There was a very special lamp in Nicholas Tse’s house. He put a wire on it, and it was covered with gifts from his seniors.
Andy Lau wrote: "People are good and do not bully."
Fifteen years ago, director Chen Musheng wrote: "Keep your faith."
Time passed, and the young man became middle-aged. He finally understood what was hidden behind these four words.
Author: Liang Xiang
Editor: Blue Two
Format: Wang Wei
What is the definition of "Hong Kong film"?
Is it the tripartite creation of Shao’s films, Jiahe films, and New Art City films, represented by police and gangster films, martial arts films, and comedies, or the Hong Kong star era of "Double Monday"?
The popularity of "Fury · Serious Crime" has brought Hong Kong action movies back to the public eye. As the last work of the late director Chen Musheng, movie fans once again experienced the hail of bullets and short-blade hand-to-hand combat between police and gangsters in the cinema. Perhaps at a certain moment, senior Hong Kong film fans saw not only "Fury · Serious Crime", but also "SWAT New Humans", "New Police Story" and "The True Color of Men"… And today in 2021, the word "new" in these titles seems to have a more bleak taste.
Along with "Anger · Serious Case", another name was pushed into the hot topic: Nicholas Tse.
What defines Nicholas Tse?
Is it an actor who has won the Best Supporting Actor at the 28th Hundred Flowers Awards and the Best Supporting Actor in the 4th Asian Film? Is it a singer who participated in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala and won the best-selling Asian singer award at the World Music Awards? Or is it a chef who is proficient in Chinese and Western food and won the first "Friend of Michelin" honor in history?
Nicholas Tse, who was born with a golden spoon, has entered the age of no confusion. Born in Hong Kong, he caught up with the glorious era of Hong Kong films and witnessed the decline of this era. He has worked with director Chen Musheng six times, and one of the most special titles in his name is –
"The Hope of Hong Kong Film".
Starfire: Born Different
The popularity of "Rage · Serious Crime" has evoked the audience’s obsession with Hong Kong action movies, and the excitement is also uneasy – will Hong Kong police and gangster movies stop there?
Nicholas Tse, who is about to turn 41, put down his kitchen utensils and played the butterfly knife in "Rage · Serious Case" – a dazzling knife technique from the Philippines that Nicholas Tse studied for a long time for this film – quite the legendary pose of a Shaolin sweeping monk. He became the last tough guy in Hong Kong movies.
This tough guy, from the moment he was born, was doomed to a different fate.
On August 29, 1980, more than 50 journalists crowded around the hospital, grabbing headlines: the son of the smash hit "fourth brother" Xie Xian and the first Hong Kong sister champion "Lagu" was born. A week later, the baby Nicholas Tse was on the cover of the magazine. The world is as chaotic as new.
Now that Nicholas Tse is facing the kitchen utensils, he should not recall the moment when he was 2 years old and co-shot his first advertisement with his parents. At that time, he happened to endorse MSG.
Top resources, contacts, background. Nicholas Tse’s track is naturally unique.
Ordinary people yearn for fame and fortune, while influencers are extravagant. In order to escape the day and night spotlight, Nicholas Tse moved his family to Singapore. Avoiding paparazzi, the young Nicholas Tse began to live out his true self by passively accepting the highlights from the previous generation. At the age of 14, he fell in love with music.
Tse wrote his first song at the age of 15, signed with Futu Records (the predecessor of Emperor Entertainment) at the age of 16, and released his debut album "My Attitude" at the age of 17. This album was born and exploded, and various awards were soft. The mass market proved that this noble son had not only resources, but also more talent. Although more news was "paying off my father’s debts" at that time.
At this point, Nicholas Tse could continue to cultivate as a singer. At that time, there were still two years before he released the million-selling "Thank You for Your Love 1999". One peak was even taller.
However, Nicholas Tse chose an acting career. As the saying goes, singing is good and acting is good. Rather than talking about transformation, interpreting career and Nicholas Tse is more like a two-way journey.
In 1997, before the age of 18, Nicholas Tse starred in his first film "**********". History repeats itself, the first film, the first role, Nicholas Tse won the Best New Actor Award at the 18th Hong Kong Film Awards.
The teenager’s feet stepped into the door of Hong Kong’s film industry. Until he met Chen Musheng.
Excessive: full of madness
Tough man Nicholas Tse rarely shed tears. At the press conference of "Anger · Serious Case" in June 2021, he shed tears.
