Time: Origin Hong Kong Film Folklore Author: Wu Hao

one

In the past twenty years, Xu Guanwen's comedy films have been watched repeatedly, even though he didn't direct them in the mid-1980s (but participated in writing and planning), such as Chocolate Detective (Chen Xinjian, 1986), Family Happiness (Gao Zhisen, 1988) and Chicken Tells Duck (Gao Zhisen,/kloc).

In fact, since Happy Tinker Bell (1986), his films since1the mid-1980s have received a lot of bad reviews, and there are roughly two views:

One: "From Teppanyaki (1984), huh? The movie is getting less and less funny. Maybe Xu Guanwen is out of touch with reality. In Happy Tinker Bell, there will be rent collectors going upstairs to collect rent. In the new half a catty, some people wrap pork rolls in newspapers ... "

Second: "Happy Tinker Bell will be Billy? BillyWilder's "Some Like Fire" has been copied, and the part of "Happy Family" is like "The Fortune Cookie" ... "

I think these accusations can only be answered by Xu Guanwen.

I was thinking, "The comedian's gag is not funny anymore. What do you mean? " ? Is Jiang Lang the only one who can do it? 」

Yes, "Jiang Lang is at his wit's end". Let's kill him with a stick.

But suddenly I remembered Charlie? Chaplin, the film he made in his later years completely gave up comedy, lost all the audience and even attracted bad reviews. AndrewSamis, an American writer and film critic, pointed out that his works in his later years "coincide with AloofHumoranda of Meaningfying (which can be translated as" losing jokes and gaining meaning "). Yes, you get a meaningful life, especially Charlie's limelight, which fully reflects an artist's persistence in performance, life and humanity.

It can be seen that the difference between the old two films is almost identical. The old one piled up a lot of funny jokes, which were mechanized and impersonal-deliberately obliterated the human element of comedy, but the new one lacked a lot of jokes, but it was more emotional (the second half began with three Xu Shi brothers defrauding the sympathy of young stars, and the film moved towards tenderness). Similarly, "Crazy Money" can be compared with "Detective Chocolate" because both films talk about the degradation of human nature-madness, but they deal with it in completely different ways. When describing the madhouse and madness, Crazy Money takes a mocking and exploitative attitude (especially the two brothers Xu Shi want to get rich by madmen), while the last paragraph of Detective Chocolate depicts the normal and abnormal with sympathetic strokes. ......

Yes, in times of crisis, Xu Guanwen always hangs himself in the air like HaroldLloyd (such as Deed of Sale, Half a catty, Teppanyaki, etc.). ), but only in the last paragraph of "family happiness" did his prevarication attract the attention and awareness of others-when he was sinking,

Well, this new book, this detective chocolate, and this family happiness are all not funny works strictly speaking. Between joke and meaning, Xu Guanwen has obviously chosen the latter in recent years.

"Is the relationship between jokes and meaning incompatible?" You might ask.

"It's hard to do both." I would say so. I used to be a professional screenwriter and wrote many sitcoms, so I am qualified to draw this conclusion.

"Being amused and losing its meaning" is the most appropriate way to describe the Hong Kong comedies that were randomly shot in the 1980s. After several years, there are almost no films that are not funny, and they are extremely "good-looking". However, when we saw the comedians chasing the noise in the box, the whole movie was ruined because it was too meaningless.

two

"How to understand Xu Guanwen's comedy world?" I think the most, and even often get lost.

In fact, his first film "Ghost Horse and Double Star" (due to its loose structure, part of the bridge comes from "Cheating the Top Scholar", which is mostly ignored by critics) has already had clues. The first joke, "New Territories cattle are diligent enough, when will they be developed"; Then, in a scene, Xu Guanwen participated in the video game Up and Down. His lower body sank in a big water tank, and the crocodile crawled on his knee. ......

Yes, Xu Guanwen likes to use the world of animals (representing greed, ignorance and the law of the jungle) to compare the world of human beings, and he also laughs at the fact that human beings (humanity) have been reduced to the realm of animals (animality), and there is no dignity as human beings, which is very miserable!

The madhouse in Crazy Money is a symbol: human nature is reduced to animal instinct. And two normal people (employees of the madhouse played by the Xu Shi brothers) have developed their dreams and are willing to follow the advice of the madman and drill holes in the ground like dogs for treasure. There are also two animal jokes. First, the priest crawled on the ground looking for contact lenses. Xu Guanwen advised him to eat more fish like a cat. The priest asked why, and he replied, "When did you see a cat with glasses?" 」; Secondly, Xu Guanwen met a policeman while fishing in the pond. He quickly explained, "Sir, I'm not fishing. I want to soak a bug to death! 」

The farce of "sales contract" can be called an "animal cartoon". The emblem of that TV station is a big mouse (satirizing the inhuman RatRace). A strong woman has a rapping parrot on her arm, and Xu Guanwen suddenly slipped and fell into the blood of a great white shark prop while making a scene on the "mouse stage". The most ironic thing is, of course, that Xu Guanwen, a failed artist, tried to be the host of a TV game program for the first time, and lured the contestants to kill their dogs and even their husbands with grand prizes. The audience jumped with joy and he was greatly appreciated. There is a sophistry of funny aesthetics: "Only when he obliterates human nature will he (as a comedian) become funny and he (as a TV person) become successful. In the last scene, animals were used to attack the human world. The white dove was asked to pull out the arrow on the sales contract and added, "What a stink! 」

Nearly as bad as it is, modern bodyguards and teppanyaki are more active in dealing with human dignity, and the means of metaphor and teasing animals are decreasing. In "Half a catty is eight taels" (only one "Chicken Mothers" is an animal play), Xu Guanwen directly said twice: "I am a boy, but I have no dignity! And his human dignity faced the biggest challenge when the last theater was robbed collectively. He gritted his teeth and resisted. ......

