1994 is a well-deserved year in the history of world film, and countless classics have been born.
Just talking about the Hong Kong film industry, there are masterpieces such as " East Evil and West Poison ", "Drunk Fist 2", " Essence and Martial Hero " and .
It was the eve of Hong Kong movies from glory to depression. Although classic works are frequently released, there are also many works left.
Due to the boom in Hong Kong and Taiwan martial arts movies in 1993, the audience lost freshness of such subjects. Many martial arts movies shot in 1993 and 1994 suffered box office defeats after the release, but these movies are still classic works when viewed now.
For example, this movie " Wing Chun " released in 1994 is directed by the famous martial arts director Yuan Heping , and is co-starred by Michelle Yeung and Donnie Yen .
Unfortunately, the response was poor after its release. It was released in Hong Kong only for 8 days, with a box office of only 4.15 million yuan.
This issue of " Forgotten Hong Kong Movie ", let's review this movie -
"Wing Chun"
Wing Chun
The film was released in March 1994 and was invested by Yindu, so the movie is mainly filmed in the mainland.
The producer is the Peace Film Company founded by Yuan Heping, and it is also the last film released and produced by Heping Pictures.
film was once introduced to the mainland for release. The mainland film is called " Red Pink King Kong ", which is not as direct as the Hong Kong name. The movie tells the origin story of the Southern School boxing Wing Chun . The protagonist of the story is the master of Wing Chun in the legendary martial arts world, and the heroine of the female hero Yan Wing Chun .
The most common southern boxing techniques in Hong Kong movies are probably Hongquan and Wing Chunquan. In the 1970s and 1980s, Sammo Hung participated in the production of several movies that showed Wing Chun Kung Fu, such as " Mr. Zang and Finding Qian Hua " and "Battle of the House" ", both of which were hailed as: Wing Chun Movie Textbook .
According to legend, Wing Chun Fu originally originated from the Shaolin master Wu Mei Shi Tai, and later passed on to his disciple Yan Yongchun, and he was named Wing Chun Fu.
Yan Yongchun later passed the kung fu to her husband Liang Bochu, and then Liang Bochu passed it to Liang Guilan, Liang Guilan was then passed it to Cantonese opera actor Huang Huabao , and Huang Hua and his colleagues who learned the 6:30 stick method of Shaolin Liang Erdi and exchanged martial arts with each other. Later, Liang Erdi passed her martial arts to Foshan doctor Liang Zan, which is the legendary " Mr. ". The movie " Prodigal " starring
Yuan Biao and Lin Zhengying tells this martial arts legend. Later, Liang Zan taught his kung fu to his apprentice Chen Huashun . He made a living by dealing with accounts in his early years. He was called " Find Qian Hua ". Chen Huashun later accepted his apprentice Ip Man . Ip Man had one of the most famous apprentice called Bruce Lee .
Sammo Hung's several Wing Chun movies are all focused on disciples of the Wing Chun school, such as Liang Erdi, Liang Zan, Chen Huashun , etc., while "Wing Chun" directed by Yuan Heping traces the origin and tells the story of Yan Yongchun using his martial arts to eliminate violence and maintain good fortune.
The one who plays the heroine Yan Yongchun is Michelle Yeoh. In the early 1990s, Michelle Yeoh returned to the film industry after her divorce. She made her career reach a peak with "Super Police" cooperating with Jackie Chan . She then starred in a series of martial arts movies, such as " Oriental Three Heroes ", " New Meteor Butterfly Sword ", etc.
1993, after Yuan Heping finished filming " Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng ", he decided to shoot another movie showing Wing Chun. Michelle Yeoh just finished playing the hero Qiu Xue in "Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng", and then seamlessly joined the group and starred in the female hero in "Wing Chun".
The male lead was Donnie Yen, who was not developing smoothly in the film industry at that time. Donnie Yen in the early 1990s. Although he acted in many movies, most of them were low- and medium-cost B-level action movies. Although there were also high-quality products like "Iron Monkey", Donnie Yen really didn't hold on to the box office at that time, resulting in his career gradually falling into underestimation. Donnie Yen began to try to transform behind the scenes and follow Yuan Heping as the martial arts director.
In this "Wing Chun", in addition to playing the male lead Liang Botao, Donnie Yen also serves as an action director, but his role in the film is that his martial arts skills are not as good as his wife Yan Yongchun. Therefore, although there are also fighting scenes, the most exciting martial arts scenes are handed over to Michelle Yeoh.
During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a great holy peak in the mountains in the southwest. At the foot of the mountain lived a strange woman, Yan Yongchun (played by Michelle Yeoh) .
