Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 691 The Summer Movie Season Soars (Part 1) (13)

"The film that impressed me most about actor Leung Ka-fai is 'Black Gold' where he played Zhou Chaoxian... Who agrees and who disagrees!"

"And...you drive a Mazda, no wonder you get stuck in traffic..."

Leung Ka-fai laughed: "That's a movie by Michael Mak!"

During lunch, Shen Yan chatted with Tony Leung Ka-fai and Kara Hui...

"Black Gold" was Mak Tai-hung's last film...

Mak Dang-hung is definitely a figure who cannot be ignored in the history of Hong Kong cinema, not because his skill level is unparalleled.

His main company is Mak Dang-hung Productions Limited.

Mak's team mostly came from former subordinates of RTV, and was full of talent. Because Mak preferred to stay behind the scenes and control the overall situation, many of his team members eventually became capable of handling things independently.

For example, Siu Yuk-yuen, who helped Charles Heung and Jimmy Heung bring Win's Entertainment to its peak in the 1990s;
David Lai, who co-founded Teamwork Motion Pictures with Andy Lau;

Zhang Jiazhen, who co-founded New Milestone Film Company with John Woo;
Manfred Wong, who co-founded Best Partner Film Company with Andrew Lau and Wong Jing to produce the Young and Dangerous series…

And of course, there's Lok Yee Ling.

These guys were all made by Michael Mak!

A one-sentence summary of Michael Mak's works: Male thieves and female prostitutes...

His main characters fall into this category.

The content revolves around themes of cyan, politics, the martial arts world, and male chauvinism…

"Black Gold" is a prime example!
Actually, Black Gold is a terrible movie overall...

A consistent flaw in Hong Kong films is that the villains are all guileless, and the conflicts are all laid bare, written on their faces.

Overall, the film's message is compelling, but the script is too rough and the production quality is poor.

It's just that Tony Leung's acting was good.
It's a typical case of having good sentences but no good piece of writing!
The first half was exceptionally well-made, depicting the power struggles within the bureaucracy, comparable to House of Cards. However, later on, Andy Lau, who had been at a disadvantage until then, suddenly transformed into Rambo, turning the entire situation into a third-rate, clichéd Hong Kong action movie.

With a budget of HK$6000 million, it's impossible not to consider commercial viability, which means it's impossible not to consider Andy Lau's storyline. Some say that if "Black Gold" had focused solely on Leung Ka-fai's storyline and been properly polished, it would have surpassed films like "To Be Number One" and become the top Asian gangster film!

The Mak brothers, known for their "ruthless" style, were bold and avant-garde, risking their entire fortunes in an attempt to revive the former glory of Hong Kong cinema. Unexpectedly, their film was thwarted by the release of *Titanic*, resulting in a crushing defeat. The Mak brothers then retired from the film industry, leaving behind only a legend…

"I heard that Mazda's sales plummeted after the release of 'Black Gold'?"

"That's not true..." Liang Jiahui chuckled...

A while ago, Mazda invited Leung Ka-fai to film an advertisement, and then Leung Ka-fai loudly proclaimed, "Driving a Mazda avoids traffic jams!"

Kara Hui interjected, "And what about me?"

Shen Yan was a little embarrassed: "...Abbess Miejue from 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber' and 'Rosy Business'..."

"You haven't seen my movie?"

"I haven't watched many Hong Kong films since 10... I make sure to watch two or three relatively famous movies every month, mostly award-winning films from film festivals... English films and French films, to ensure I watch a certain number of films!"

Why don't you watch Hong Kong movies?

"I've seen it... but I basically get bored after five minutes. Both the techniques and the rhythm are outdated!"

Leung Ka-fai sighed: "The genres are so rigid, all that's left are police and gangster films..."

"I'm really puzzled. Hong Kong is known as the spy capital, so why aren't there any movies about this?"

"The film *Cold War* actually had this intention..."

Why not continue filming?

Liang Jiahui smiled wryly: "I don't know, maybe they're worried about censorship?"