The gold thread of jade clothes in Modern Guards symbolizes the promotion of people's value. The thief who robbed the jade clothes endangered the dignity of the Xu Shi brothers: "It is meaningless to work even if you fight for your life!" They had to fight for their lives, put on priceless gold and jade clothes and flee in danger. When they parachuted and floated over the racecourse, they were very proud: "Wow, tens of thousands of people clapped their hands and cheered! 」

Teppanyaki reduces human nature to the relationship between prey and hunter. Xu Guanwen ("If you fall from the mainland, you will get a chimney! I was chased by my father-in-law with a shotgun, which was very miserable ... So, he threw himself on the neon tube signboard at high altitude to electrify death (reminiscent of the "moth to the fire" in the animal world, it was also the moment of "extinguishing the fire". He knows to be dignified, but the ending is just fantasy and self-comfort, which is purely a butterfly dream.

"Teppanyaki" is not serious, and it is even more confusing when it comes to "Happy Tinker Bell". Anarchism is pervasive, and the human identities of men and women are not only changed but also confused. As human dignity, they all fell into the crocodile pond. King Crocodile said, "Do you know how crocodiles make love? This animal cry of ............................................................................................................................................................... Rollo sums up human relations. Although the love between men and women is finally affirmed, it is too understated (and following the conclusion of the original book "Passion Like Fire": "Nooneisperfect", it is obviously a gender joke, and there is no conclusion about human nature), so there is no need to wake up.

"Chicken Tells Duck" has been improved, and the characters in the film realize the tragedy of becoming an animal. First, Xu Guanying played with chickens, and Xu Guanwen immediately played with ducks, and fought with chickens and ducks. There is also a joke about skinned polar bears-Xu Guanwen and his son play with skinned animals in the snow (the funniest and warmest scene in the whole film). This awareness has become the spirit of the whole movie: the whole roast duck restaurant is full of humanity and friendship.

The interesting thing about Family Happiness is that it still uses the animal world to test human nature. That is, Xu Guanwen, as an idle "uncle", consciously wants to be a useful talent, resolutely participates in the so-called "Superman" movement that insults human dignity, and is willing to be bitten by a mouse ... and Huang Baiming, who is ridiculed as a "little puss-head", consciously wants to become stronger. ......

Yes, only with this awareness can human nature transcend the animal world and regain its dignity as a human being.

I don't want to take Xu Guanwen and Billy? Wilder, but their comedy themes are very close. For example, in Wilder's Peach Blossom Apartment, the love between the jade girl and the bewitch master repeatedly commented on unknown so, a little person who works in this society, but at the most important moment, they suddenly realized, "Alas, what have I done in my life? What is the meaning of my life? 」

Finally, his change.

three

"People die for money, birds die for food. 」

Xu Guanwen's animal world has been extended, which is the food world in his films. Of all the directors, only Xu Guanwen turned eating into a film style, which is very strange.

1. The kitchen is the human Colosseum: "half a catty and eight liang" fights for vegetables in the kitchen, "teppanyaki" fights for vegetables in the kitchen, and Xu Guanwen shaves his father-in-law's eyebrows; "Chicken and duck talk" is in the kitchen, and Xu Guanwen won't let Lu Guanting rob the teacher.

2. Buffet satirizes people's dignity: there is a collective robbery in "New Half a catty", and everyone takes a dish and puts down their jewelry; Xu Guanwen, the cousin of "Happy Family", went to the toilet to wash apples with toilet water, which scared onlookers to say to their son, "Son, we immigrated here! 」

3. Food reveals human nature: "Shakespeare said that if you send beef rice with a smile, everyone must be a traitor!" "(Crazy money);" Cigarettes hurt people and men are sad! "(Happy Tinker Bell);" If you eat too much, you will have 0 piles ... you will have 0 piles. Why don't you eat too much? "("half a catty ");" When I meet a nervous woman, I will eat hamburgers like crazy! "(Happy Tinker Bell); There are also "Family Happiness" stealing a chicken moustache in the toilet, and "Crazy Money" hugging the left and right dream of eating bananas by the swimming pool (and insulting the banana skin into the water to become a clean priest).

4. The most common foods: chicken, chocolate and lobster.

5. The use of food: gambling ("Ghost Horse and Double Star" opens a stall with mung beans); IQ test ("crazy money" crazy people choose to eat apples or silver paper); Magic (the white dove in the deed of sale); Martial arts "Half a catty" Samuel Hui quickly won chocolate); Play ball (teppanyaki uses a pan as a racket and onions as a tennis ball); Weapons ("half a catty of eight Liang" uses sausages as three-legged sticks, and "new half a catty of eight Liang" uses lobsters to hit people); Anger ("teppanyaki" regards wax gourd as father-in-law); The lover ("Chicken and Duck Talk") claimed: "Eat ducks and fight like lovers! 」

The concept of eating in Xu Guanwen's movies is very chaotic, and it is often just a comedy prop, which is often used to make jokes without depth.

four

"There is no joke, it is meaningful. 」

This sentence has been teased by Hong Kong's "Wulitou" comedy movies in the 1990s. Their name is: "If the words are good, they will abandon their meaning. 」

Alas, all-round reduction (TheComicMind by film critic GeraldMast) reduces any rule (including language and behavior) to chaos and absurdity, and I believe more traditional comedians can't adapt. Although Xu Guanwen said at the Artists' Union Awards Ceremony that "nonsense is sometimes good", I doubt that he is sad!

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