A posthumous work has supported the last decent Hong Kong movie
◎Ren Fan
In August 2020, director Chen Musheng died of illness.
A year later, his posthumous work "Rage · Serious Case" was released.
In this era of innovation and breakthrough in everything, we have read from this movie the commendable perseverance and perseverance.
As a Hong Kong filmmaker of the previous generation, Chen Musheng stubbornly adheres to the artistic style of the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, uncompromising and unappropriating, and has spent his entire life filming Hong Kong.
To a certain extent, he and Qiu Litao, two directors who were not smart or even those who were originally not well-versed, used their "stupidness" to support the final decentness of Hong Kong movies.
When we are talking about Hong Kong movies, what are we talking about?
In fact, one of the most central expressions in Hong Kong films is resistance, which is the growing pains of small people when they fight against external power oppression.
Hong Kong movies have never been willing to work hard to explore human nature. They prefer the black and white of good and evil to be rewarded, and the output is a simple logic, similar to a fairy tale style of punishing evil and promoting good.
Since the 1970s and 1980s, the protagonists of Hong Kong movies have been locked in the grassroots. They are often a group of little people who have no power and wealth but are extremely optimistic. These people are either loyal to love or swear to defend the morals and justice of the world. It is "a tendon".
Abang, the protagonist played by Donnie Yen in "Furious Cases", is such a small person.
As a grassroots film policeman, he never knew what he said, never got promoted, and even offered opportunities to his lips without appreciating him.
Clearly telling a lie in the court would save the brother, but he refused.
But he would save the children he never knew each other at the moment of life and death, and he would also go to the tomb of a colleague who died unjustly every year to pay homage.
Such a set of people is like those ideal conditions in physics class when studying, I have never heard of it before.
The dream-making nature of Hong Kong movies is reflected in the fact that it not only created such a small group of small characters, but also finally allowed these small characters to overcome the evil forces, and finally allowed the audience to obtain a full sense of satisfaction in the process of strong substitution.
This is the charm of Hong Kong movies, and it is also the shortcoming of today.
After all, it is difficult for a person who is too singular to exchange for a lasting identity, just like although each of us has an Abang in our heart, but in the extremely complicated real world, there are several people who can choose to stand for justice every time. On one side?
Director Chen Musheng also gave his own thinking in this dimension, but he chose to interpret it from the opposite direction-if he chooses to reconcile with authority, will the result be good?
Thus, there is another protagonist in the film, Ao.
Ao is also a small person, but he is obviously more flexible and gets promoted faster than Abang.
In the rescue operation of Mr. Huo, the boss said that I only want results, so Ao resolutely implemented it.
Does this kind of scene seem familiar? The leader said that I only want results, you let go, and if something goes wrong, I will be responsible!
It sounds very imposing, but what if something goes wrong?
At least Director Chen tells you, don't believe it.
At this point, Director Chen has clearly stated his point of view through this film: stubborn resistance may not be able to win in the end, but blindly catering can also lead to a tragic ending.
Abang chose to offend from beginning to end, although in the end nothing was accomplished, at least he retreated completely, but Ao always chose to obey, but in the end he gave himself a dead end.
Although there is no clear explanation in the film, the audience can infer from the details that after Ao and the team members went to prison for their bosses, they experienced unimaginable torture and torture, and finally let them decide to end up with the persecution of their authority. Tragic determination.
It is not difficult to see that Director Chen showed great sympathy for the Ao in the film.
They are criminals in the legal sense, and they are victims in the eyes of ordinary people. They act decisively and have no righteousness, but they can only choose the most tragic way to express their grievances.
At the end of the film, Ao asked Abang, if you were the one who went after the suspect Ale that day, would our destiny be exchanged?
Such a question about parallel universes pushed the film to the height of fateful speculation.
In fact, we might as well imagine that Ao and Abang are basically the same person, and their different destinies are the result of different choices of individuals in the face of oppression. Temporary compromises seem to be smooth, but they plant the seeds of crisis in the future.
In recent years, the view that "Hong Kong movies are dead" has been on the rise, and the sudden death of Director Chen Musheng seems to add to the pessimistic color of this argument.
However, in "Furious Cases" we seem to vaguely see the glory of the old Hong Kong movies, and see the uncompromising power that is still stubborn despite its weakness.
It can be said that in the last work of his life, Director Chen Musheng explained his interpretation and emotion of Hong Kong movies smoothly and accurately.
Luxurious casts and exciting action scenes are just the genre elements of Hong Kong movies, and the spirit of non-obedience and uncompromising is the life gene that grows tenaciously in Hong Kong movies.
In the new era, Hong Kong has become more tolerant and braver, and Hong Kong films will inevitably usher in some changes in expression.
"Rage: Serious Case" is definitely not the last cry of Hong Kong movies. The new generation of Hong Kong filmmakers is taking over the salaries handed over by their predecessors and shouldering the mission of inheriting Hong Kong movies. This must also be the director Chen Musheng who is in heaven want to see of.