Hong Kong: Rise of the Kings

In the United States, you may not know who the president is, but you must know the magazine The New Yorker.

Since its establishment, this magazine has been popular for its pungent satire and closeness to society.

So many top journalism students who graduated from universities are proud to be able to work at The New Yorker and become full-time employees here after graduation.

Pauline Kyle, 32, has been in the industry for ten years.

She started working at the women's magazine Beauty Magazine after graduating from Harvard University, but was fired after writing a negative review of the movie "The Sound of Music" - which Kael called "the sound of money."

She also thought that another musical film "The Long March to Wanbao Mountain" was equally bad.

In contrast, she considers the film version of Fiddler on the Roof and especially Cabaret to be two of the greatest film musicals of all time.

Kael began working at The New Yorker in 1967, and the magazine gave her relatively generous space and seemingly minimal editorial interference while establishing her as a first-rate critic.

Pauline Kael herself believed that it was interesting for her to write film reviews during this period because the films at that time themselves had great shocking power.

In 1970, Kael won the George Burke Award for her outstanding critical work in The New Yorker, which pushed her reputation as a film critic to the pinnacle.

So many film companies were eager and even begged her to help write reviews for newly released movies, because they knew that as long as Pauline started writing, it would be difficult for their movie to become popular even if they didn't want to.

It's a pity that Pauline is a stubborn woman. She is full of awe and sincerity in her work and absolutely does not allow any moisture to be mixed.

Therefore, many movie bosses' plans to invite her to help write film reviews failed, and they started to love and hate her.

But at this moment Pauline was receiving a lesson in the editor-in-chief of The New Yorker.

The editor-in-chief is a serious old white man. Pauline and the others call him "Mike Corleone" in private.

Michael Corleone is the male pig foot in the Oscar-winning movie "The Godfather", that is, the godfather who likes to twirl rings and play with cats at any time.

The old editor-in-chief also has this hobby, twirling rings, petting cats, and pretending to be serious, especially when teaching subordinates.

"Pauline, do you know where you went wrong? You haven't written a good film review for three weeks in a row! Damn it, I pay you a salary, but you don't work. How is this ridiculous?" The editor-in-chief said in his arms He hugged the cat and said angrily to Pauline.

Pauline was not afraid of him and shrugged: "It's not that I don't want to write. The problem is that there are no movies in Hollywood, no, in the entire United States, that are worthy of my writing! Yes, the current movie market is so bad that I don't have any. I’ve never seen so many bad movies at one time.”

"Oh God!" The editor-in-chief covered his face, "You are a film critic. No matter whether the movies are bad or not, you have to complete your job. At least use your pen to write a few articles! Otherwise, what will you publish in that section? ? Claim notice, whose lost cat or dog comes to our newspaper office to claim it?"

Pauline pouted: "Okay, I will try my best to write a review, and now you just pray to God that a good movie will be released this week."

"I'm praying for nothing! If you can't write it, I will fire you! Don't laugh, I will do what I say!" The editor-in-chief roared again.

Pauline held back her laughter. She had wanted to fire herself like this so many times. Although the editor-in-chief is serious and likes to act cool, he is still a good person.

…

"Pauline, do you want to have lunch together?"

Paulin left the editor-in-chief's office and began to clear away the information on the table.

When the female colleague saw that she was in a bad mood, she took the initiative to invite her.

"No, I still have work to do."

"Did your godfather yell at you again? Don't take it to heart, he always does this."

"It's okay. I also know that this is his responsibility. It's mainly me... Now I have to watch a few movies. Yes, I want to write a movie review as soon as possible! By the way, do you have any recommendations?"

"I'm afraid I can't help you with this. You know, our aesthetics are too different from yours. They are even opposite. You think the movies that we think are wonderful are rubbish. On the contrary, the movies that we think are rubbish, you think are rubbish." But I thought it was a good movie.”

"Then let's do it the other way around. What trash movies are there recently?" Pauline asked with a smile as she picked up her satchel.

The female colleague was stunned for a moment, and then said: "I heard that a Hong Kong movie is going to be released on Fox recently, and many movie bosses are not optimistic about it! Yes, and they call it garbage! No, it is garbage among garbage!"

