Reporter | Quezheng
"In 20 years, many things can happen and many people can be met. They may leave some traces and gradually leave our lives. The pace of Hong Kong is always very fast. It seems extravagant to stay in one place and remember someone. It happened that there was one person who made Hong Kong people break the habit of forgetting. After 20 years, we still miss you, our brother, Leslie Cheung. "
This is a passage of TVB in the 20th anniversary program of Leslie Cheung’s death, and it also tells many people’s inner doubts-20 years is long enough to forget someone, but why not long enough to forget Leslie Cheung?
He is like an accident that transcends time and space and life and death.
This question will be asked every few years. Some people ask about the 5th anniversary, the 10th anniversary, and the 20th anniversary. People seem to acquiesce: pop culture is perishable, idols are limited by the times, the media is forgetful, and fans hate the old. Perhaps, it is true in general, but there are always accidents.
Leslie Cheung is like the accident that transcends time and space and life and death. On the 5th anniversary, the piazza of Hong Kong Cultural Center was packed. 10th anniversary, to commemorate the concert; Up to the 20th anniversary, the procession of sending flowers to pay tribute at the entrance of Mandarin Oriental Hotel is still hundreds of meters away … Over the years, official commemorative activities of global film festivals have been held one after another, and spontaneous exhibitions and lectures by the people have never stopped. Fans from all over the world don’t explain the reasons, but they answer freely.
As early as more than ten years ago, in 2007, Professor Luo Feng of the Chinese University of Hong Kong made a questionnaire survey spanning more than ten regions, which was distributed online in four languages: Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean. Among the 1393 receipts received, there was an unexpected discovery-42% of people began to like him after his death, which was very close to 58% before his death. This peculiar phenomenon of "post-glory fans" is a topic worthy of discussion in the history of popular culture in Hong Kong. Luo Feng therefore put pen to paper: "A dead person nourishes the cultural memory of the public endlessly."
Looking back after more than ten years, I was surprised to find that the proportion of this number has been upside down-at various commemorative events, there are white-haired old people and contemporary urban men and women in Leslie Cheung, but more than half of them are young people who don’t look over 30 years old. When chatting, it is not uncommon to find that they were born in 1999 or after 00. That is to say, when Leslie Cheung died, they were all primary school students or even just born! Since there is no time to travel together, where is the infatuation?
The answer is so insipid that there is no drama-which one of his songs I have heard, which one of his plays I have seen, whether it’s The Wind Keep Blowing or Farewell My Concubine, or whether my parents are his fans-in short, "into the pit" is so easy, classic works or intergenerational inheritance, where there are lights, there are people. The young client doesn’t even think it’s strange to like an idol that became popular all over the world in the 1980s. Talking about him is like talking about a rookie who just hit the charts last week.
I like Leslie Cheung not because of nostalgia-it’s even more surprising than Leslie Cheung’s 20-year memory. But on second thought, it feels quite reasonable. There is a line in the movie "Porn Men and Women": Just walk a few steps faster than others, not too fast, which is not good. When Leslie Cheung was alive, he was called "the cleverest but most controversial headline figure in the entertainment industry in Asia" by Time magazine. Twenty years ago, he lived in a generation where he was always the "shocking" person, who walked too fast and too early, reflecting the conservatism and backwardness of society in vain. Now 20 years later, people finally keep up with his footsteps and get the same frequency resonance of the spirit.
Above: Continue to spoil the "Enthusiastic" concert costumes displayed at the Leslie Cheung Memorial Exhibition.
This kind of "time-space dislocation" resonance is not uncommon. Some people and some works are destined to have a greater and deeper impact on different generations of audiences. This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival screening of "Youth in Fire" is an example-the film directed by Tan Jiaming in 1982 was cut by the audience because of its bold consciousness, and the box office was not necessarily excellent. It was not until 40 years later that the director’s cut version was shown again that the scenes that had to be deleted in that year were restored one by one, and finally a ticket was hard to find.
Another example is "The True Story of Teddy Boy" directed by Tan Jiaming’s apprentice Wong Kar-wai. In that year, investors went to the hospital for intravenous drip, and the audience stood up in the cinema and shouted, "Who is Wong Kar-wai? ！” At that time, who would have thought that 20 years after its release, it would become the first in the "Top Ten Films in Hong Kong" of the Hong Kong Film Critics Association.
