For so many years, Zhou Xingchi and I have never established a relationship. The earliest and only Zhou's film that I watched seriously was "Tang Bohu's Autumn Fragrance", and I went to the cinema with my mother to watch it. At that time, the state-owned enterprises had some benefits. They gave out two free movie tickets on the New Year’s Day. At that time, this film should have been chosen for Gong Li. Zhou Xingchi looked very handsome, but unfortunately there was no way to know him in mainland China, so he forgot after seeing it.
In fact, my impression of "Tang Bohu's Autumn Fragrance" is quite good. After all, it was also the first time I watched a comedy film, and the first time I watched an international big-name actress twist her neck on the big screen in a self-destructive image. But after Xing Ye suddenly became popular because of "Journey to the West", I felt that it was not the Zhou Xingchi in my heart, and the so-called nonsensical culture was even more difficult to swallow. When I was in college, I don't know how many times "Westward Journey" was repeatedly broadcast on TV, and I didn't know how many times I watched it hard. At most, it lasted for about half an hour at most once, but it was fruitless and gave up. Since then, I have given up the only good childhood memories of Stephen Chow, and completely joined the ranks of people who can't understand Stephen Chow.
Looking at Zhou Xingchi after getting married, and watching "Yangtze River No. 7", "The Mermaid", and "Journey to the West Conquering the Demons" with her husband, it seems that Zhou Xingchi is really a name that cannot be bypassed by domestic films. If you don't like Zhou's comedy, break it. Breaking fingers can always count so many. From childhood to adulthood, I have to do everything half a beat slower, and the same is true of Zhou Xingchi. Regarding Zhou Xingchi's later works, the public began to "wake up", and the scolding began to be louder, but I still felt good, and I felt that I had touched my heart. When I watched "The Mermaid", I was finally able to be amused by Deng Chao and Luo Zhixiang. When I watched "Journey to the West, Conquering the Demons", I was finally moved by the plot. Isn't this the most direct look and feel that a movie can bring to the audience.
At this time, I went back and looked at his earlier works, and I felt better, the emotions were more delicate, and it was closer to the perfect comedy. Many people watch Zhou Xingchi and like to speculate on the various metaphors in the film. "Domestic Lingling Paint" does have a lot of metaphors, and it was even banned in the mainland because of this, but I think this is definitely not what Zhou Xingchi wanted to express. Zhou Xingchi is neither Feng Xiaogang nor Wang Shuo, he is neither angry with the youth nor the capital. He is not a child of a Beijing courtyard, but a child born in a divorced family in a Hong Kong slum area. He made the film to show the bitterness of the little people, and he did not have the ambition to change the world.
Therefore, in Zhou Xingchi's works, the protagonists are all small people. In his comedies, little people will always have the opportunity to counterattack, and they will never seize the opportunity, but when you are beating your chest off the screen and angering you, you suddenly realize, ah, isn't this a true portrayal of us. It's like the fairy tale where the ugly dwarf has a crush on the princess, but doesn't know that the princess only sees him as a playboy. It wasn't until he accidentally looked in the mirror that he realized that his appearance was so ugly and his obsession with the princess was so ridiculous. Zhou Xingchi's works are like a mirror that penetrates your heart brightly, and the sadness of the audience comes from it, which just happens to create Xingye's greatness and success.
Stephen Chow is a delicate and sensitive person who knows how to take care of the public's emotions, so in his films, the sensational scenes will never exceed three seconds. Watching Ling Lingqi sing "Li Xianglan" affectionately and pick white roses for Li Xiangqin in the rain of bullets, you will feel nervous that tears are coming soon, but Zhou Xingchi changed the scene and brought back a little bit of the hero's just lit up. The faint halo was extinguished. At that time, Zhou Xingchi was still extremely restrained, hoping to find a balance between joy and sorrow. From this point of view, "Domestic Lingling Paint" is undoubtedly the best. And later "The King of Comedy", it is completely tragicomedy or even tragic.
As the first film of Zhou's comedy that I fully appreciated, "Domestic Lingling Paint" gave me a very good impression, and it always kept people a pleasant feeling. Whether it is the core of tragedy or the irony of society, it is always the same. So well wrapped up in the shell of this comedy. Before I knew about Stephen Chow, I always thought his films were vulgar and rough, and his laughs were too straightforward, such as the cigarette butts stuck to his lips when singing love songs, such as the big breasts in the pornographic magazines in the Regent Hotel Beauty. This is very similar to Guo Degang's jokes, or the two-person Zhuan of the original ecology of the Northeast, which cannot be found in the elegant hall.
I don't watch much comedy movies. If I have to make a comparison, I prefer Feng Xiaogang's early works. Speaking of which, Director Feng's Lunar New Year trilogy should be regarded as the opening work of the mainland people's comedy films. With Wang Shuo, a big name in the literary world, Feng's comedy list is much higher than Hong Kong movies in terms of the artistry of the film. What's more, Feng Dao belongs to the "big courtyard disciple circle". It doesn't matter if he is rooted or not, in short, his waist should be tough. So Feng Xiaogang's works are humorous, but not funny. Whether it is the lines or the performance, they are all energetic, and the arrogance of the Four Nine Towns is revealed in their bones. As a director, Feng is not very good at lowering his body to please the audience. Whether you can understand it or not is up to you. I think how to shoot it is up to me. The director and the audience each get their own way. Therefore, in my eyes, Feng Dao is the real "Master", and Zhou Xingchi has never been.
Zhou Xingchi's greatness actually lies in his ordinaryness, his "low to dust" life experience, which enables him to smoothly enter the hearts of ordinary people to find that hidden point of convergence. Everyone has experienced those diaosi experiences in the film, some people have forgotten, some people try to forget, but Stephen Chow's sensitive tentacles firmly hook these memories, making it indispensable and even iconic for Zhou's comedy. a part of. The similarity between him and Feng is that they are both ashamed to express their true emotions, they clearly want A in their hearts, but they want to say B in their mouths. Both are very good at using one thing to say another, and say it well.
In Xu Zhiyuan's "Thirteen Invitations", Feng Xiaogang once said that this way of expression is the sequelae left by "thirteen years". If there is something to say, I like to turn a corner and say it. If I like you, I will hurt you, and I want to go east and say it. Good west. It's a little trick of language, a natural choice for personal expression, and in the grand scheme of things, it's not entertainment for the general public at all.
Zhou Xingchi is different. The optimism of the little people he presents is entirely to cover up the inferiority and helplessness behind it. Therefore, his films are popular, even vulgar, and are specially made for the entertainment of the poor. It's a bit unkind to say this, but many middle-class people are indeed avoiding Zhou Xingchi's works out of consideration of taste. At least for me, or for a large part of the female audience, many of Stephen Chow's burdens are not in the ears, and accepting his style also needs to cross a low threshold.
"Domestic Lingling Paint" has a lot more laughs than I imagined, and it can be regarded as an entry-level work of Zhou's comedy. There is a saying that "comedy is tragedy plus time". Now that the core of the tragedy is there and the time is there, Stephen Chow's comedy works are complete. I have to say that Zhou Xingchi was really young at that time, Yuan Yongyi was also really smart, and Chen Baolian looked like Li Xiaoran when she was young. And now, Xing Ye is haggard, Yuan Yongyi is fat, and Chen Baolian has also gone to another world. In fact, time itself is a tragedy, what else can we talk about.
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