Yan Yongchun has a strong personality since childhood. Although she is a daughter, she is quite masculine. Yan’s father is a businessman. He once made a family for his eldest daughter Yan Yongchun and betrothed him to the son of the salt merchant Liang Botao (played by Donnie Yen, who should be called Liang Bochu in real history) .
Yan Yongchun When he was 15 years old, a bully came to the door to force him to marry him as a concubine. Yan Yongchun fled to the mountain and actually met Wu Mei, a master of Nan Shaolin, and was taught a martial arts, including plum blossom boxing, seven-star red boxing, two-character clamping Yangma and other unique skills.
Yan Yongchun practiced on the mountain for ten years, learned martial arts, created Wing Chun, and became a martial arts master. Since then, he dressed in men's clothes and refused to obey his father's orders, so he defected to an unmarried aunt who has not been married yet - Fang Gu ( Yuan Qiongdan ) .
Fang Gu is known as "Iron Mouth Jade Abacus". She is smart and merciful and runs a tofu shop with Yan Yongchun. Yan Yongchun relied on her strength to protect the safety of the area, and this strong female boxer became a local legend. One day, it coincided with the local river beach festival. Rich children Huang Xuezhou ( Li Zixiong decoration) heard about Yan Yongchun's reputation, so they came to propose marriage. On the way, I met a beautiful woman, , erotic girl, ( Hong Xin decoration) . She took her seriously ill husband to seek medical treatment, but she met a bandit bullied.
Yan Yongchun saw unfairness on the road, so he fought away the bandits and saved Yan Niang. However, Yan Niang's husband eventually died of illness, Yan Niang had to sell herself to bury her husband. Yan Yongchun helped bury Yan Niang's husband. Since then, Yan Niang was willing to stay in the tofu shop as a helper.
The smart Fang Gu dressed up Yan Niang and helped her sell tofu. Yan's tofu shop caused a sensation because of this tofu Xishi.
Huang Xuezhou also decided to give up pursuing Wing Chun and instead pursue pursuing pursuing purse.
At this time, Yan Yongchun's fiancé Liang Botao was looking for relatives for thousands of miles and came to the tofu shop. He happened to meet Yan Niang and Yan Yongchun dressed in men's clothes. He mistakenly thought Yan Niang was his fiancée, and Yan Yongchun was his love rival, which led to misunderstandings among the three.
However, the crisis came soon, and the bandits refused to let go of the beautiful beautiful lady.
Especially the second village leader "Flying Monkey", who relied on his martial arts skills, wanted to force Yan Niang to be the wife of the village. As a result, he met Yan Yongchun. The two started a fight, and Yan Yongchun beat him seriously injured.
Although Yan Yongchun defeated the powerful enemy, he also became a grudge. The bandit's eldest brother nicknamed " Feitian Gorilla " ( Xu Shaoqiang decoration) . He has a domineering and fierce martial arts, and has a unique skill, cotton belly kung fu. In order to avenge his brother, he came to meet Yan Yongchun again.
Flying gorillas went down the mountain to the tofu shop and fought with Yan Yongchun. The two sides fought for several rounds, but Yan Yongchun was unable to defeat the other party. However, the Flying Gorilla admires Yan Yongchun a woman who has such a strong skill.
So, he kidnapped Yan Niang in public and threatened Yan Yongchun to go up the mountain to fight him for life and death.Liang Botao saw the bandits abducting Yan Niang, and he angrily fought against the bandits, but he was outnumbered and eventually kicked and injured by the flying gorilla.
After this setback, during the healing process, Liang Botao and Wing Chun talked about the past. Liang Botao finally understood that Yan Yongchun, who was dressed in men, was his fiancée. After experiencing crisis and misunderstandings, the two gradually developed a good impression. After
, Yan Yongchun and Liang Botao broke into the bandit's village together and rescued Yan Niang. However, facing the flying gorilla with excellent martial arts skills, although Yan Yongchun won the bet with his wisdom and skills, he could not defeat the other party.
Yan Yongchun In order to crack the unique skills of the flying gorilla, Yan Yongchun went up the mountain to see his master Wumao Shita ( Zheng Peipei decoration) . Under the guidance of his master, Yan Yongchun finally realized the ultimate mystery of Wingchun boxing and used inch strength to deal with the cotton belly of the flying gorilla.
At this point, Yan Yongchun completed her cultivation, and she recovered from her daughter's body. Under the escort of her fiancé Liang Botao, she broke into the village again.