Leslie Cheung also often embodies such a "dislocation". The most famous is the "Enthusiasm" concert in 2000. Please go to the famous French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier to create the concept of "from angel to devil", which was praised as "the peak of enthusiasm and fashion" by Time magazine and "a talented performer" by Asahi Shimbun. However, in the mouth of local media, it was ridiculed as "playing the role of a virgin with long hair". jean paul gaultier was furious and said that he would never design clothes for other Hong Kong singers again. When Leslie Cheung said that "I think artists can achieve the highest level with both sexes in one person, and art itself has no gender", he probably didn’t expect that it would be 20 years before the Hong Kong media gradually digested this sentence and turned to praise the "enthusiastic" concert.
Looking back, people who walk fast are all similar, even keep pace.
Above: Leslie Cheung Memorial Exhibition.
When "Fire Youth" was complained about being cut 40 years ago, Leslie Cheung once said, "I don’t know why the censorship department has to cut my nude scenes. I didn’t intentionally expose them, and my figure is not too good, but I will take them off if the plot needs me." Considering that this year is not too far away from him being tricked into filming the third-grade film "Spring in the Red Chamber", these words are even more touching.
Thirty years ago, when The True Story of Teddy Boy was neither popular nor popular, and Wong Kar-wai had to rely on Chen Xunqi to take him in to write a play, Leslie Cheung said with great confidence that The True Story of Teddy Boy was his best work since he started filming, and Wong Kar-wai was the most promising director today.
At that time, they walked too fast and needed to stop and wait, so that we could feel the initial throb across generations.
Our screen is not as big as his.
"Those who die but don’t die live long." Death is not the end, forgetting is. For literary and art workers, life is limited, but works are eternal.
Recently, a senior Korean journalist Zhu Shengche’s "Forever Brother Leslie Cheung" was introduced and published. Zhu lamented in the book: "He always cooperates with top directors. Although it is hard to imagine that Chow Yun Fat starred in Wong Kar-wai’s film, Stephen Chow starred in John Woo’s film, Andy Lau starred in Guan Jinpeng’s film, or Jackie Chan starred in Chen Kexin’s film, Leslie Cheung has cooperated with all these directors, and all of these directors’ film works have Leslie Cheung’s name." Fu Lizhong, a Taiwan Province writer, once expressed similar feelings: "It is extremely rare for Leslie Cheung to become a muse of so many works as a male."
Above: Leslie Cheung gave a speech at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2002.
Hongkong is a paradise for genre films, but Leslie Cheung, who stands at the top of the pyramid, has never been a genre actor. Compared with the famous actors who dominated by Kung Fu and comedy, Leslie Cheung never dominated any kind of film, but he showed a multifaceted character.
An interesting phenomenon is that he seems to have different "stereotypes" in the eyes of different directors: John Woo always gives him the role of loyal younger brother, Tsui Hark thinks he is a sincere and honest scholar or priest, Guan Jinpeng likes his elegance, Chen Jiashang likes his chic and uninhibited, Chen Kexin thinks he is very literary, Chen Kaige thinks he is sad, and Wong Kar-wai always thinks he is the bird with no feet.
A more interesting phenomenon is that when he plays any of the above roles, he will be labeled as "true colors": Ning Caichen, Shi Ershao, Jiaming Gu, Cheng Dieyi, A Fei, Xi Du, He Baorong … These roles, which are considered "unimaginable without Leslie Cheung", are all called "tailor-made" in the end, so that he can’t figure it out: "I really don’t understand why every actor. Have they ever thought that it is actually this actor who plays well? I don’t think any play or role is really tailor-made for an actor unless he plays himself back. "
Perhaps, "tailor-made" is also a high praise for an actor to some extent. In this regard, I very much agree with Lin Peili, a Hong Kong cultural critic. "For most actors, acting is a process of putting on a mask, but for Leslie Cheung, acting is a process of removing the mask. This way of acting is actually based on an attitude towards life, an honest and loyal attitude towards life. " He said, "I think Leslie Cheung is an extremely rare’ actor-writer’ in the Hong Kong film industry. His most touching and chewy performances on the screen, whether soft, gorgeous, biting, or horrified, all have a true feeling, a concentration of feelings, and a living’ me’. Leslie Cheung didn’t receive orthodox drama training. The biggest resource he relied on as an actor was his life experience, his injuries, his fears, his love and hate, his blood, tears and bitterness, and his courage and determination to extract this resource. This deductive method is true. Such actors can achieve the most touching performances, but they also have to take the greatest risks … They must join the WTO, pitch the world, devote themselves to life, face themselves, and be frank and open about everything. For them, the only defense is undefended. "
As early as 1980s, Leslie Cheung said, "I don’t want to be a star, because I am already. I hope to be a real actor. " He has always been conscious of stripping off his idol singer identity. Since the late 1980s, he has declined the role of "lover" who focuses on beauty, as Guan Jinpeng said: Beauty is an obstacle in Leslie Cheung. In order to break this barrier, he took on the roles of sissy second brother in Happy Family, Cheng Dieyi in Farewell My Concubine, Song Danping whose face was disfigured in Singing at midnight, and Ye Daying, an English-speaking underground party in Red Lover. When filming Red Lover, he wanted to find an image of an underground party that was different from the guerrilla captain, with profound cultivation and spiritual life.
