Under the influence of the epidemic, domestic cinemas are quite bleak, and many movies from Qingming to May 1 have been withdrawn.
Directed by Huang Mingsheng, and starring Ren Xianqi, Ren Dahua, Fang Zhongxin, etc., “The Edge Walker” is going against the current and making dangerous moves. It was first screened on a large scale during the Qingming period, and then officially released on April 15. However, the film’s box office and word of mouth are not ideal, with a Douban score of 5.4, and the ticketing platform’s prediction of its final box office is less than 80 million yuan. Although the epidemic has had a serious impact on the box office, it is also a fact that the quality of the film itself is not hard enough.
“Edgewalker” has the classic elements in Hong Kong films: gang struggle and brotherhood, which constitute one of the core points of the film.The protagonist A Luo(played by Ren Xianqi)Won the gang eldest brother Lin Yaochang(played by Ren Dahua)As everyone knows, A Luo is a police undercover who has been hiding for many years. He not only wants to complete the mission of the police, but also builds a deep friendship with the gang brothers day and night.In the face of Newspeak(equivalent to gang boss)In the competition for positions, there is also a rift between several good brothers, betrayal, rupture, confrontation one after another…
“Edgewalker” has an attractive story frame, but the film still fails: the characters are too scribbled, the contradictions and conflicts cannot stand up to scrutiny, and a variety of classic Hong Kong film elements are bluntly collaged… This can’t help but ask: In Hong Kong films How did the classic “Jianghu Brothers” narrative disappear?
“Edge Walker” poster image according to the film’s official Weibo
The “Jianghu” here refers to the “underworld”, “underworld” and “gangster” that appear in Hong Kong films. Around the late 1970s and early 1980s, the underworld began to frequently become a unique cultural landscape in Hong Kong films. There are some similarities between the underworld and the ancient Jianghu gangs. Its basic power structure is “monarch, minister, father and son”. The people in the gang are equivalent to the status of “jun father”; while the brothers in the gang take “love” as the emotion Bond, pay attention to brotherhood, brotherhood, brotherhood, and unanimous external. From a legal point of view, the underworld is an illegal organization, but in the special historical context of Hong Kong, the gang culture has existed for a long time and is in a gray area between black and white.
The first stage of Hong Kong films’ presentation of “Jianghu Brothers” is biased towards positive portrayals, with a certain romanticized imagination. The most classic case is “The True Color of Heroes”, which was released in 1986, directed by John Woo and starred by Chow Yun-fat, Dillon and Leslie Cheung. In the movie, Ahao played by Dillon and Pony Ma, played by Chow Yun-fat, have a deep love and righteousness. In order to avenge Ahao, Pony went to Fenglin Pavilion single-handedly and left a classic shootout scene; Hao, I can’t bear to let Xiaoma fall into danger alone and come back out of the rivers and lakes… Brother Xiaoma has become a classic underworld hero, influencing a generation of audiences, and also constructing the audience’s positive imagination of “Jianghu Brothers”.
This kind of positive imagination continued to the “Young and Dangerous” series of films that began to be released in 1996. In the film, Chen Haonan and Brother Pheasant appeared in the image of “loyalty”; Do bad things. I will carry it!”, which also profoundly reflects the heroic spirit of “brothers in the rivers and lakes” who share the blessings and share the burdens.
If “The True Color of Heroes” has a utopian imagination for “Jianghu Brothers” – love and righteousness, worth a thousand dollars; then “Underworld” and “Underworld 2 Harmony is Precious” directed by To Qifeng in 2005 and 2006. “It’s a downright dystopian narrative – love and righteousness are worthless in the face of interests. In order to compete for the position of the talker, the gang bosses in the movie are intriguing and intriguing. Betrayal is commonplace, and murder is not a blink of an eye. The end of the first part is terrifying: this second is the brother who laughs at Yun Qi, and the next second the gang boss picks up a stone and kills the second-in-command of the gang who threatens his status. The “harmony is the most precious” in the second part is of course ironic, and it even more hints that the end of Hong Kong’s underworld.
“The True Color of Heroes” poster image according to the network
The change in the narrative of “Jianghu Brothers” is the common result of internal and external factors. From the perspective of the film itself, while the “Young and Dangerous” series has become popular, it has also been criticized by mainstream public opinion, believing that the film beautifies the underworld and ruins young people. This is not necessarily an alarmist. It is true that many young people in Hong Kong have dropped out of school because of their superstitious belief in the young and the dangerous. And this kind of “Jianghu Brothers” narrative film is self-repetitive and shoddy, and the audience is also fatigued. The reputation of the “Young and Dangerous” series is not as good as one at the box office.
From a broad social perspective, when the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997, Hong Kong’s economy was dragged down, and the society fell into a kind of pessimism and depression. In the face of the historical changes of Hong Kong’s return, criticism and reflection on the underworld have occupied the mainstream of the narrative of “Jianghu Brothers”.
Since then, along with the general trend of the decline of Hong Kong films, the narrative of the “Jianghu Brothers” of Hong Kong films has gradually declined. On the one hand, with the advancement of the construction of a rule-of-law society, whether in Hong Kong or the mainland, the underworld has lost its legitimacy of existence, and the creative materials have become increasingly exhausted. “Edge Walker” is based on the time before Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, and the movie seems a bit “early”.
On the other hand, there have been very few genuine Hong Kong-made films in recent years. Most of the Hong Kong films are co-produced with the mainland and are also aimed at the mainland market. The audience can only feel a little bit of the ethereal flavor of Hong Kong from a large number of important actors in the golden age of Hong Kong films, such as Ren Dahua, Tan Yaowen, and Fang Zhongxin.
Even if there are some regrets, we must admit that the “Jianghu Brothers” of Hong Kong films have become a thing of the past.
Zeng Yuli, special cultural commentator of Red Star News
Edited by Duan XueyingReturn to Sohu, see more