It was at the end of the group photo session. A chair emblazoned with "Benny Chan Director (director Chen Musheng’s name) " was brought up on the stage. The host said, "Let’s take a special photo together."
Nicholas Tse restrained for a long time, but tears still hung on his face.
Back in 1999, Nicholas Tse first appeared in Chen Musheng’s film "SWAT New Human" when he was only 19 years old. Over the years since then, he and Chen Musheng have worked together six times, making him the actor who has worked with Chen Musheng the most, including "New Police Story", "The True Color of Boys", "New Shaolin Temple", and later guest appearances in "Baby Project" and many other works.
Chen Musheng was a director, a guide, and a close friend to Nicholas Tse. When the two met, it was the peak of Hong Kong film. At that time, Hong Kong action films could shake up the entire international film industry. In his book "The Secret of Hong Kong Film: The Art of Entertainment", the American film critic David Podwell said that Hong Kong films in the 1990s were "all over the top, all crazy".
It is the director who is crazy, and the actors who go too far.
In the not-too-distant era of Hong Kong films, Tsui Hark’s martial arts films dreamed of returning to the rivers and lakes, John Woo’s police and gangster films interpreted the aesthetics of violence, Stephen Chow created nonsense and funny, and John To portrayed the godfather of the gang… Chow Yun-fat, Chow Xing-chi, Jackie Chan, Leung Ka-fai, Lin Qingxia, Wang Zuxian, Zhu Yin… All of these constitute the collective memories of the post-80s and post-90s.
Naturally, Chen Musheng and Nicholas Tse were also indispensable.
At that time, despite the different themes, most Hong Kong films were tainted with a sense of unruly rivers and lakes, full of little people in the market who roared up to the sky in the face of the world and destiny. It was such ordinary characters that the extraordinary Nicholas Tse interpreted the most. And the closest word to ordinary is actually "spell". Only those who have spelled it can understand the ordinary and fear the ordinary.
It is said that there are two people on the blacklist of insurance companies in Hong Kong, one is Jackie Chan and the other is Nicholas Tse. Both are action actors who are "not afraid of death and do not need stand-ins".
As early as in the first "**********", Nicholas Tse showed his ruthlessness. In a group fight scene, Nicholas Tse was pierced by the iron fence and bled, but he insisted on not going to the hospital. At that time, his words were recorded by countless people-
"Can you still find 300 identical people tomorrow, wearing the same clothes and doing the same actions?"
"This is my first play in Nicholas Tse’s life. I was looked down upon before and said I wasn’t serious, but today I have to prove it to them. Don’t worry about me, even if I die this time, it’s my own choice."
At the age of 18, he did his best to prove that he was not a star second generation who relied on face-to-face relationships, but an ordinary person with love.
Hanging by a rope in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center Pavilion, suffocating and going into shock, falling from a two-story iron frame injuring spinal nerves, flying, jumping into the sea, fighting… Such madness is almost witnessed in Chen Musheng’s movies, just for one shot.
Jackie Chan said: "No one is more crazy than him, today Nicholas Tse is the next Jackie Chan."
Dark Fire: Era Bluff
Nicholas Tse was on fire, putting aside the aura of the previous generation, he really became popular. After the fanatical pursuit of fans, it was natural to follow the scandals and criticisms, and any flaws would be made public.
Among them was the "top package case" in 2002, and the subsequent feuds between Nicholas Tse, Faye Wong and Cecilia Cheung. Nicholas Tse briefly quieted down.
Coincidentally, Nicholas Tse’s own changes also coincided with the decline of Hong Kong films in time.
In the early 1990s, the Hollywood computer CG blockbusters represented by "Terminator 2" and "Jurassic Park" completely emerged. This new genre of films raised investment to more than $100 million, forming a dimensionality reduction blow. After the millennium, blockbusters such as "Avatar" and "Avengers 4" occupied the vast majority of the box office market.
Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung passed away; Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chow Yun-fat, the three giants of the golden age of Hong Kong films, left Hong Kong in 1998 and went to Hollywood. After 2002, the three giants returned to the Chinese mainland and started a new journey. Pure Hong Kong films were abandoned, by the audience, by the times, and fiercely left behind. By 2003, Hong Kong films had almost reached a low point.
Dark fire swayed.