His performances are always based on the recognition of the role. While most people think that Cheng Dieyi is a tragic character, Leslie Cheung doesn’t think so. In 2002, at the invitation of Xiao Si (Lu Weiluan), he gave a speech on "How to Interpret the Characters in Li Bihua’s Novels" and mentioned that the film Farewell My Concubine was homophobic because of some concerns. As an actor, he "only tries his best to do his duty, play the role of Cheng Dieyi, and convey his unswerving insistence on the same sex to the audience through appropriate eyes and movements", thus balancing the director’s taboo. In his view, "Cheng Dieyi is not sad at all, because he can face everything in front of him independently, such as leading a drunken life on the stage, such as his feelings for his brother, and he will do it without hesitation".
After the premiere of Farewell My Concubine in Cannes 30 years ago, more than 3,000 people stood up and applauded for 10 minutes. At this time, Leslie Cheung only had a strong feeling: "I will gradually reduce production and stop making bad films." Of course, this is an idea that is incompatible with Hong Kong’s film industry. As we all know, Hong Kong films have always been full of stones and mud, and it is normal to start several sets of plays at the same time and roll over several or even a dozen cast members at the same time. But Leslie Cheung almost never made two plays at the same time after 1990s. Later, he became the first Chinese actor to serve as a judge for the three major film festivals in the world.
Above: stills from the movie Farewell My Concubine.
He began to participate more in behind-the-scenes production. He was a screenwriter, producer, deputy director and executive director … More than once, he expressed his strong interest in being a director, and also set up his own film production company, Dream League. Judging from all the signs, he can be a good director. All the directors he has worked with say that he is very independent and his opinions are not only aimed at his own role, but beneficial to the whole film. Said that he would remember the movements and lines of his opponent’s actors and help them enter the play; Said he had a sense of rhythm and a lot of things he wanted to express. All this looks like the qualities of a good director.
However, judging from the general environment at that time, his dream of directing seemed doomed to be broken. In Hong Kong at the beginning of this century, piracy was rampant and bad movies were in vogue. Investors gave Leslie Cheung the impression that he was "just talking about a business", but what he wanted to shoot was a good movie. The dislocation between this environment and his ideal began to appear as early as when he was an actor. His last two plays, The Gun King and inner senses, met his long-cherished wish to play a perverted killer and a mental patient, but the "good and evil" he wanted to express always lost to the "happy ending" pursued by commercial films. He once said that the biggest blow to Hong Kong films is not just piracy. "The most fatal reason is that filmmakers have never made progress, and they are making quick money every day, while mainland filmmakers have been making progress and will catch up with Hong Kong one day."
In June, 2003, the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) was signed, which started the wave of Hong Kong directors going north to co-produce. Unfortunately, Leslie Cheung did not wait until this day.
Chen Kexin, the earliest director who went north, said: "I think he is a big-screen actor. Our screen is not as big as his. China’s mainland market is very open. Maybe it was the most suitable space for him to live at that time. I really think Hong Kong’s film circle actually includes his way of life, including his perfectionism, including his personality, including his sexual orientation. I don’t think we are big enough for anything. I think my mind is not big enough. In fact, it is in all areas.
Above: "Brother Bus" shuttles through the streets of Hong Kong.