"Wow, is there such a thing?" Pauline asked curiously, "Before I, Pauline Kael, admit it, any trash movie might be a treasure!"

"Stop talking, I'll go take a look first!" Paulin picked up her handbag and walked away.

"You really don't want to have lunch?" a colleague shouted from behind.

Pauline waved her hand back: "My food is movies!"

…

Since "Way of the Dragon" is a purely Hong Kong movie, it cannot be seen in theaters across the United States. You can only buy tickets to watch it in theaters owned by Fox.

Pauline finally took a taxi and found a Fox movie theater. She paid the money, got out of the car, and looked up. The entrance to the movie theater was very deserted.

"It looks terrible!" Pauline shook her head and said, "I heard that the Chinese boss of Fox spent a lot of money and did a lot of publicity, but I didn't expect that there were still not many people coming to watch the movie."

Pauline has long been accustomed to this kind of "racial discrimination" in movies.

Movies produced by Hollywood can sell well all over the world and become popular in Europe, Asia and Africa, but if African and Asian movies want to gain a foothold here, they have to rely on luck.

Especially Asian movies. Now the only movies available in Asia are from Japan and Hong Kong. Indian Bollywood movies are not included, because Bollywood movies have long been penetrated by Hollywood capital, and whiteness is also used as beauty in the movies. Many big Indian stars are Is of white descent.

"Miss, do you want to watch a movie? Do you want half the ticket price?"

Pauline was looking at the movie theater when a white ticket seller suddenly appeared.

"Uh, so cheap?"

The white ticket seller smiled bitterly: "I made a miscalculation this time! My companions reminded me not to buy so many movie tickets like this before, but I was fascinated by the highlights of this drama on TV. God, I immediately I thought this drama would be a big hit! But now—"

The white ticket seller spread his hands and glanced around, "You can also see that no one appreciates this Hong Kong movie shot by Chinese people!"

Pauline smiled: "Since you choose to do this kind of business, you must be aware of losing money." She took out her wallet, bought one, and said, "I hope this half-price ticket is worth the play."

The white ticket seller shrugged: "I can't guarantee this. Since you choose half-price tickets, you must be conscious of watching bad movies!"

Pauline smiled, said nothing, and walked toward the cinema with her movie ticket in hand.

…

at the same time--

Many Fox-owned theaters are showing the scene.

Except for a few cinemas where Bruce Lee and others held road shows, the occupancy rate was as high as 70%. The occupancy rate of other cinemas was basically less than half. Some large cinemas had 500 seats, but only 70 or 80 people watched.

After learning about Fox's extremely poor "attendance rate", those Hollywood bosses breathed a sigh of relief.

"God, I knew this show was a bad show. Look, no one is watching it!"

"The Chinese boss named Du is finished. He spent so much money on publicity, but now the attendance is less than half, haha!"

Carlos, the boss of Paramount, was even more relieved about this, "Maybe I really thought too much! God, forgive me, I thought that the boss named Du was too powerful, and I also thought of this Hong Kong movie. It’s so good! Yes, God knows how bad it is now!”

Carlos was in a happy mood, so he invited a few friends to toast and celebrate directly at the largest hotel in Hollywood, and named the celebration party - "The Roar of the Dragon", which means that no matter how roaring the dragon is, it can't scare Hollywood big shots like them. .

Compared with Carlos and others toasting to celebrate, the atmosphere on Fox's side was gloomy, even a little miserable.

As the president, Ryder, as well as the company's director, Old Mike, and others were all on tenterhooks, waiting for word-of-mouth to come out after the premiere.

In Hollywood, the reputation of a film is really important.

Although capital can control movies, audiences only like to vote with their feet.

Even if you spend a lot of capital and the audience doesn't buy it, it will still be a bad movie. On the contrary, if the audience's reputation increases, then even if your movie is not favored by others, the box office will slowly increase.

…

A play, 120 minutes.

Not too long, not too short.

For everyone in Fox, life was like a year, but Du Yongxiao remained calm, as if he had anticipated everything.

Ryder and others had to admire the Chinese boss. In terms of determination, none of them were as good as him.

Soon, the movie ends.

Du Yongxiao and Ryder, who were hiding behind the scenes, remained silent, waiting to see the audience's reaction.

