Wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and what are rivers and lakes? 2,300 years ago, Zhuangzi said: "It is better to forget each other in rivers and lakes than to help each other." The word "jianghu" was used to refer to rivers, rivers, lakes, and lakes, and it

Wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and what are rivers and lakes?

300 years ago, Zhuangzi said: "It is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes than to help each other." The term "江湖" was used to refer to rivers, rivers, lakes, and lakes, and it was first coined.

1800 years ago, Cao Cao said: "The rivers and lakes are not yet quiet, and we must not give way." For the first time, "jianghu" was defined as a place outside the imperial court.

900 years ago, Fan Zhongyan said: "If you live high in a temple, you worry about its people; if you live far away from the rivers and lakes, you worry about its king." If Cao Cao defined space, then this time Fan Zhongyan was talking about rules, that is, things in rivers and lakes, rivers and lakes Yes, arena and arena have their own rules.

00 years ago, Fang Wen said: "There are always worries about temples and corridors in rivers and lakes, and it is easy to talk about world affairs when meeting people." He once again said that people in rivers and lakes, although they cannot determine the general trend of the world, they still have the common people in their hearts, and they are like Jin Yong. What Mr. Wang said, "A great chivalrous person serves the country and the people" is quite similar.

html 330 years ago, Huang Zhan said: "As soon as I entered the Jianghu, the years rushed by, the world's storms came out of my generation, the world was like a tide, people were like water, I only sighed Jianghu how many people came back." And the story in this poem is "Chao Dynasty" From "Tang" to "Mountain", from "entering the world" to "being born"...

This story is the trilogy of "The Swordsman".

[1] · The battle between the old and the new

The first "Swordsman" came out in 1990. It is the only work in the trilogy that only uses the four characters "Swordsman" as its name. The following two or It is supplemented by a suffix, such as " oriental unbeaten ", or it can be renamed directly, such as " oriental unbeaten rises again ".

From 1989 to 1993, three films were written, filmed, and released in five years. It seems like a short time, but in the Hong Kong film industry, where there are movies every month, this speed is actually very slow.

The reason here is that caused the turmoil in the first part, and it also lies in the failure of in the second part.

In 1989, Tsui Hark, as the producer, invited Hu Jinquan to direct "The Swordsman". During the subsequent filming process, the "honeymoon period" quickly ended, and what followed was the "parting of ways."

As an old-school martial arts director in China, King Hu's status was second to none in the Hong Kong film industry at that time. Whether it was "The Drunken Man " or "The Heroine", King Hu had his own proud capital.

But as Huang Zhan wrote in his poem, "As soon as you enter the world, the years rush you." In the eyes of Tsui Hark and others, the old-school simplicity and the balance between good and evil have gradually become pedantic and outdated, and are no longer so tight. Follow the trend of the times.

How to integrate the selfish side of human nature into the spirit of chivalry, and how to combine the court and the Jianghu to the point where they are indistinguishable from each other and blend into each other is the ultimate pursuit of Tsui Hark, Li Huimin and others.

And all this, in Hu Jinquan's eyes, is rebellious .

So, what was supposed to come eventually came, Hu Jinquan withdrew midway, and Tsui Hark, Li Huimin, Cheng Xiaodong succeeded Hu and became the new people in charge.

And this alternation is the retreat and advancement of the old and new martial arts directors, as well as the fall and rise of the old and new martial arts styles. From now on, the "elegant and sharp" style of "" in the Jianghu flavor has surpassed the "hard bridge and hard horse" , " " is a blend of good and evil" more than " is a clear distinction between black and white".

At the same time, the changes here are also the development of the plot and story of the "Swordsman" trilogy (this part will be discussed in the next paragraph).

The first "Swordsman" was filmed in 1989 and released in 1990. It starred Xu Guanjie and Jacky Cheung . The plot revolved around the collusion and duel between the court and the people in the world. The fighting style of the first movie was half It is in the old-school category of "hard bridges and hard horses", and the moves are strict and there must be moves in every move. However, in the second half of the movie, with the emergence of " Canghai Yixiao ", the overall style of the movie also began to mutate. Sharp, chilling, atmospheric, bleak...

and then to the second part, which was released in 1992. Tsui Hark and others, who had just experienced the success of the first part, worked hard this time and wanted more things. The final Word of mouth proved that Tsui Hark and others were right again.