Above: Tickets for the 4.1 concert sold out in 2 hours, and the audience entered the venue one after another. Photography/politics
People in love make golden years.
"How did that happen? It shouldn’t be like this. When the news of suicide by jumping off a building came and was confirmed, all of a sudden, the usual life order was disrupted, like a traveler who started together suddenly lost one person, got off the bus, or got lost, and couldn’t be called back, like a very familiar friend who completely lost contact, left suspense and worry. The only thing the living can do is to accept the fact as soon as possible, and then slowly get used to it, admit it, but miss him. " Ma Jiahui, a Hong Kong writer, wrote, "The more hasty the times are, the more you will inevitably want to find solace in the defined past time. In those years, it seems that even if all the ideals have not yet been achieved, they must wait ahead, waiting for us to chase, waiting for us to look forward to, waiting for us to move towards our goals faster or slower. Our wind continues to blow, and our unruly wind, handsome men and beautiful women and happy ever after, like sparkling jewels, are hanging and swaying in the night sky of Hong Kong, but they can at least see and see it. "
If the infatuation with Leslie Cheung after 00 is the pulse of the times finally catching up, then the endless memory of people who came with Leslie Cheung is more like a kind of reminiscence of the golden age and self-healing. This year, the first popular culture festival was held in Hong Kong, and the "Leslie Cheung Memorial Exhibition" of the Hong Kong Heritage Museum became the leading program.
Perhaps it will be famous in the future, and many people forget that the omnipotent "One-take Leslie" written by Time magazine (Leslie Cheung who made a movie once) used to be "going upstream silently for Leslie Cheung for eight years". It may be hard for him to be associated with "Under the Lion Rock" because he is unrestrained and uninhibited, but Leslie Cheung really has the spirit of "Under the Lion Rock".
From beautiful to wireless, from Hong Kong to international, Leslie Cheung’s struggle history also witnessed the TV situation in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s, witnessed the sale of Hong Kong films to Southeast Asia, and witnessed the cooperation between Hong Kong and China, and witnessed the film industry in Hong Kong from a new wave to a hundred flowers, from a torrent to a gradual decline. In the early 1980 s, TV unit drama was popular, and he was a small role in the unit drama; When TV variety was in the ascendant, he was also a small role in comedy variety-I admire him most for his ambition. Although he was born in the rich second generation, his guardian when he was studying in Britain was the sister of Shaw Kung Fu superstar alexander fu. The two families have always been on good terms, and it was only a matter of words to make a debut in the entertainment industry. But he asked his servant to borrow 20 yuan to take a star ferry across the sea to participate in the singing competition, and the runner-up made his debut and screwed the screws from the "factory" step by step.
Above: At the exhibition site of Timeless Leslie Encounter, Chen Youjian, a famous designer who has cooperated with Leslie Cheung, and Hsueh erh Wen, an actor, were present. Photography/politics
Everyone yearns for the golden age, but few people see the endless efforts and efforts behind it. During the 20 years since Leslie Cheung’s death, many partners have come forward to remember the past. Only then did we know that when he and Li Xiaotian recorded a record, they found that there was something wrong with a place, they would sing the whole song again instead of recording a new sentence, because "the place where the singing was repeated would be audible from the breathing". It turns out that he went to see a psychologist twice in order to collect information before filming inner senses, and he could see at a glance that the medicine bottles prepared by props were not suitable for the characters in the play. It turned out that when he filmed moonlight express, even the shadow had to perform in person. Director Li Rengang said: "The average actor will let body double perform when he only shoots a certain part of his body, but Leslie Cheung even performed the shadow himself. Other actors filmed the shadow of Leslie Cheung several times, and Leslie Cheung will not be impatient."
Reminiscent of the "head-picking" green screen trick used by traffic stars in our time, we finally understand what we are remembering when remembering a superstar like Leslie Cheung.
At the end of 1997, during the Asian financial turmoil, the annual output of Hong Kong films dropped sharply from 234 at the peak in 1993 to 92 in 1998. In order to save himself, Cen Jianxun put forward the idea of "creative alliance"-the main actors reduce their remuneration, so that filmmakers can start catering with lower investment. Although the idea is good, many actors turn pale when they hear "pay cut". In the end, Leslie Cheung accepted the invitation and took the film "Meteor Talk" with 1 yuan’s salary. Director Zhang Zhiliang said, "It really shocked me. I know that he was paid the top three in the industry at that time. He was able to do this. I think he is an actor who really loves movies, loves artistic life and loves Hong Kong. " He thought that Leslie Cheung started the meeting and the follow-up meeting would be easier. But in the end, this "creative alliance" only produced this film. Nearly 10 years later, "Meteor Talk" finally reached a balance of payments in the continuous re-screening, and he happily gave dividends to Leslie Cheung’s family.
