"The Grandmaster 3D" and "Kung Fu 3D" Revisited


    1905 movie network news In January this year, "The Grandmaster 3D" was rereleased in a hurry, with fashionable and popular coats such as popular schedules and 3D restoration. Coincidentally, Wong Kar-wai and Chow Xingchi, two Hong Kong directors with different styles, shared the same film feelings for kung fu and grandmasters.

 

"The Grandmaster 3D" is Wong Kar-wai’s most meticulously crafted work

Special Path: Humanistic Study of Oriental ******** VS Cartoon-style Absurd Imagination

 

    Any director who can be loved by fans must first find their most distinctive personal characteristics, and tell the same recognizable tone that makes fans find a sense of belonging in thousands of different stories. Wong Kar-wai’s tone is obscure, elegant, and even artificial. He likes to put a peach blossom password in it, let a bird without feet fly in it, and open thirty cans of pineapple cans that are about to expire in it… People meet and miss each other, and circle after circle of unmet love. He could turn Zhao Wei, who was still in the era of Little Swallow, into a big ugly girl, Xu Jiao into a stinky boy who stepped on cockroaches, and let Huang Bo play the King of Ten Thousand Demons in Sun Wukong… Everyone’s life experience is unimaginative, and the clues of love are simple and rude, but they can vaguely return to the stage of life and death around them.

Zhang Zhen shot "The Grandmaster" and participated in the national competition

 

    It is the most meticulously crafted film by Wong Kar-wai over the years. The frame-by-frame meticulous picture, the grand scene of the golden building where the prince enters the eunuch, the figure in the mirror image, the snowflake in the smoke wave, and the real proverbs of rivers and lakes and the number of fists and kicks, as well as the great changes in the mountains and rivers where the country is destroyed and the family falls, are very historical and very oriental. "Kung Fu" is the pinnacle of Zhou Xingchi’s comic-style comedy expression. Fire Cloud Evil God is a bad old man in the Abnormal Human Research Center. Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu are a philistine and vulgar old couple. There are also bridge scenes such as A Xing being mistakenly inserted with a throwing knife and soy sauce popping revealing half of his butt. Everything comes from arrogant imagination.

 

    Wing Chun, Gossip, Shape and Meaning, Eight Extremes… Wang Jiawei spent six years exploring the existence of folk martial arts, and every move was guided by a real practitioner. During this time, Tony Leung broke his hand, and Zhang Zhen went to participate in the national competition. Zhang Ziyi’s new and old injuries made her swear never to make action movies again. The tricks of "Kung Fu" are basically from classic martial arts novels or martial arts movies, including hard bridge and hard horse Shaolin Twelve Road Tan Legs, Goro Gossip Stick, Hong Family Iron Wire Fist, and Tathagata Palm, Lion Roar, Toad, etc. Interestingly, Liang Xiaolong, who plays the evil god of fire clouds, has starred in "Twelve Tan Legs" and, which also reflects Zhou Xingchi’s admiration for Hong Kong’s martial arts culture.

 

"Kung Fu 3D" Stills of Stephen Chow and Huang Shengyi

Tonggui: The highest realm of martial arts practitioners is nothing more than a sentence, I will teach you.

 

    In fact, when the subject of Ip Man first became popular on the big screen, the main gimmick was Bruce Lee’s mentor. Bruce Lee had a profound impact on action movies and even the entire Chinese film industry, and when Chow Xingchi was filming "Kung Fu", he always said that his idol was Bruce Lee. In the movie, when Ah Xing used the palm of the Tathagata, he was originally dressed in white robes and black pants before taking off. After landing, the heat energy generated by the friction of the white robe due to high-speed flight faded, and the remaining look was the classic appearance of Bruce Lee in the movie. When "The Grandmaster" was released in 2013, it did not deliberately explain the relationship between Ip Man and Bruce Lee. Later, this was corrected when it was released in North America. In "The Grandmaster 3D", there was also a clear concern for Bruce Lee in his childhood. Of course, just one Bruce Lee is not enough to explain the fate between these two very different kung fu movies.

 

    Even when "Kung Fu" was released in 2005, the glory days of Hong Kong action movies were a thing of the past, let alone the so-called martial arts and rivers and lakes. In "Kung Fu" there is a replica of the classic old movie "72 Tenants" "Pig Cage City", which is a refuge for experts in a turbulent era. In a social environment where gangs are rampant and food and clothing are rare, no matter how extinct you are, you must first change your posture and find a way to live. So the descendants of Shaolin went to work as coolies, the master of iron wire boxing became a tailor, and the Goro gossip stick became a rolling pin in the fried cake shop. Watching "The Grandmaster" again, Ip Man did not worry about eating and drinking until he was 40 years old, but he had to sleep in a makeshift cot to teach kung fu. In "The Grandmaster 3D," Wong Kar-wai also makes a clear introduction to experts other than Ip Man. Zhang Zhen was originally a military spy, but now he is just a shaved head. Many martial artists have become buddies, hiding dragons and crouching tigers in the old streets of Hong Kong. – Think of Zhao Benshan, who was cooking snake soup in front of the stove. If he slowly paced out of the pig cage city, it would be reasonable to be considerate. Or this is the most difficult survival contradiction for martial arts practitioners to reconcile in the face of changing times.

 

Mr. Gong Er, played by Zhang Ziyi, is trapped in hatred due to the upheaval in his family

    There is such a saying in "The Grandmaster of the First Generation" that people who practice martial arts have three realms: see themselves, see heaven and earth, and see all living beings. This is really an iron law: take "Kung Fu" as an example, whether it is Yang Guo, Xiao Long Nv, or the Fire Cloud Evil God, they have all seen themselves after practicing martial arts for many years, and they have seen heaven and earth through rivers and lakes, but the Fire Cloud Evil God finally worshipped at the feet of A Xing because of that sentence: Want to learn you? I will teach you. Martial arts has been studied for thousands of years, and there are too many things to fight bravely, but the highest level is still the invincible martial arts spirit of the benevolent, which is the inheritance of civilization to preach and teach. Mr. Gong Er was trapped in hatred because of the drastic changes in his family, and he worshiped the Tao and did not preach art for the rest of his life. Just like Ye Wen’s evaluation: Gong Er has no defeats in her life, she would rather lose to herself.

 

    Although many of the above can be said to be coincidences, it actually shows that kung fu movies need to be made into classics, not just visual fists like Donnie Yen. Hong Kong filmmakers’ views on the highest state of kung fu can actually be unified. The metaphorical taste of life behind martial arts and rivers and lakes is the key to achieving a classic movie.