Yan Yongchun and the Flying Gorilla fought to the end the decisive battle. The two sides first fought with weapons. The Flying Gorilla used a large iron spear that was one foot long, but Yan Yongchun used the Eight-Slaying Knife . The two sides fought hard to distinguish, and in the end the Flying Gorilla's weapon was knocked out.
The unconvinced Flying Ape continued to compete for fists and kicks, but ended up losing to Yan Yongchun's -inch fist .
Other bandits saw that the boss was defeated and wanted to rush forward to siege Yan Yongchun, but unexpectedly, this flying gorilla was fierce and domineering, but he was very convinced after being defeated by Yan Yongchun.
A crisis was resolved, Yan Yongchun and Liang Botao finally got married, and Huang Xuezhou also made a lifelong decision with Fang Gu during this period. Yan's father came from his hometown to organize a marriage for the two newlyweds. The story of the movie ends here.
This "Wing Chun" is a typical kung fu comedy, focusing on martial arts scenes and relaxing and interesting plots. The two screenwriters Deng Biyan and Huang Yonghui are both old partners of Yuan Heping. The former has written the "Huang Feihong" series and has worked with Yuan Heping on "Iron Monkey" and " Fire Cloud Legend ", while the latter has written " Su Qier ". Although the story of the movie is fictional, it relies on historical legends as a whole, and the portrayal of Yan Yongchun and Wumai Shitao’s teacher-adult relationship is quite textural. At the same time, the movie uses Yan Yongchun as the heroine, which has a very female action movie color. The mainland film title "Red Pink King Kong" shows that the character Yan Yongchun is so powerful that it is better than a man's female power.
Zheng Peipei plays Wing Chun's master in the film. Although there is only a moment of action to show, the first collaboration between the two new and old female fighting stars left a deep impression on martial arts fans.
video takes Wing Chun Kung Fu as a selling point. The martial arts design of Yuan Jiaban is quite exciting, and Yuan Heping is very good at using props to show the character's clever skills. For example, Yan Yongchun faced the boxer played by Xu Xiangdong and to find fault, and the two competed in the tofu shop.
The two of them fought around a square table with tofu. During this period, no matter how fierce the opponent attacked, Yan Yongchun could easily deal with it. While resolving the opponent's attack, he did not forget to protect the tofu on the table, further highlighting Yan Yongchun's martial arts.
This scene is easily reminiscent of a fighting scene in "Heroic Su Qi'er" co-starring by Yuan Heping and Donnie Yen. In order to ask for ginseng from the masters of Goryeo, Huang Feihong sat on a table to compete with his fists and feet. Although there was no particularly complicated movement design, it cleverly demonstrated the characteristics of martial arts characters who were successful in walking, sitting and lying down.
There is another scene. The Flying Ape went down the mountain to challenge Yan Yongchun for the first time. The two competed in the yard of the Tofufang. In the middle, they used wooden man stakes as props, and performed a "piling drill" of Wingchun's "piling".
What is particularly impressive is that the two overturned a basket of soybeans in the competition. Yan Yongchun was originally unstable on soybeans, but quickly closed his horse stance and turned his disadvantages into advantages. This action design is also designed in the TV series " Tai Chi Grandmaster " directed by Yuan Heping later as a martial arts master, and the plot of Wu Jing single-handedly breaking through the tower.
However, this film also has some regrets. The movies directed by Yuan Heping are often wonderful martial arts and literary dramas. The characters in this film are quite thin. The screenwriter can only rely on adding a large number of funny scenes to fill in the story. Li Zixiong and Yau Qiongdan are responsible for making fun of it, Hong Xin acts as a vase, and Donnie Yen plays an optional male lead.
In addition, compared with many Wing Chun movies filmed by Sammo Hung, the difference in action design can be clearly seen in this film. Sammo Hung pursues a hard bridge and hard horse, and every move is like a Wing Chun textbook, and the martial arts design of this film is actually quite mixed.
At that time, in order to adapt to the market trend, Yuan Heping absorbed the beauty of dance and the fun of acrobatics in the movements designed by Michelle Yeoh. Martial arts pursue elegance and did not strictly follow the routines of Wing Chun boxing. Donnie Yen's martial arts style highlights his personal style and pursues fierce and sharpness, so "Wing Chun" is not a pure Wing Chun movie.
Until 14 years later, Wong Pai-ming invested in the first two parts of the "Ip Man" series, asking Sammo Hung to be his martial arts guide. Donnie Yen was finally able to interpret the most authentic Wing Chun Kung Fu, which not only made Wing Chun famous again, but also helped Donnie Yen become a top-notch action superstar.