"Whatever..."

Shen Yan stood up: "The director should be urging us, let's go!"

……

Sometimes I really don't understand what Hong Kong filmmakers are thinking!
They'd rather request UN peacekeeping forces than give the Hong Kong garrison even the slightest bit of screen time…

Many people talk about the resurgence of Hong Kong cinema... Impossible!

The ability to attract talent!
The Chinese-language film and entertainment center has long been the mainland, but due to reasons such as "restrictions," Hong Kong and Taiwan are becoming a patchwork for Chinese-language popular culture.

Therefore, the ultimate fate of Hong Kong filmmakers is basically the same as that of Taiwanese filmmakers: a few talents will siphon off development in the mainland, leaving only low-budget art films and a few genre films to fill the gaps in the mainland popular culture that are not available due to restrictions. Hong Kong commercial films will no longer exist in the mainland market, and even co-productions will be almost non-existent, completely becoming a new era of Chinese-language cinema.

However, due to censorship, many topics cannot be filmed, while those from Hong Kong and Taiwan can.

In recent years, the most popular art and cultural works from Hong Kong and Taiwan in mainland China are almost all works that cannot be filmed on the mainland.

Shen Yan had considered making a Hong Kong version of "Train to Busan," turning the train into a subway...

Or a Hong Kong version of Blade Runner...

But... there's no need.

He has A24 paper; he could easily make an English version directly…

Most importantly, why provide financial support to Hong Kong filmmakers?

It's good to let them wallow in self-pity...

A prime example is Johnnie To. Whether it's the unchanging political tropes in his films over the decades or his rhetoric to the outside world, he always criticizes the mainland with a sense of superiority, saying it's inferior to Hong Kong and has ruined Hong Kong cinema.

It's always the same three things: blaming the mainland, blaming censorship, and artistic freedom; they don't even change the words.

Yes, the mainland doesn't have a rating system, but Hong Kong does. But what were the achievements of Johnnie To's films in Hong Kong in the years that followed?
Once mainland audiences have completely lost their fascination with Hong Kong films…

That's it!

……

The movie "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" was released on July 2nd...

A poetry prodigy, after two years of silence, brings back her latest work…

This movie is pretty chaotic!

Aside from some seemingly profound principles, there's nothing left!

The story is fragmented, and the characters are unusually flat.

Given the director's personality, it's quite possible that he felt he had to cater to the market while maintaining his status as a fifth-generation master, and he was never quite able to find the right feeling.

Finally, having no other choice, they simply mixed everything together, figuring that traditional Chinese medicine wouldn't kill anyone.

The final result: an incomplete world-building, inaccurate character development, disjointed narrative, and a lack of rigorous dramatic structure…

In short: There's nothing there!
The lens design is good, maintaining a high standard...

But that’s all!
However, the movie's box office performance was decent, grossing 1.5 million yuan in its opening weekend...

It set a new box office record for the "Little Poetry Prodigy" competition!

It briefly ended "Monkey King: Hero Is Back's" streak of winning the daily box office crown, but unfortunately, on July 4th, "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" surpassed "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" with 21% of the screenings, compared to "Monk Comes Down the Mountain's" 32%...

Then they overtook them all the way...

Until July 9th, "Tiny Times 4: The End of Soul"...

As the final installment of the "Tiny Times" series, "The End of Souls" grossed 1.12 million yuan on its opening day...

It aligns quite well with popular perception!

After all, the first three "Tiny Times" films all had very strong opening day box office results!

However, with the increase in the upper limit of the market capitalization in recent years, 1.12 million on the first day is not much...

Fast & Furious 7 grossed over 4 million yuan on its opening day.

"Life's Big Events" grossed 1.7 million on its opening day...

The Martian grossed 2.5 million on its opening day!
Furthermore, on July 10th, He Jiong's film "Forever Young" was released, grossing 97 million yuan on its opening day... directly breaking the winning streak of "Tiny Times 4"...

(End of this chapter)