In the minds of many people, "Swordsman 2" is the most classic of the trilogy for two reasons, one is Brigitte Lin , and the other is Jet Li.

As we mentioned before, classical martial arts advocates the absolute opposition between good and evil, that evil people must be evil , while the new martial arts pays more attention to the in-depth exploration of human nature and highlights the three-dimensional charm of personality.

So this time, Tsui Hark and others chose to start with Dongfang Invincible.

In Jin Yong's original book, Dongfang Bubai is the biggest boss in the entire "Swordsman" system, but although his position is important, his role is small, and the personal stories of the characters in the original work are extremely limited.

If it is necessary to establish a villain and reshape the character's image in an all-round way, the most suitable one is undoubtedly Dongfang Invincible.

As a result, Dongfang Bubai has become the most distinctive and important role in Brigitte Lin's entire acting career.

As for Jet Li, his character in the play is essentially the same as Linghu Chong played by Xu Guanjie in the first film. They are both free and easy, carefree people who outweigh the desire for power and selfishness, so for Tsui Hark and others , the most important reason for choosing Jet Li for is actually "Wu" .

The "Original Martial Arts Dugu Nine Swords" in the drama is performed by Jet Li's elegant figure, and is supplemented by "a monologue set off by the sound of the piano and flute: The world is like this." Tsui Hark and others' desire to upgrade their moves, It was completely realized in Jet Li.

Jet Li had already collaborated with Tsui Hark on two films of "Once Upon a Time in China" before "The Swordsman", but the difference from "Once Upon a Time in the World" is that Linghu Chong's role in the world is stronger, and he does not involve national sentiments, Therefore, when it comes to the feeling of Jianghu, Linghu Chong is better than Huang Feihong, but when it comes to the interpretation of the chivalrous spirit, Huang Feihong completely surpasses Linghu Chong .

When the first part changed the "division between the Jianghu and the imperial court", and the second part realized "the villain became the center" and "interpreted the flavor of the Jianghu", the new martial arts was fully displayed to the world.

At this point, if you choose not to take action, it would be better to strike again, but obviously, Tsui Hark and others are not satisfied with the current results.

So the third part, "The Storm Comes Again", came out.

This time, Wang Zuxian joined the cast, replacing Zhang Min in the first film and Guan Zhilin in the second film. The role of Linghu Chong was omitted, and a new character Gu Changfeng, played by Yu Rongguang, was added.

But the audience didn't buy it, and the ending was naturally miserable.

From a style perspective, the third part is more like the first one, incorporating the struggle for power and corruption in the court, but Tsui Hark also wanted to deliberately create the elegant style of the second part, so invited Li Zongsheng, He composed the song " Laughing at the Red Dust ".

wanted too much, and the final outcome was that everything was lost. In the end, the only thing remembered about the third part is probably the song "Laughing at the Red Dust".

[2] · Plot context

Most people watch the "Swordsman" trilogy as independent parts, that is, the three movies are all separate dramas and will not be watched consecutively, but in fact, these three movies The plot is the same with a beginning and an end.The first part of

is about : Linghu Chong and others participated in the affairs of the imperial court. They were used to the bleak world and the sinister people, so they chose to stay away from the temple and hide in the mountains. The Quyang in the play was sung by Liu Zhengfeng when he retired. "A sea of ​​laughter" is the highlight of this movie.

The second part is about : The people of Huashan were about to go back to seclusion, but on their way back to seclusion, they met Dongfang Bubai. Dongfang Bubai became the villain, and Linghu Chong stood on the opposite side. Everyone fought fiercely, and then the world was in trouble. In the play, Linghu Chong is not bound by convention, and his romantic and alcoholic demeanor has become the most immersive knight-errant in the trilogy.

The third part is about : The court is far away. After the Jianghu incident, Linghu Chong, Dongfang Bubai and others disappeared from the Jianghu, but in response to the sentence "You are not in the Jianghu, but the Jianghu has your legend", Jianghu... There are constantly people in the world who use the name of "Eastern Cult Leader" to commit evil deeds, so Dongfang Bubai has no choice but to show up again and use his own power to fight against all the dishonest people in the world.

Three stories, put together, 1 and 2 tell the story of Linghu Chong from his entry into the world to his birth, while 2 and 3 tell the story of Dongfang Bubai from his entry into the world to his birth, and then to his birth.

At the same time, in the third work, Gu Changfeng was chosen to enter the world...

