This smile brought tears to the eyes of many audiences who rewatched the movie in front of the big screen. As early as 1996, "Sweet Honey", which was released in Hong Kong, has conquered the hearts of countless audiences for 19 years. On Valentine's Day 19 years later, the restored version of the film was released in mainland China for the first time. You, who were deeply moved by the love story of Li Xiaojun and Li Qiao, revisited the classics, will you reunite with that moving one? Will you reunite with yourself who was moved by this story at the time?
With the re-screening scheduled for Valentine's Day, "love" has naturally become the only focus of the film. When the budding dawn of youth and the natural beauty of Maggie Cheung reappeared on the big screen, even if there is no need to experience the delicate experience for 1 hour and 58 minutes, it is enough to make the audience who are "comers" excited. However, in fact, the original intention of director Chen Kexin's creation of this classic film, which has won 9 awards including the best actor, actress, and best picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards (until last year, was broken by "The Grandmaster" to break the record for the most awards), was not It's as simple as telling a touching love story.
Behind the emotional encounters of the characters in the film, the director and screenwriter directly pointed out the cultural theme of Chinese people's "floating in a foreign land" for many years. Teresa Teng's song "Sweet Honey", which finally became the title and theme song, was only activated because the script was more than half-written and passed away suddenly after a generation of songs. "Hong Kong drifters", or today's "North drifters", "Shanghai drifters" and even "overseas drifters", can more deeply appreciate the feeling of being in a foreign land in the film.
In the first half of the story, as new immigrants from the mainland to Hong Kong, Li Xiaojun and Li Qiao faced the dilemma faced by all "immigrants" from small cities to big cities. If Li Xiaojun from Tianjin’s difficulties such as language barriers and different habits still remain in the superficial conflict of social and cultural differences, then Li Qiao from Guangzhou, who originally speaks Cantonese and grew up with Hong Kong pop culture, is facing a deeper problem. self-perception dilemma. She tried hard to pretend that she was born to be a Hong Konger, but she was still hit by cultural differences: on the rainy night before the new year, Li Qiao, who thought she was very business-minded, sold a large number of tapes of Teresa Teng's songs at the flower market, because she believed that in fact Hong Kong " The streets are full of mainlanders", and "As long as there are mainlanders, you will definitely hear Teresa Teng", so she will definitely make a lot of money, but she can't even sell a single tape.
"It's because only mainlanders listen to Teresa Teng, and buying Teresa Teng will reveal her identity as a mainlander, so no matter how much you like it, you won't come to buy it." Li Xiaojun analyzed the reasons for the fiasco to Li Qiao, and this explanation unintentionally revealed all " The pitiful and ridiculous situation of "immigrants": having to carefully erase their past for fear of being ostracized by an unfamiliar society.
Today, 19 years later, looking at the mentality of the protagonist in the film makes people laugh a little bit dumbly. Almost all people who have wandered abroad have this psychological experience: where am I from? Where should I be? As a result, all the wanderers who go to the big city with the dream of changing their destiny always live a little bit tremblingly - this may have nothing to do with the tolerance of the city, because even in the second half of the film, Li Qiao accompanies the caregiver who supports her. The underworld boss Leopard Brother (played by Zeng Zhiwei), in order to avoid the pursuit of the police and enemies, changed six places in two years, and finally came to New York, but still wanted to settle down in Chinatown, which is very similar to Hong Kong's Yau Ma Tei. In an inclusive international metropolis like New York, this choice is clearly the protagonist's habitual search for a sense of security brought by a familiar environment.
Whether it is for recognition or familiarity, wandering people generally seek emotional stability. Even foreign English teachers like "Zhai Luwei" have to use Cantonese homonyms to make fun of their names to shorten the emotional distance with the locals; , and also specially emphasized to Li Xiaojun that he should call his English name "Rosie", as if this is the only way to look like a Hong Konger. Therefore, at the end of the film, when Li Qiao finally got her green card and became an American, she was no longer shy about mentioning her origin; as a tour guide, she even couldn't wait in front of the Statue of Liberty. The tourists said they were from Guangzhou. And what about Li Xiaojun? So does he. When he first arrived in Hong Kong to fight hard, as he gradually integrated into the fast-paced Hong Kong society, the habit of riding a bicycle in his hometown was gradually forgotten. However, as the years passed, when he finally regained his freedom in New York. Life, riding a bicycle through the more prosperous streets of New York with ease, he began to return to the trajectory of his life.
And love is the measure that most easily reflects the emotional ups and downs of a wandering person. When Li Xiaojun and Li Qiao couldn't even figure out their own identity, their love came to such a dilemma: Li Qiao, who aimed to marry a Hong Konger, clearly loved Li Xiaojun deeply, but forced himself to let go; Li Xiaojun, who is in love with Li Qiao, stubbornly insists on taking his girlfriend Xiaoting from his hometown to Hong Kong for marriage, because "this is his ideal". Can't follow the true will of the heart, because too much energy is trapped in the need to solve the problem of survival. And then in New York, Li Xiaojun, who was already divorced, was absent-minded about his old friend's blind date, and Li Qiao happened to see Li Xiaojun, who had been missing for a long time on the streets of New York, and tried his best to catch up, which symbolized the self-awareness of the two. Growing up step by step in wandering, towards awakening. It was not until 10 years later, when all the dust settled, that the smile at the moment of reunion was not so much the happiness that love could finally blossom and bear fruit, but rather that after experiencing all kinds of things, the two had completed the self-redemption of inner growth.
From self-denial to self-discovery. The year the film was released, because Hong Kong was experiencing a wave of immigration before the handover, it aroused widespread social resonance in the local area. Now that times have changed, the film is still moving, because more and more people have experienced wandering in the past 19 years and have resonated. Of course, the film's delicate portrayal of Liming and Maggie Cheung's ten-year, twists and turns love is of course also indispensable.
Bearing the halo of the title of the most successful romance film in the Chinese film industry, in the film, whether it is the love between Li Xiaojun and Li Qiao, the emotional bond between Li Qiao and Brother Leopard, the regretful breakup of Li Xiaojun and Fang Xiaoting, and even the branch roles of English foreign teacher Zhai Luwei and Thailand. The story between the prostitute Kai Lan, her aunt and the Hollywood star William Holden is actually worth remembering. Under the theme of the film taking care of wandering and growth, love, like an indispensable medicine for repairing wandering hearts, has become the spiritual support that people in the lonely and floating world rely on.
Text: Felinyiu
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