The Artistic Features of Chen Guo's Films

China's view from "urban-rural contrast" to "international perspective"

Chen Guo's trilogy 1997 (also known as "Hong Kong trilogy") was made in Hong Kong. Last year, the fireworks were extraordinary and the road was auspicious. This paper focuses on the social situation in Hong Kong before and after the deadline of 1997, especially the lower classes, and interprets the life changes of the disadvantaged groups in the historical torrent from different perspectives of "youth, middle age and youth". Then, he began to deal with the "Prostitute Trilogy" (also known as the "Return Trilogy", so far only the first two films, namely "Liu Lianpiao" and "There is a Hollywood in Hong Kong") to reflect on the Sino-Hong Kong relations after the reunification.

The prostitutes in "Liu Lian Piao Piao" and "There is a Hollywood in Hong Kong" are all mainlanders who come to Hong Kong to make a living. Since Chen Guo wrote about Sino-Hong Kong relations with "prostitute" as the main theme, "prostitute" has become a geographical coordinate, representing Chinese mainland's position; At the same time, Hong Kong also started a "physical" relationship with her as a "prostitute". This is purely a money transaction, which is different from the traditional mother-child affection. It can be seen that Chen Guo intends to imagine the identity of China and Hong Kong: both are the embodiment of desire (material desire and sexual desire), and only the transaction of "flesh desire" is allowed. But the tone and narrative angle of the two films are completely different: one is numb and heavy, the other is happy and carefree; One focuses on prostitutes and the other focuses on prostitutes and clients.

(A) reunification frustrated

The most famous novel Liu Lian Piao is the comparison of life and inner struggle of prostitutes in Hong Kong and China, especially the emptiness of life reflected by Liu Lian, a symbol of Hong Kong. Chen Guo, a director with a keen sense of touch, saw the desire of prostitutes in China from passive to active exploration (that is, from the sales mode of "waiting for rabbits" in Er Nai Village to the occupation of the black market in Hong Kong with a "two-way permit"), and her vision was obviously expanded. However, the vision of "six consecutive drifts" is more conservative, and it still stays in the "urban-rural contrast" mode of 1 since the 1970s: Hong Kong is just a "smelly" city that makes money, and China's hometown is the most beautiful place. It's a pity that the beauty of hometown only stays in campus memories, leaving only old imagination, the call of desire and the confusion of the road ahead.

On the other hand, Hong Kong has a Hollywood with a sense of the times, which can keep up with the rapid disappearance of global urban life, fulfilling Abbas's prediction of "disappearance" 2 (even faster than Aristotle's expectation): when the film is released, the village has been demolished, and the audience can't see the real face of the village, so they can only imagine it through images. However, the carnival and teasing effect of the film is devoted to downplaying the sense of Degas Depallou in history and completely getting rid of the ambush of "Six Lian Piao".

Chen Guo changed his previous realistic style and made a Hollywood film in Hong Kong with black humor, which made people laugh. Shi Qi compared the film to "Journey to the West in Chen Guo": "There are fat pigs, skinny monkeys, foxes and cows in the west, and Hollywood, which is full of interesting inspiration". This film also witnessed Chen Guo's breakthrough in shooting form. Of course, form can't be without content, and Chen Guo is definitely not the kind of director who "teases and finishes".

The ability to be duplicitous

Although Xiaoyan in "Six Drift Lines" has the female autonomy (taking the initiative to come to Hong Kong to make money as a prostitute), in another sphere of influence, she still needs the help of a groom to make a living. However, a Hollywood company in Hong Kong jumped out of this dominant field and took the initiative to "sell herself" online and "find business" in Daxian Village. He also cooperated with rogue lawyers, threatened and defrauded money, and even "hired" youth gangs to carry out "violent punishment", doing things neatly, and in turn completely controlling the "overall situation." Strangely, however, what the audience "sees" seems to be only innocence, simplicity, youth, friendliness, overcoming difficulties and salvation. For example, her friendship with an Xi (little fatty), her childlike innocence in swinging in Zhujiajian, ignited the joy of life of Zhujiajian father and son (swinging and waving red cloth), and helped rogue lawyers solve their sexual needs for free. Her negative "image" is only attractive to men at best. As for her ugliness and hypocrisy in the second half of the film, only when she is "absent" can she find her "seat" of the devil. In general film reviews or film introductions, the images of prostitutes in this film are mostly simplified as the combination of "Devil and Angel" and "Tang Priest and Spider Spirit", but the time and space of Chen Guo's images in dealing with these two different faces are ignored.

If Chen really uses the "Prostitute Trilogy" to discuss the post-apocalyptic relations between China and Chinese mainland, will he, like Dongdong in the movie, imply that or China people only show (emphasize) the beautiful side in front of people and try to cover up (or delay) the darkness behind them? In reality, China-Hong Kong economic and trade activities seem to be heard from time to time, such as fake rice fake salt in China (there are many fakes), real estate fraud (buying domestic houses will be "torn down") and so on. If critics are still criticizing Chen Guo's films as "sentimental for the lower classes and sometimes indulging in the sewer", it seems that he still fails to see the diversity of Chen Guo's films, especially the progress of his skills and the broadening of his horizons. Chen Guo once said, "Some people may think that I want to talk about the poor and the rich by connecting Daqian Village with Hollywood Plaza, but this is not the case. On the contrary, I put' sex' first. " This is why the film emphasizes a rust color (the rust color unique to the tin house in Daqian Village) and a fiery red as the keynote. In fact, "sex" is the embodiment of "desire". Just as cheating is common in economic and trade, the most important thing is that "greedy" people catch fish.

