"Chivalrous Girl", produced in 1971, the production company is International Film Co., Ltd., the English title is - A Touch Of Zen, I translated it as "touching Zen". Choreographer, Editing: Hu Jinquan, Executive Director: Miao Tian, Cinematographer: Hua Huiying, Artists: Chen Shanglin, Hu Jinquan, Action Designer: Han Yingjie, Pan Yaokun, Score: Wu Dajiang, Actors: Xu Feng, Shi Jun, Miao Tian, Tian Peng , Qiao Hong, Sammo Hung, Cao Jian, etc.
"Chivalrous Girl" is adapted from Pu Songling's "Strange Tales from a Liaozhai", the short story has only more than 2,200 words. The length of the film adapted by Hu Jinquan is 3 hours and 6 minutes. Such a length , it can be said that the original novel has undergone drastic changes, otherwise, the total number of words is not enough to say the lines. Many main characters have been added to the novel. In the original novel, only five characters are described: Gu Sheng, the fox-turned-juvenile, the chivalrous woman, the mother of the chivalrous girl, and the mother of Gu Sheng. There are many more characters in the film. The factory spy has portrayed more than a dozen people, and the chivalrous woman also has a few helpers such as General Shi, and Qiao Hong plays a master monk. In this way, the capacity of the film has grown. The film does not change the structure of the story. The basic main line is still the story of the revenge of the chivalrous girl. In the original novel, the chivalrous girl has no name and no name. , and finally left the child born to Gu Sheng, and then "the woman flashed like electricity, and she disappeared in the blink of an eye." Such a story is very different in Hu Jinquan's hands.
First of all, Hu Jinquan tried his best to describe the folk customs of the Ming Dynasty for us. In terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, Hu Jinquan tried to restore the original appearance of the society at that time, especially in the dress, which almost reached the point where the fakes resemble the real. There is also the creation of the atmosphere. The movie is adapted from "Liao Zhai", and the atmosphere of the ghost is absolutely indispensable. The eerie atmosphere in the yard where Gu Shengzhai lived was successfully created by Hu Jinquan. Then there is the adaptation of the story. The enemy of the woman in the original novel just ended up being a severed head. Without any extra pen and ink introduction, the movie is too extravagant. The first is to determine the dynasty - the Ming Dynasty Xizong period, the location - Jinglu Fortress at the border, the characters - Dongchang agents Ouyang Nian, Menda and others, Yang Huizhen, daughter of Yang Lian of the "Donglin Party", and Gu Xingzhai, a scholar , General Shi and so on. The time, place and characters are all there, and the whole story can be unfolded.
At the beginning, Hu Jinquan's camera showed us a group of mountain scenery. Hu Jinquan was gradually introducing us to the place where the story took place. The camera slowly pulled towards a dilapidated city wall. The plaque on the wall reads "Jinglu Tunbao" , indicating that the story takes place at the border. Then there is the place where the plot unfolds in detail. The "General Zhenyuan Mansion" where Gu Xingzhai lives. This general mansion has been dilapidated. Ninety percent of the original owner's house was raided, leaving such a big dilapidated house. People are in charge, and the poor scholar Gu Xingzhai and his mother live here. The close-up of the scene in the first 3 minutes is to introduce the main scene of the story to the audience, especially the dilapidated "General Zhenyuan Mansion", which is an important scene in the whole film. The stories in the first half are unfolded here, and the second half All the righteous soldiers and officers and soldiers also started a fierce battle here. The importance of this general's mansion also reflects Hu Jinquan's aesthetics. What Hu Jinquan is best at is to place the contest of characters in a certain space, such as "inn", "temple", "bamboo forest", "Drunken Man", The same is true for "Chivalrous Girl" and "Dragon Inn". The dilapidated general's mansion is not only in line with Hu's consistent aesthetics, but also in line with the eerie tone of the first half of the film. In addition, the General's Mansion itself has a large area, and there is such a venue for a contest of more than a hundred people here. So this general's mansion is the center of the film.
