"The Great Hero Hu Jinquan" is a documentary film in 2022. records the life story of modern martial arts film director Hu Jinquan .
than An Li " Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon " has already made Chinese martial arts films internationally. Hu Jinquan won the Cannes Film Festival Technology Award for an amazing martial arts drama of " Heroes ". The classic work " Longmen Inn " has won the hearts of martial arts fans, and has also developed an inn trilogy, integrating the chivalrous spirit of the martial arts world with classical beauty in the movie into modern poetry and verses.
A documentary film commemorating director Hu Jinquan, entering his life through the first and second parts.
What is the movie "The Great Hero Hu Jinquan"?
Kung Fu movies are considered to be a rare Chinese culture in Europe and the United States in the 20th century. They are whirlwinds caused by the movie "" Bruce Lee . Fist and foot kung fu is easy to understand. However, it has already been transferred to the martial arts culture of various dynasties before China was defined. Europe and the United States still have only a few understandings.
Even if Ang Lee filmed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in 2000, let mainstream Europe and the United States be attracted by such Chinese culture, it is still martial arts; Bushido can't tell the difference, but with the formation of multicultural culture and the American Chinese circle, adapted movies such as Shaw Brothers Movies, Jin Yong , Gu Long , Huang Yi and other adapted movies have more or less made the European and American circles have a prototype for the "martial arts world", which is equivalent to foreign understanding of martial arts being taken from film and television entertainment.
"The Great Hero Hu Jinquan" is the opening film of "Island Jianghu: Martial Arts and TV Special Exhibition in Taiwan" held by the National Film and Television Center in early 2022. It is also to commemorate the director Hu Jinquan who devotes his life to martial arts movies.
movies are about 3 hours long and are divided into upper and lower episodes. Through senior film critics, filmmakers, actors, directors and producers who have agreed with Hu Jinquan, they talked about their lives and work with director Hu Jinquan in detail, and also through their relatives in Hong Kong, Hu Jinquan's re-entry journey from experiencing the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to British Hong Kong at that time, and began his career as a film director in Taiwan and Hong Kong, from his early years to a somewhat bleak movie life in his later years.
"The Great Hero Hu Jinquan" Discussion, Analysis and Extension: The first half of the movie introduces Hu Jinquan's reform of Chinese martial arts films at that time. He combines the fighting rhythm of Kurosawa Akira 's Japanese samurai films and European and American western films, and incorporates them into his martial arts film use. Unlike real martial arts, Hu Jinquan uses Peking Opera appearance, figure and martial arts opera to weave a unique martial arts style that was different from other Chinese movies at that time. He succeeded in films such as "The Great Drunken Hero" and "Longmen Inn".
was also filmed in the subsequent filming of the weird and artistic experimental costume dramas such as the Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio " Kongshan Lingyu " and " Legend in the Mountains ". It can be said that he is a Chinese film director who has his own ideas and artistic persistence. The second part of
focuses on Hu Jinquan's personal life. tells the story of his early years of his wealthy father from Beijing, who made his fortune in the mining industry and went to Hong Kong due to civil war. His family lost his family due to historical changes such as the Great Famine.
At the same time, because he was influenced by European and American culture and connections in Hong Kong, his early directorship career was quite smooth, and the narrative of the movie was refreshing. He also received a review by American Film Doctor in the book as one of the "Outstanding Asian Directors". However, under the change of the times, Hu Jinquan did not have time to turn his new page and died of heart surgery while preparing for the film "History of Blood and Tears of Chinese Workers".
Overall, "The Great Hero Hu Jinquan" is a documentary film commemorating director Hu Jinquan. In terms of shooting and video analysis, new martial arts shooting methods have emerged, and changes in the environment between Hong Kong and Taiwan have led to the gradual decline in the popularity of Hu Jinquan's films, including changes in the director's mind and family history. I think this movie is all good.
and you can feel his character from various interviews with friends in the film circle that director Hu Jinquan is familiar with. He also includes many classic clips such as "The Legend of the Goddess" and "Longmen Inn" and other classic clips, as well as subsequent rookie martial arts directors' imitations and tributes to director Hu Jinquan.
However, although this film has been discussed for more than three hours, there are still many problems with . There are obvious problems with the audio reception of the technical level. It can be heard that the sound income was not properly handled, which led to uncomfortable sound breaking and noise in the interviews of some characters.
In addition, I think Hu Jinquan's reform and persistence and dedication to the film are indeed very respectable, but it does not mean that he should be portrayed as a perfect image. often shows that this person is very powerful when commemorating others around the world, but it still needs to be clicked to . Too much flattery will only reduce credibility and make people irritate. Cutting too many interviewers to praise too hard will make the film backfire.
Is "The Great Hero Hu Jinquan" worth watching?
I think this documentary is a very good documentary film as a filming modern Chinese film culture and martial arts films and the style of directors in an era. You can even see the cruel side of pop culture and social changes.
Not only did the Hu Jinquan family collapse due to the civil war, but it can also be seen that Hong Kong is gradually entering a high commercialization and the rise of local movies in Taiwan's new wave. Chinese martial arts stories are not a panacea. Although the documentary blames Hu Jinquan's late film problem on his persistence in art, I think it is Hu Jinquan's Chinese values can no longer be applied to Taiwan and Hong Kong. The same martial arts stories and family and country feelings have no appeal or resonance for the new generation and new value audiences. .
What made Hu Jinquan go downhill is not the audience abandoning the art of film, but the uninnovative martial arts movie. In fact, the movie "The Legend of the Goddess" that was recognized internationally after the movie "Longmen Inn" was sold well, but the investors were disgraceful, which led to the dissuasion of the investors. However, Hu Jinquan still remains the same. It sounds nice and the persistence of the art, but the reality is that the Chinese martial arts story will wither immediately after the audience has more movies to choose from.
Director Hu Jinquan did bring Chinese martial arts films to a certain level, but at the same time we also see that business and art sometimes need to be parallel to last for a long time. Movies are an art that can change. Hu Jinquan insists that his film aesthetics have become a new era of martial arts. However, there are still martial arts worlds in the movies, and a generation of heroes will eventually die.
