Hu Jinquan and Tsui Hark are important representatives of Chinese martial arts films and occupy an important position.
Tsui Hark's martial arts movies often have a strong personal style, a bright narrative rhythm and a strong visual impact.
, and Hu Jinquan has a rigorous attitude towards filming and has unique insights into martial arts movies.
In comparison, although Hu Jinquan's works have extremely high artistic value, the box office is always unsatisfactory.
In 1992, Hu Jinquan boldly tried to shoot a commercial martial arts film " Painted Skin: Yin and Yang Dharma King " , and even invited a large number of actors such as Wang Zuxian , Zheng Shaoqiu , Sammo Hung , Lin Zhengying and other actors to take charge. The audience did not buy it, and finally froze at 1.31 million yuan in box office, and was called Hu Jinquan's "imperfect" 's last work.
, "Martial Arts Grandmaster" Hu Jinquan's heart knot in his later years
1982, Hu Jinquan traveled between Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States, raising funds for his long-conceived "History of Blood and Tears of Chinese Workers".
But I was turned away from the iron shoes.
In desperation, Hu Jinquan had only one last way: Make money by making movies by himself!
For this reason, after thinking about it for a while, Hu Jinquan decided to make a work that caters to the market, similar to the fantasy martial arts film "A Chinese Ghost Story".
So in the cast, Hu Jinquan was carefully selected and found Zheng Shaoqiu, the most beautiful "female ghost" Joey Wong, and the zombie Taoist Priest Lin Zhengying...
The filming took about three months, and it was the first time director Hu Jinquan went to the mainland to shoot a movie.
Later, because the production fee was not enough and the film was slightly different from what Hu Jinquan thought, it was originally a movie that took about two hours, and it was cut into about one and a half hours. Before the release of
, the production company was worried that the movie was not attractive enough, so it changed the title to "The King of Yin and Yang in Painted Skin".
The film is based on the story of "Painted Skin" in "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", recreating the strange character of Pu Songling .
. The beginning of the story of "people and ghosts" written by traditional literati
is similar to some plots in "Painted Skin".
Failed scholar Wang Shunsheng (played by Zheng Shaoqiu) has been married for many years and has not been able to have children.
One day, when Wang Shunsheng was rushing home from the city, he met a beautiful young woman You Feng (played by Wang Zuxian).
Because she learned that she had a pitiful life experience, she was forced to marry into a wealthy family as a concubine, so she helped her and let her stay at home temporarily.
That night, Wang Shun had an inappropriate thought, but was rejected by You Feng for being unwell.
The next day, Wang Shunsheng ran to the city to buy rouge and water powder, trying to please You Feng, but he met Taoist Yuqing (played by Liu Xun) and was told that he was plagued by evil spirits, but Wang Shunsheng disagreed.
After returning home, Wang Shunsheng told his wife that he intended to be You Feng as his concubine.
However, his wife Chen accidentally discovered that You Feng was actually a female ghost with a painted skin.
So the couple ran to Yuqing Taoist Zhang Daoling for help. As a result, after hearing about this, the other party went down the mountain with his senior brother Feng Daolen (played by Wu Ma ).
So from You Feng's mouth, I heard about the bitter experiences of her previous life.
It turns out that there is an intermediate zone between the two realms of Yin and Yang, called the Yin and Yang Realm.
Here is a Yin-Yang Dharma King who is neither human nor ghost, and even gods and demons can do anything to him.
Because of this, in order to strengthen his power, he constantly prevented the passing ghosts from being reincarnated.
And You Feng was originally a performer during his lifetime. He was struck by lightning while singing the drama, his soul lost its direction and was captured by the Yin-Yang Dharma King.
causes it to float between yin and yang, and cannot return to yang in life and be a human being, and cannot be reincarnated in death.
At this time, You Feng asked Zhang Daoling and Feng Daoren for help, but the Yin-Yang Dharma King was powerful and the two could not deal with it.
So the two took You Feng to invite the master Taiyi from the mountain.
At the same time, in order to capture You Feng, the Yin and Yang Dharma King came to the world and possessed Wang Shunsheng.
In the end, Taiyi Master, Zhang Daoling, You Feng and others fought with the Yin and Yang Dharma King for 300 rounds and won the battle with the King of Yin and Yang for a difficult victory.
You Feng was reincarnated because of this. Before leaving, she tore off the painted skin and revealed her true face. After reincarnation of
, "he" became the son of Wang Shunsheng and Chen.
. Hu Jinquan's "compromise" failed to do what he wanted
Looking at the film, "The King of Painted Skins: Yin and Yang Dharma" actually does not conform to the director Hu Jinquan's previous film style.
However, the whole story contains some personal insights from the director.
Hu Jinquan was born and raised in China, but left his motherland very early and followed his parents to settle in the United States.
But abroad, Hu Jinquan always feels that he is different from the people in that place and cannot feel the warmth of home.
However, I felt very uncomfortable when I got home.
So, to a certain extent, Hu Jinquan felt that he was an "middleman" .
And the "Yin and Yang Dharma King" in the video is an allusion to his own image.
It lingers between the yin and yang realms, like a lonely ghost, falling into a very embarrassing situation.
Not only that, some fantasy elements in the film can see Hu Jinquan's intentions. He is not good at making such movies, but he works hard to make them well and wants to please the audience.
Although there is screenwriter Zhong Acheng, there are big problems with the basic story structure and narrative.
Due to the conservative style and ambiguous stories, the audience is not buying it.
Finally, "The Painted Skin: Yin and Yang Dharma King" was removed from the shelves in major theaters just 6 days after its release.
However, the box office failure of the film cannot be entirely due to Hu Jinquan's responsibility.
Although Hu Jinquan felt that he could not keep up with the pace of the times after entering the 1990s, in the general environment at that time, the audience prefers movies of Stephen Chow , Jet Li , and Jackie Chan .
Since then, Hu Jinquan's directorial career has encountered an unprecedented crisis, and it is difficult to produce new good works.