After the introduction of the location, it was the appearance of the characters. As soon as Gu Xingzhai appeared, he explained his identity. He was a poor scholar who made a living by selling calligraphy and paintings. Then he opened the door for business, and Ouyang Nian, a spy from the East Factory, came on stage. When Ouyang Nian appeared on the stage, his face was sluggish, showing the ruthlessness of this character. Immediately after Doctor Lu and his apprentice appeared, Ouyang Nian recognized that they were one of the escorts for Yang Huizhen, and went to follow them. Doctor Lu and his apprentice avoided him. Ouyang Nian was just sitting at the medical booth set up by Dr. Lu when three monks came. As soon as Ouyang Nian saw it, he hurriedly avoided it. These are all foreshadowing for the future development of the story, and it is this group of monks with high martial arts who can finally prevent the Dongchang agents from killing innocent people indiscriminately. Next, the main characters appeared one by one, Yang Huizhen, General Shi, and Master Huiyuan all appeared one by one, and the whole story gradually became clear. The first hour of the film was all about creating suspense. There was no introduction to the identities of the characters, and the general origins of the characters could only be judged from their words and deeds. This spy, Ouyang Nian, spoke Mandarin all over his mouth. He also promised Gu Xingzhai high-ranking officials and generous sums of money. At first glance, he knew that he was an eagle dog of the imperial court. Yang Huizhen, General Shi, and Doctor Lu all hid their identities deeply, and General Shi pretended to be a blind man, all to avoid the pursuit of Dongchang spies. In the first hour of the film, it is almost all literary drama, making this film full of suspense. Both the good and the evil are unwilling to take the first shot. They have to know the opponent's bottom carefully before they wait for the opportunity to make a move. Once they make a move, they must fight to the end to eliminate future troubles. "The enemy is in the open, I am in the dark." Yang Huizhen and the others still had a certain amount of initiative. At the beginning, Dongchang was not sure that they would close the town here, so they sent Ouyang Nian to play the outpost. After Ouyang Nian suffered a loss, A large number of Dongchang masters came one after another, and the fierce battle began. The Battle of Bamboo Forest takes place before the fierce battle at the General's Mansion, which is the essence of the whole film. Hu Jinquan showed his superb editing skills to the audience here. In addition to the contribution of the martial arts instructor, the thrilling martial arts scene of the bamboo forest battle completely relied on Hu Jinquan's editing to enhance the viewing of the martial arts scene, and many scenes of difficult actions and fighting , all rely on editing to enhance the effect. The martial arts design in Hu Jinquan's film draws on the stage art of Peking Opera martial arts, and the soundtrack of "Chivalrous Girl" also has a strong flavor of Peking Opera drama. At the beginning of the Bamboo Forest War, the entire bamboo forest was bright and peaceful, wisps of sunlight shone into the bamboo forest, and mist surrounded the bamboo forest, making it hard to imagine that there would be a life-and-death confrontation here. At the beginning of the confrontation, there were not many people on both sides, but all of them were masters. Victory or defeat depends on the lightning bolt, Yang Huizhen borrows The force fell from the sky, killing one enemy, the other enemy beside him was dumbfounded, and was immediately killed by General Shi, which was really hard to watch. After this contest, Ouyang Nian, who was lucky enough to escape, fled to the government to ask for help. Ouyang Nian, who was seriously injured, was also killed by a righteous man in the government, and he deserved it. Then there was a fierce battle at the General's Mansion. This fierce battle was not a decisive battle, because there were still experts from Dongchang who came to chase and kill Yang Huizhen. Gu Xingzhai’s help in this fierce battle at the General’s Mansion is also thanks to the help of Gu Xingzhai. He has been familiar with military books since he was a child. Dozens of enemies, it can be regarded as a magic trick. This fierce battle took place at night, and the dilapidated general's mansion itself made the officers and soldiers who came to arrest the perpetrators tremble, because Gu Xingzhai asked his mother to deliberately let out the wind, saying that the general's mansion It's haunted, so the officers and soldiers lost a trick psychologically. Through the ingenious mechanism arranged in advance, more than a dozen paper-pulling people put on a pretense, and the officers and soldiers who were already fearful were scattered, and finally they were beaten by the righteous men. After this fierce battle, Yang Huizhen also left the abandoned general's mansion, and went to live in Master Huiyuan's temple with General Shi and the others.
The character Huiyuan is the ideal incarnation of Hu Jinquan. This character is perfect. He helps the weak and the righteous. He is an eminent monk. In the end, although he was plotted against Xu Xianchun, the leader of the East Factory, he finally became a Buddha on the ground and passed away with his finger in the west. , and finally succeeded. This character is Hu Jinquan's idealized character. His later works are all about Zen theory. This work is his attempt to bring Buddhist thought into the film. This is just the beginning. In "Empty Mountain and Spiritual Rain", his Buddhist thought will be further elaborated.
The whole film lasted for more than three hours, with close-ups in many places, such as the running and walking of the characters. When Yang Huizhen and General Shi came to the foot of the Huiyuan Temple for the first time, Hu Jinquan gave a set of shots to show the characters. The natural environment along the way. The temple is surrounded by mountains and the scenery is pleasant, but Yang Huizhen and her party have serious expressions, because they were chased all the way here by the minions of Dongchang, and of course they are not happy. The second time this scene appeared was when Gu Xingzhai went up the mountain to find Yang Huizhen. He looked up and saw the temple in the mountain, with a smile on his face, because he finally arrived at the place where Yang Huizhen was. Hu Jinquan also gave a set of close-up shots of the characters walking down the mountain. The two sets of shots have the same scenery but different meanings. Yang Huizhen and the others ran for their lives and were in a hurry; Gu Xingzhai came to find a lover. Even if the mountain road was rough, he still walked briskly, but when he learned that Yang Huizhen would not see him again When he was carrying the baby, he had to go down the mountain angrily.
"Chivalrous Girl" is a work of excellence, not a magic stroke. The filming of "Chivalrous Girl" took 4 years. Xu Feng was only 17 years old when he joined the crew. The show is 21 years old. The crew spent 10 days waiting for a sunrise shot. Hu Jinquan's rigorous production attitude made this classic martial arts masterpiece that surpassed the times.
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