At this time, Chen Musheng became the representative director of the late glory of Hong Kong movies. Nicholas Tse, after his comeback, reached a peak in the field of music and film and television again. Nicholas Tse said: "I very much hope that the label of Hong Kong Action – Hong Kong action movies can continue for a long time." But with the further segmentation of the film market in recent years, the audience’s viewing feature iteration, and the change of capital investment, Hong Kong action movies have not been truly inherited. Although Nicholas Tse has starred in many films that are well-received and well-received, it is difficult for a lonely tree to become a forest and turn the tide.
He was once known as the hope of Hong Kong cinema.
In the end, Nicholas Tse transformed into a variety show. In 2014, "Twelve Sharps" was born. Nicholas Tse took the kitchen utensils and explored the customs behind the food with his friends. He was old enough, and he had experienced too many things in his life. After a long time, many people almost forgot that Nicholas Tse was actually a singer at first.
Tinder: Catching Fire
Mr. Tse had not acted in any criminal action films for five years before "Fury," the revenge theme of the two male protagonists that is the usual setting for Hong Kong police and gangster films. In a few years, the glory that will never return is waved away.
After filming "Rage · Serious Case," Nicholas Tse and many others said, "I haven’t played so well in many years."
In today’s era, when special effects are widely used in movies, and even the actors themselves are cut out for pictures, Nicholas Tse represents the "old school" who insists on doing it physically and punches to the flesh. In the face of this "old", Nicholas Tse is even full of hope, thinking that no matter how he hits or falls before the age of 50, no matter how much he jumps off a building, it will be OK. This energy, he has held back for several years and is ready.
This kind of holding back is a regret for the decline of Hong Kong films, unwillingness to oneself, and anger at all injustices, injustices, and dishonesty. Just like the character Ao himself in the movie.
In the interpretation of Ao, the evil smiles on the screen always remind people of the Joker: the Joker played by Heath Ledger in "Batman: The Dark Knight"; the Joker played by Joaquin Phoenix in "The Joker". The sadness that makes people hold their breath.
But Ao was still dead.
At the end of the film, Ao leapt and died in the arms of the statue of the Virgin Mary. Outside the film, the director Chen Musheng died of nasopharyngeal cancer in August 2020 at the age of 58.
In the film’s publicity team group, Chen Musheng’s last few words specifically mentioned the role of Ah Ao. He said that Ah Ao is the spark of hope for the future of Hong Kong movies in this film.
Nicholas Tse remembered this sentence firmly.
Some people say that "Rage · Serious Case" has brought Hong Kong films back to their peak. Talking about the future of Hong Kong films, Nicholas Tse said, let nature take its course. Sometimes the glorious time in every place is like fashion. It can never be a pattern, a color, a spot, a straight line. It will always be popular or change. But this doesn’t matter. Slowly, it will also have its own era, so you can’t force everything to go with the flow.
Those roads that should be taken have been passed, the scenery that should be seen has been seen, and the position of the station has been stood. Perhaps, it is enough.
Rather than obsessing about the renaissance of Hong Kong films and the sudden cliff-like decline of Hong Kong films, it is better to explore what factors inspired the glory of Hong Kong films from the 1960s to the 1990s. Behind this proposition, perhaps more should be pursued, is the belief that everyone adheres to the depths of their hearts. This belief has made Nicholas Tse from youth to confusion, still have his original intention, and still can go and fight. He may be the last tough guy action actor in Hong Kong. But as long as this belief is passed on and the future looks forward, he will not be the last one.
Nicholas Tse, a gentle and tough man, recalled that there was a very special lamp in his home. He put a wire on it, and it was covered with gifts from his predecessors.
Andy Lau wrote: "People are good and do not bully."
Fifteen years ago, director Chen Musheng wrote: "Keep your faith."
Time passed, and the young man became middle-aged. He finally understood what was hidden behind these four words.
He was born from a spark, and he has been searching for the ordinary all his life. Finally, in these few words, he found another fire that can be passed down by him.
Reference:
Nicholas Tse: Hong Kong films have their own era, can not be a kind of texture, Southern Metropolis Daily 2021-8
Nicholas Tse’s cry tore off the last fig leaf of Hong Kong movies, Super Cute Shadow Sauce 2021-6
Zhihu: Why did Hong Kong films decline here? Pocket Movies
Nicholas Tse: Be a flame escort, excellent WSJ Chinese version 2021-7
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