(3) the joy of leaving

The color contrast of movie pictures is mainly bright red and rust color, which always gives people a primitive feeling. Whether it is the red of roast pig, red of fire, red of clothes and shoes, or red of cloth curtain, under the rust of Daqian Village, the lust of men and women is constantly burning. Strangely, however, all fantasies about desire have no communication, but only follow a linear development. What's more, they have risen from the physical to the metaphysical: men have endless primitive sexual desires for women, but women only remember the utopian dreams of western Hollywood, and everyone stays in the self-enclosed desire space. Under the burning desire, Chen Guo's Sino-Hong Kong relations have taken another step forward: there is a western "Hollywood" hometown besides China and Hong Kong!

Dongdong's first sexual transaction with A Qiang was in the canal next to Daqian Village. Both of them are seeking their dreams and embracing their orgasm: although the man's feet are immersed in the sewage in the ditch, he is still only addicted to sexual pleasure; Although the woman spread her legs by the ditch, her eyes never left the commanding Hollywood Square on the other side, and her heart seemed to be full of imaginary expectations. Afterwards, she even dragged A Qiang to the slope to look up at this dream paradise, and projected the utopian ideal to five buildings in the square (the name of the house is "Xinghe Mingju"), as if everything was in her Wuzhishan. The spatial dislocation of "Hollywood" was originally designed for Hong Kong people, but now it has realized the dream of strangers, extending from the field of spatial dislocation to the spiritual level. So, from Chen Guo's point of view, is Dongdong's Hollywood dream fictional? ) At the beginning of another new century, China still clings to the myth of modernity of western civilization and progress? On the other hand, Hong Kong, which lives between China and the West, once again reproduces the glory of Harmony 7: Harmony is still a transportation port, transit station and transitional space at any time. This is the case, and it can only be so. Just like Abbas's "port mentality", everything in the harbor is transient and floating.

In movies, we can often look up at the towering Hollywood Square from the perspective of Daqian Village. Many critics think that the disparity of the comparative efficiency of "one high and one low" implies the distribution of power, but the effect presented by Chen Guo is obviously not skilled enough, and it seems that there is no suspicion of deepening this polarization. Rather than showing the director's concern about the grassroots and the disparity between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong, the film shows everyone's "attitude" towards Hollywood Square from different perspectives. Looking at the residents of Daqian Village, it seems that they don't care about the existence of large-scale real estate. Whether the focus plane overlooks Dageng Village or looks up at the square, most of them are from the perspective of Dongdong. There is no doubt that the Hollywood Square that Dongdong "sees" is as beautiful as Hollywood in imagination. However, it should be noted that under the lens of Chen Guo, "Daqian Village" looks up to Hollywood without any contempt, on the contrary, it looks somewhat admiring. Borrowing Shi Qi's metaphor for The Journey to the West, Dongdong is the only one in the west who wants to learn Hollywood, and the rest of Pig and Ma Yili are only "guests" at best. Even if they imagine, they just project their personal desires on Dongdong, which is not an ideal pursuit, let alone the attraction of "the West" to them. Dongdong swings in Zhujiajian, which is the best proof: she swings high, as if the opposite Hollywood is the vision she pursues in her dream, while Zhu Fu and Amin have the same pleasure of swinging, but they are all rejuvenated because of Dongdong's "redemption" of the body, causing ripples in life.

The names of "1997 trilogy" and "regression trilogy" indicate that Chen Guo's works intentionally reflect on history and culture. Coincidentally, Chen Guo's "Hong Kong Trilogy" talks about the "downfall" of Hong Kong men, while the "Return Trilogy" talks about the "independence" of prostitutes. Looking closely at a Hollywood in Hong Kong, Chen Guo seems to connect these two themes in series, interweaving the fate of these weak "men" being played and oppressed by powerful "prostitutes": they were eventually robbed or beheaded, and their male abilities were completely castrated, so they could only stay in dilapidated villages and wait for the arrival of demolition-the men were still locked in cages. If Zhen Chen really wants to "touch the changing Hong Kong" through the movie 10, will A Hollywood in Hong Kong show the residual makeup of Hong Kong after the reunification, leaving only a scene of ruins?

To the other side full of bright hope, and then ...

Lu Xun believes that Nora has only two choices except death after she leaves: one is to return, and the other is to fall (be a prostitute). What will happen to Dongdong, a prostitute, when he arrives in the beautiful Hollywood?

Only at the end of last century did China begin the road of reform and opening-up, and the society instantly entered the high-speed development of modernization. 2 1 century, globalization is heating up. With China's entry into WTO, China football team entered the World Cup finals for the first time, China beauty was selected as the top three Miss Universe for the first time, China's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games and a series of exciting "historical events", and China's "desire for the West" became clearer and stronger. At the same time of China's entry into the world, or its integration with the world, this constantly introduced hurricane frenzy seems to add a lot of hopes and expectations to the nihilistic climate at the end of the century/the beginning of the century. Paradoxically, after a century of modernization, will China still suffer from "insanity" of "persistent infatuation with progress and innovation", as Zhou Lei said?

In the face of such a historical change, should Hong Kong adopt a silent and wait-and-see attitude and make a super-narrative evaluation and ridicule? Or amuse yourself with humor like Chen Guo? Although a Hollywood in Hong Kong plays the Hollywood DreamWorks, I believe we can't be indifferent to its history, culture and identity.