In such a long life, you always have moments when you have to tell other people a joke. I don't know if you have noticed that the joker can't laugh, and he must finish the joke seriously and seriously. The more serious the joker is, the more the joker leans back and forth.
The king of comedy can only entertain people, not himself.
That year, I saw the poster of "The King of Comedy" in a video store. The background is golden and bright, and everyone has a hopeful smile on their faces, staring at the side at a 45-degree angle, looking harmonious and funny. But after watching the movie, I was very disappointed. The male protagonist did not fight monsters and upgrade them all the way to become immeasurable magical skills, and he did not rise to the top of the world. Where is there any shadow of "king", and even Xing Ye's always funny is very rare, and he doesn't like it.
It wasn't until not long ago that I watched the movie again and looked at the movie's poster carefully - only to find that everyone was laughing and crying. The sadness of "The King of Comedy" is too exposed, and Stephen Chow has turned his back on the previous movies too thoroughly in this film. In some respects, Yin Tianqiu is very similar to Cheng Dieyi. This is different from the characters in his previous films who had a little bit of a burgher mentality, hypocrisy, selfishness, etc., with character flaws. He is too eager to show a reality that is almost cruel, and too eager to show his pure heart and his past ups and downs. He did not take into account the audience's acceptance and perception. Or he thinks that after so many years of accumulation, the audience's loyalty and acceptance have reached the point where they can share the same fate with him. Or, he doesn't need the audience's acceptance and approval at all. After so many years, he has finally stood at the top of the industry. He wants to make a little self-dissecting movie.
Of course the audience can't accept it. The audience likes Stephen Chow as a comedian, and Stephen Chow who can bring joy. Such a sad and hard-working Stephen Chow is unfamiliar and confusing. In a Hong Kong movie where everything is overdone and crazy, it is an outlier that is not very popular.
That year, "The King of Comedy" had few awards, and only Cecilia Cheung was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award. It is just a nomination, not only the box office is not satisfactory, but also has not been approved by professionals. The treatment of those works before or after him is simply worlds apart. If the abscissa is time, and the film's nominations are the ordinate, the shape of this curve in 1999 should be similar to the Mariana Trench on the map.
Watching "The King of Comedy" again, I'm in middle age, and my mood is very different from when I was a teenager. At that time, the world had not yet unfolded before my eyes, and the future was full of infinite hope. I would be admitted to a good university, find a good job, and maybe even go abroad. The farthest imagining of my life was to find a good husband. Twenty years later, I am just a middle-aged man who is exhausted and busy with survival. Life is the same today as it was yesterday, and tomorrow will be the same. Repeating and repeating, let alone passion and pride, even anger and happiness are about to be gradually forgotten. Original intention? Original intention? what is that? where are they?
Such a middle-aged man will really cry when he sees "The King of Comedy" again. Because he finally understood that it was not easy for Yin Tianqiu to persevere, he used such devout perseverance in exchange for hitting the wall again and again in reality, falling higher and higher and heavier. Because I understand the difficulty of Yin Tianqiu and Liu Piaopiao's love. In such a cruel world, although they are like ants and mustards, they love so thoroughly and live so clearly. Such a group of people who dare to love and hate, harbor love or ideals, and warm each other in this cruel world is the most tenacious life I have ever seen.
In Stephen Chow's movies, there are low-level fun and shit. But if there is no supreme treasure hugging Fairy Zixia's unforgettable kiss, no Yin Tianqiu's seemingly casual but cautious sentence "I will support you", no stick drawn on the ground with blood trembling at the last moment of life Lollipop... Without all of this, Zhou Xingchi is just another Wang Jing at most.
Stephen Chow is of course the king of comedy, because he is the saddest. Nietzsche said that all literature, I love those who write in blood. Take it for granted.
View more about King of Comedy reviews
