1990, Stephen Chow starred in 11 movies, 3 of which reached the top ten box office list of Hong Kong local movies that year. Especially the box office champion "The Gambler", which established Stephen Chow's position as the " new comedy king " in the Hong Kong film industry. Among the other eight works with average box office performance, one is more special in style and theme, that is, "A Comic to the World" , which was released in Hong Kong in March 1990.
The birth of this film is related to the "wave of Jianghu films" at that time: After the great success of "The True Color of Heroes" in 1986, many follow-up works appeared in the Hong Kong film market. These works have strong binary oppositions, emphasizing that grudges will be repaid, highlighting the blood and romance of the world.
And this nonsensical Jianghu film "A Comic Travels to the World" seemed particularly alternative in the trend at that time. The characters in the film did not have an absolute distinction between good and evil, and they spent a lot of writing to deeply explore the darkness of Jianghu.
The story tells the story of Ah Xing (played by Stephen Chow), who works as a waiter in a bar, is a comic fan, who fantasizes that one day he can go around the world like the protagonist in the comics.
By chance, he became the subordinate of the heavyweight figure in the martial arts world, Mr. Wei (played by Yang Qun), and formed a deep friendship with Ajun (played by Lin Junxian) and Abiao (played by Cheng Kuian ).
They helped Mr. Wei expand his business together, and also met Ann (Bai Annie ), but everything that happened next shattered Ah Xing's dream of martial arts...
Although the video uses comics as the entry point, when he formed a deep friendship with Ah Jun and Abiao and relied on his own wisdom to help them resolve the crisis, he seemed to have gone from a bystander to an insider. When A Biao died tragically, A Jun lost his life to save himself and told him to stay away from right and wrong, which also allowed A Xing to see an extremely real world that was completely different from the comics.
After sadness, Ah Xing handed over the relics of Abiao and Ajun to Ann and told her a reason to go to Antarctica. The jokes and absurdity in this are the end of the little people's journey to life, and it is also the last bit of beauty that Ah Xing wants to give life.
ends with a farewell scene that does not deliberately emphasize that revenge will be avenged, but can mobilize the audience's emotions. It is the most alternative thing about the film compared to the Jianghu films of the same period, which is also in line with the ultimate fate of the little characters in the later Stephen Chow movies.
In the film, Lin Junxian plays Ah Jun-hyun. His melancholy and calm temperament is like the protagonist of the comic. He is the person A Xing yearns for and admires, and is A Xing’s friend and spiritual mentor. Although A Biao is fierce, after contacting him for a long time, he will find that he is a delicate person.
Mr. Wei is a hero who doesn’t talk much, is meticulous and masters the academic knowledge of thick black. When A Xing, A Jun and A Biao helped him get rid of his opponent and made him the largest drug supplier, he began to kill his heroes just to make his unlucky son the heir. He believed in excluding dissidents and his son inherited his father's business, but he did not expect that his son was even more vicious than himself. The director gave Mr. Wei such an ending is largely an anti-thick black success theory, which is also a highlight of the film.
The film director Liang Jiaren once said: "I am not a person who is good at creating, but I have always been following the trend." From directing "The Unknown Fire" in 1984 to this "A Comic Travels the World", what we can see is a story with stronger rationality, a unified genre style, without the panic that the genre mix of "The Unknown Fire" brings to people.
After the film was released in Hong Kong that year, it was finally sold for HK$15.14 million, ranking 15th in the box office list of Hong Kong local movies that year.
The sequel to this film, "A Comic Travels to the World 2 Wonderful Thoughts" was released in Hong Kong in 1993, but due to the major change in the main creators and the average story, the film finally achieved a box office of HK$3.19 million, which is not as good as the first one.
So after filming this film, what are the recent situations of the other starring actors in the film besides Stephen Chow?
After finishing the film, Liang Jiaren worked with Stephen Chow in many movies, and is one of the most eye-catching supporting roles in Stephen Chow’s movies. He has also directed several movies, the most famous of which is "A Long's Story" in 2003, starring Tan Yaowen and Li Xiang . He also starred in the recently popular "Zhu Xian 1".
After filming this film, Lin Junxian has also starred in many movies and TV series. After filming the TV series "Happy" in 1996, he announced that he would retire from film and business, at the peak of his career. In 2014, he returned to the big screen with "Best Suspect". His works to be screened include "Wind Forest Volcano" directed by Mai Junlong .
For Cheng Kuian, who is good at playing evil people, the role of A Biao is different from other fierce characters he plays, because the film spends a lot of time telling the delicate and cute side behind A Biao's fierceness. After filming this film, Cheng Kui'an starred in many films one after another. In August 2009, he died of the spread of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Bai Annie collaborated with Stephen Chow in the same year "Curry Pepper" (1990). In 1993, he collaborated with Zhou Runfa and "The Legend of the Rogue" and then withdrew from the film industry. She is a maverick outside the play and is not greedy for glory, which echoes the character Ann in the movie. Such a choice is difficult for ordinary people to make and is admirable.
So, do you like "A Comic to the World"? Welcome to leave a message in the comment section and talk about your views on this movie.