If Yu Rongguang had not succeeded in carrying the reputation, maybe there would be a fourth story about Gu Changfeng's birth.

And the framework maker of all this, , is Tsui Hark .

Tsui Hark is good at creating series of movies. He will try his best to create the atmosphere of the series at the beginning of the setting of each movie, and then make follow-up plans based on word of mouth, whether it is the "Once Upon a Time Series", "Swordsman of Shushan Series", or a new The "Detective Dee Series" of the century are all like this.

Tsui Hark has become the new master of martial arts movies precisely because of these series.

[3] · A blend of sounds

Everyone in the world says that "Swordsman" is good, but no one can say for sure what it is good about. Some people love Zhang Min, Carrie Lam, and Rosamund Kwan for their peerless looks, while others love Jet Li's free and elegant style. Of course, there are also people who love Lin Qingxia’s extraordinary beauty and the Invincible Dongfang.

But if I say, the most important thing is the sound and picture in the trilogy.

If it weren't for Huang Zhan, the movie version of "Swordsman" might never be able to interpret the essence of the word "Swordsman". In 1990, Huang Zhan was invited to compose the music for "Swordsman", and his manuscript was rejected from Liutong. When the first draft was thrown out, it was shocking.

God knows how Huang Zhan opened his mind and had the subsequent "laughing in the sea".

Huang Zhan himself once recalled: The music was based on the ancient book "Yue Zhi", which reversed the pentatonic scale of the ancient score, and the lyrics were based on Chairman Mao's "Spring Snow in the Qinyuan", which conveyed the majestic power of the lyrics. gas.

Hence, this song was born. No matter how "Swordsman" changes, "A Laugh in the Sea" will always be a masterpiece in the repertoire.

In the first part, this song appeared for the first time when Liu Zhengfeng, played by Wu Ma, washed his hands in the golden basin, and Qu Yang, played by Lin Zhengying, were sitting in a small boat. The piano played first, and the flute played closely. Follow, the two looked at each other and smiled when they met.

The sheet of music handed into Linghu Chong's hands was slowly opened and placed on the wooden case. The sunlight reflected through the bamboo curtain enveloped the happy smiling faces of Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan, making them extremely warm.

Outside the cabin, on the sparkling lake, the leader of the Five Sacred Mountains, who was chasing after him, slowly approached, with a murderous look on his face, foreshadowing a bloody storm.

At this time, Liu Zhengfeng put down his flute, picked up his wine bowl, and sang the sentence: "The sea laughs, the tide surges on both sides of the bank, ups and downs follow the waves, just remember the present..."

On the other side, Linghu Chong played the three-stringed string. , integrated into this long-awaited reunion that "can't bear to be drunk in life".

guzheng, flute, three-stringed instrument , plus the vicissitudes of the voices of three men, wine is not intoxicating, but the music is intoxicating .

In the cabin and outside the window, chasing and being chased, the warmth of people's hearts and the danger of people's hearts, weaving and blending together, sheds the best picture of the world .

In the second part, Huang Zhan once again wrote the lyrics and composed the song " Only Remember to Laugh Now ". In order to fit the plot, the music style this time focused more on "love between children" and "love between men and women". Love", as the lyrics sing: "The world is so carefree, the free wind, the free bird, the laughter today, how happy, how wonderful..."

Let's move on to the third part, Li Zongsheng composed the music and Li Manting wrote the lyrics "Laughing in the Red Dust" also fits the needs of the plot extremely well. The prominent theme is the despair and desperation of Dongfang Bubai's phrase "Since the world has betrayed me, don't blame me for betraying the world."

The picture is like this: Dongfang Bubai transforms into a weak woman, sitting next to the fire, talking and singing, behind the flower-like smile, she is actually heartbroken and lonely, just like the lyrics: "The world of mortals is so ridiculous, infatuation is the most boring. No matter how arrogant everything is, this life is over, but my heart is no longer disturbed..."

After the majestic atmosphere of "A Laugh in the Sea", the love between children in "Only Remember the Laughter Today" is the last warmth of the world. When "Laughing in the Red Dust" creates The passionate and heartless music style sounds, and the world has a third color, the ultimate luxury and decadence.

​ This is "Swordsman", the battle between the old and the new that will come sooner or later, the ultimate blend of sounds, a martial arts classic that can never be reproduced again.

(Text/Dawa)