Video review of Bon Magic Power

"The Magic of Bon" is Zhang Jiahui's directorial debut. Taking a ghost film as the starting point is a very smart but tricky choice. For a long time, among many types of movies, ghost movies have always had a stable audience. After all, it is human nature to be curious about the unknown world, which also means that the box office numbers after release will not be too ugly. "The Legend of Bon" was released in Hong Kong on July 10 and was an instant hit, setting a record for the highest box office on the first day of a Hong Kong ghost film's release in the past ten years. However, although genre movies are easy to operate, they are also easily restricted, falling into the ruts of past formulas, and making it difficult to innovate.

The film begins with Zong Hua failing to run a publishing house in mainland China and returning to the Cantonese opera troupe run by his father (played by Lin Wei). It mainly tells the story of the Holy Ghost Festival (also known as the "Hungry Ghost Festival" in Taoism). The theater troupe will stage the story of the magical drama. The long history of traditional opera adds a touch of mystery, which is also the best nutrient for ghost films. Xu Anhua's "Crashing into the Truth" and "Reincarnation" in "Three Watches" both used this as a shooting theme. It is a pity that Nick Cheung and screenwriter Cheng Jianguo did not make full use of the "oldness" of Cantonese opera. There are only one or two terrifying scenes in the film that are directly related to this. Perhaps just like the decline of Cantonese opera, in addition to ghosts gathering under the stage at specific times, cinemas have already become another new option for ghosts to haunt.

Since it is a ghost movie, the scary scenes are naturally the focus. Judging from the results, I believe that Zhang and Zheng have done a lot of homework on this. The frequency of supernatural scenes in the film is compact, and there are almost no silent moments. However, these scenes can be seen in almost other works of the same type. Therefore, sometimes you can see Kayako from "The Grudge", the weird movements of "The Archmage", you can also see the monitor screen from "Paranormal Activity", and even a bit of a Western zombie movie. The whole film is like a hodgepodge of horror movies, pieced together without any uniqueness of its own.

If we insist on talking about innovation, the part in the film based on the death of Canadian Chinese Lam Kerr may be worth mentioning. At the time of the incident, the news media reported on it from a supernatural perspective, making it a hot topic on the streets. In particular, the footage captured by the Cecil Hotel's elevator monitor became the focus of public attention. Nick Cheung also faithfully reproduced this scene and presented it in the film. But looking at it all, is this scene really necessary for the entire movie? Also, how many chemical changes took place in the film? I thought this was just to create news topics.

Oriental ghost films pay more attention to the relationship between cause and effect. The reason why ghosts have resentment must be for a reason. Tracing back to the source to find the source of resentment has become the main plot line. "The Magic of Bon" uses a two-line parallel narrative technique in an attempt to create suspense, so that the audience will not suddenly realize it until the end of the film. However, upon closer inspection, there are too many shortcomings in the plot. For example: Zong Hua is the son of an old theater troupe leader, but he knows nothing about the customs and taboos of the theater troupe. It is obvious that there must be some alienation between him and his father. However, when Zong Hua returns home Later, his father showed love to him again, as if the relationship between father and son was very close. If the cause and effect were stated more completely, the plot would be much more complete. (Taiwan Entertainment Review)