If it weren’t for people in love, there would be no golden age.
There are many good people in this world, but few real people.
At 8: 30 pm on April 1st, 2023, Hong Kong Hung Hom Gymnasium, which opened in April, 1983, has gone through 40 years of vicissitudes and has always been regarded as a landmark of popular culture in Hong Kong. That night, its owner was Leslie Cheung, who had given hundreds of concerts here.
"Treat people with sincerity, and people will insult each other", which used to be Leslie Cheung’s own situation. But after 20 years of hard work, I finally demonstrated to tens of thousands of viewers what "one good turn deserves another". On the stage, those people he once helped, cared for and cared for, one by one, performed his famous songs and told his kindness and sincerity.
Above: Still from "The True Color of Heroes".
There is a saying among fans that "Leslie Cheung’s character begins with his face value, indulges in talent and is loyal to his character". But the strangeness of this person lies in that after 20 years of continuous reminiscence, there is still something new-brother B Zhong Zhentao recalled that year on the stage and went bankrupt himself. Leslie Cheung asked Huang Baiming to change the planned New Year film "Eight Stars Report Good News" into "Nine Stars Report Good News" to add one more for him. Vivian Chow thanked him for composing music for his fledgling self. Tan Yaowen called Leslie Cheung an idol. In 1988, he won the championship in the singing competition for a song "Refuse to Play Again". The King Dawn remembered Leslie Cheung in another concert hosted by Universal Records. Seeing that he was lonely and unsociable, he offered to produce records for him. Helping peers and supporting the younger generation, these trickle streams are now merged into rivers, lakes and seas, which is a kind induction of human beings.
Recently, I read Leslie Cheung’s biography "Gone with the Wind", only to find that this person is really a bit ridiculous: being sincere to others will not change because of the other person’s status. In the past, I only knew that he invited a small actor from a drama school to visit Hong Kong as a concert guest after filming Farewell My Concubine, but it turned out that there was a lucky draw at the celebration banquet, and when children got an impractical travel ticket, they carefully converted it into cash. It turns out that it’s not just the shooting of "Meteor Talk", but also the shooting of "inner senses" and even the tutoring of English for the young actors. ! Even the servants’ rooms should be designed and decorated by themselves for advice, and after the project is completed, they should ask, "Do you like it?" I was really shocked by the piles.
However, beauty or goodness, the most touching thing about Leslie Cheung is actually the truth. When stars are more and more like the official spokesmen of their own studios, this sincerity is even more like a scarce product.
Like him, he never hides his ambition and ambition to become famous. In the 1980s, he had a fan mailbox, and the media asked him, would you open the letter yourself? He boldly replied: I have been looking forward to it for many years, but now I have it, why do I have to fake someone else?
I like his little worry and self-mockery: at the midnight show of "The True Color of Heroes", he sat next to Lin Yanni and waited to see the audience’s reaction, saying, "I’m dying, and the audience likes Fazai so much, but I’m a policeman who wants to catch Fazai and my brother." But every time he saw himself appear, he clapped his hands happily and said naively, "I don’t shoot who first, I have to make the audience clap."
I like him sitting between James J.S.Wong, Ni Kuang and Cai Lan, and "Unprotected Tonight" reveals his heart. After all is forgiven, he proudly boasted: "I, Leslie Cheung, stand on the stage is the guarantee of performance."
Like his comeback, the media thought that he had to find an excuse to break his word, but he didn’t care to tell me: "I have endured it for six years", and Canada was "bored to nothing".
I like his generous love at the concert, The Moon Represents My Heart.
I like that he cherishes his life, and he still insists on seeing a psychiatrist in the pursuit of paparazzi, and makes a final effort to let the world know more about the disease of depression and the uncontrollable emotion at the time of onset.
"Don’t dodge, live for the life I like. Without BLACKPINK, just stand in a bright corner. " He sings like this and lives like this. Reporter | Quezheng
