong movies?
Director Er Dongsheng was the first to raise the topic.
He said: "Why are Hong Kong films getting weaker and weaker? Why are Hong Kong audiences less interested in co-productions?"
Roughly speaking, Hong Kong audiences feel dissatisfied due to censorship factors, and the distance between co-productions and Hong Kong audiences is getting wider and wider. Far away, they turn to "pure" Hong Kong films or other regional films, and whether they are Korean, Japanese or Taiwanese films, censorship is more lenient than Hong Kong films.
This is certainly a fact.
To give a simple example, in the past ten years or so, all the Hong Kong movies that have exploded at the box office in the mainland, since "Cold War 2", whether it is "Warriors", "Anti-Drug 2: Showdown between Heaven and Earth", "Ip Man 4: The Finale" ", nor " Bomb Disposal Expert 2" and " Fury·Serious Case ", have never been able to win the annual box office crown in Hong Kong.
So, which movies are performing well in the Hong Kong market?
For example, local small productions such as "Chun Jiao Saves Zhiming", "Agent Dudong" and "The Grandmaster", as well as "Integrity", "Anita Mui", "Tomorrow's War" and " Vicious Lawyer ", which have average box office in the mainland, etc. .
Among them, "The Vengeful Lawyer" broke through the box office mark of HK$100 million for the first time.
These situations, in turn, confirm what Er Dao said.
Producer Fang Ping took over.
He raised another question, "Is it possible to survive by setting aside all overseas markets and purely making Hong Kong movies?"
The reality may be more severe than everyone knows.
In the words of several producers, even if they only spend one million to film, they are "fools".
From a rough calculation, if you invest 1 million, you will probably lose money even if you earn 4 million in box office. Not to mention that if you invest about 300 million, you need to reach the threshold of 1 billion in box office to "recover the money." ".
Director Zheng Baorui put forward another idea.
If the mainland market is really eliminated, to what extent can Hong Kong's commercial films achieve their goals, and do they have the ability to develop and enter new markets?
For example, go make some commercial movies that are not very expensive but of very high quality.
However, this direction may actually be meaningless.
In addition, in recent years, why have so many local "small productions" appeared in Hong Kong?
Er Dongsheng said that Hong Kong movies in recent years are all of the "sick" type. For example, "One Thought of Ignorance" is about mental illness, and "Mai Luren" is about depression, just like "The Story of a Mad Man" that he filmed back then. 》.
In fact, it can also include "Treading on Blood to Seek Plum Blossoms", "Drifting on Turbid Waters", "Corridor of Justice", "Diary of a Young Man", "Under the Day", etc. What is the reason for
?
He said that because young directors are mostly exposed to social issues around them, only this type of realistic film can be shot with the two million grant from the "First Feature Film Project".
And police and gangster movies like "a shot costs a few bucks" will be excluded first.
Zheng Baorui also said that in current film festivals, many film companies from all over Asia participate, but they always come to the booth of Hong Kong films at the end and ask you, "Is it "One Thought of Nothingness" again? Is it the poverty line again? The following movies? "
This is reality.
What’s more interesting is that Zheng Baorui also said another thing.
A new director asked him how to shoot a scene where it hits with a "bang", and should it really hit?
In other words, these new Hong Kong directors now have almost no such conditions for training based on the experience and actual combat of Zheng Baorui and his generation in speeding cars, gun battles and explosions in Central.
This situation is very scary.
Looking back, it turns out that Mak Qi-Kuang, who was able to make "The Temporary Robbery", is actually the first independent director, but he has been polished for a long time. On the contrary, Huang Qingxun, who made "Disconnected", has extremely limited abilities.
Of course, we don’t know who Director Zheng Baorui is talking about.
It’s just the current situation of Hong Kong movies, which is really disappointing.
The words are at the end.
Although there are many kinds of things and a lot of gossip, the conclusion is probably the word "difficult".
seems to be settling in hard to break.
But in fact, Hong Kong-style commercial production should still be the mainstream of Hong Kong movies.
In the past, whether it was "Overheard", "Cold War", "Anti-Drug", or "Chasing the Dragon", "Warrior", "Bomb Disposer 2" and "Fury", they all promoted Hong Kong films to varying degrees. Recently, "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City" directed by Cheng Baorui, even if the final box office did not meet expectations, at least it stabilized the morale of the army in terms of quality.
So there is no need to submit the fundamental issue to review.
Hong Kong films still need to adhere to sharp visuals and texture mirroring, and at the same time, they need to work more on the screenwriting and director levels.
In the final analysis, only quality can regain lost ground.