As the leading actors, Bruce Lee, Luo Lishi and others were also extremely nervous and stared at the audience.

"What's going on, so quiet?"

“Isn’t the photo beautiful?”

"Ruined!"

Ryder took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat vigorously.

Bruce Lee and Luo Lishi looked at each other and saw each other's loss and guilt.

This drama is very popular in Asia. Could it be that it is not adapted to the local environment and will die here?

Just when they were discouraged--

Sudden!

"Great!"

"marvelous!"

Thunderous applause broke out.

The three hundred audience members stood up collectively, clapped and applauded vigorously toward the stage and the screen.

"We...succeeded?"

Luo Lishi looked at Bruce Lee with a puzzled face.

Bruce Lee looked at Du Yongxiao.

Fox President Ryder also looked at Du Yongxiao.

Du Yongxiao smiled slightly: "What are you still waiting for? Go to the stage to thank the audience!"

Look at the audience again,

The lights came up and the applause was thunderous.

…

New York Street——

Pauline Kael didn't know how she walked out of the cinema.

There were excited audiences everywhere, making "howling sounds" that only Bruce Lee had in the movie, and several young people imitated Bruce Lee's moves unscrupulously.

"What the hell did I just watch?"

"God, is this a kung fu movie? Why is it so exciting?"

Pauline couldn't help but ask herself. At this moment, some of the highlights of "Way of the Dragon" kept popping up in her mind, and deep in her heart she felt the urge to write a film review quickly.

"Yes, I can't stand it anymore! I'm going to start now!" Pauline was so impatient that she broke into a McDonald's burger restaurant, took out her notebook without asking for anything, and started writing crazily on the table.

The movie clips in my mind, accompanied by Bruce Lee's wonderful kung fu figure, turned into paragraphs of text and trickled down on the manuscript.

Seeing her like this, the McDonald's waiter originally wanted to ask her if she needed anything, but finally held back and did not dare to disturb Pauline, who was working hard.

"The classic part of the play "Enter the Dragon" is undoubtedly the ending of the film. The duel at the end is at the Colosseum. In history, the Colosseum was a place where gladiators and animals fought. It was An entertainment venue provided to the audience and the nobles. They treated the gladiators like animals, locked them in cages, and fought with tigers and lions. In the duel at the end of the film, there was a cat watching the human fight. This is shown in the film. There is a clear contrast. Bruce Lee chose this location to film the duel, which was obviously deliberate."

"In the duel at the end of the film, Bruce Lee plays the character Tang Long - by the way, why is the protagonist called Tang Long? Because the Tang Dynasty was one of the most powerful and glorious dynasties in China, and the 'dragon' is also China's unique and most representative mythical beast. .The duel between him and the characters played by Luo Lishi has a certain form of "a showdown between masters and sympathy for each other."

"At the end, Luo Lishi was gradually at a disadvantage due to excessive tension in the duel, until his arms and knees were broken. Tang Long signaled that there was no need to continue fighting because his opponent was disabled, but Luo Lishi still wanted to stand up and tried to continue fighting. Fight with Tang Long. In fact, he doesn’t want to continue fighting with Tang Long, but wants to die, because he is already disabled, and living like this is just a shame.”

"In the end, Luo Lishi roared and rushed towards Tang Long, asking Tang Long to kill him. In the end, Tang Long had no choice but to grant him. Then the camera showed a close-up of Tang Long's face. That look was one of helplessness. In the end, Tang Long had no choice but to grant him. The dragon put his clothes over him to show that people shouldn’t die like animals, but also to show a little respect for his opponent.”

In this way, in a noisy McDonald's, Pauline Kael only spent ten minutes writing the film review of "Way of the Dragon".

She picked it up and reviewed it carefully, hoping to make some changes, but the writing was so good that she didn't even need to make changes.

"Excuse me, where is the fax nearby? Yes, I have very important documents to deliver!" Paulin asked the fast food restaurant waiter for the first time.

The waiter looked at her in surprise and finally told her the nearest copy shop.

Without saying a word, Pauline just picked up her bag and went out, taking steps and running frantically towards the copy shop.

Because she knows-——

This play,

It's about to explode!