On February 27, 2021, Wu Mengda passed away. As Ng Mang-tat leaves us forever, the fans' long-cherished wish for a "father and son reunion" was finally shattered, leaving only Stephen Chow's words of "unacceptable" and a pair of confused eyes at the funeral. Unexpectedly, in Wu Mengtat's posthumous works, I found the energy to soothe this sadness. After watching this film, surrounded by barrages of "Missing Uncle Da" that filled the screen, there were only two words in my mind: perfection. Mr. Ng Man-tat's posthumous work - "The Origin of Journey to the West"
"The Origin of Journey to the West" is adapted from "The Origin of Journey to the West". The film was launched in November 2020 and was the last work of Ng Man-tat during his lifetime. A work. In the countdown to physical function, Wu Mengda chose to participate in an IP adaptation of "Westward Journey", whether intentionally or unintentionally. And after watching this "Origin", its story is even more refreshing and tender, just like a love letter written by the main creators through Ng Meng-tat for all Stephen Chow fans and Journey to the West fans.
Looking back on the past, Stephen Chow's works are always filled with a sadness of powerlessness. In the early days, this kind of pathos was caused by a little person falling in love with a rich girl, or a country bumpkin going to the big city alone. In the pursuit of dreams and love, there are always layers of obstacles from reality, which makes the naive protagonist bend his back. Fortunately, in the end, the protagonist will make a comeback, marry a beautiful woman, reach the pinnacle of life, and usher in a perfect ending.
But as his experience grew, Stephen Chow began to disbelieve in this deliberate beauty. He began to strip away the fairy tale nature in his works, insisting on going his own way even if it was contrary to the audience. This mentality was most intuitively reflected during the transformation period in the mid-to-late 1990s. With his subjective participation, his works began to show a pessimistic temperament. "Return to the Soul Night", "Dead Grass" and even "The King of Comedy".
Of course, among them, the "Westward Journey" series, which has been hailed as a masterpiece, is the most affected. Through the dislocation of time and identity, the entire work has a complete impact on people with the sadness of "not being able to love". A generation of movie fans’ view of love. Off-screen, the regrets of Fairy Zixia and Zhizunbao are also reflected in reality
Uncle Tat and Stephen Chow, the best partners on screen, have not collaborated for 20 years since "Shaolin Soccer" . Ng Mang-tat said that when filming "Kung Fu", Yuen Wah's role as "Charterer" was originally tailor-made for Ng Mang-tat, but unfortunately it happened to be during the SARS period, and the film plan was disrupted. When the filming started again, Ng Mang-tat had already gone to another crew and could not get out.
Later, when filming "The Mermaid", Stephen Chow approached him again, but Ng Mang-tat was in ill health and the film required underwater work, so he was really not qualified for the job, so he had to decline in the end. Faced with the fans' questioning, Ng Man-tat reassured: "As long as I don't die and he doesn't retire, there will definitely be a chance."
But now that they are separated from each other, the two people can no longer regain their former love. It also made movie fans a little more regretful. Zixia and Ng Meng-tat's love and friendship, the virtual and the real, created Stephen Chow's tragic background, which makes people sigh that things are different and people are different. Unexpectedly, when Ng Man-tat was on his deathbed, he left behind such a work that comforted movie fans. The film does not make mistakes, but tells the prequel story in Stephen Chow's version
In this version, the protagonist Zhizunbao is a noodle chef who manages a noodle shop with his father *** "played by Ng Man-tat" , and Zixia and Qingxia have not yet formed a wick. In order to avoid the fate of being burned out, Zixia traveled through time under the guidance of the Moonlight Box, and pulled out the sword to find her "Lamplighter" to change her destiny.
This time, Zixia is no longer an indecisive bystander, and immediately snatches the bride from the beginning. Zhizunbao participated in the town's wedding competition and almost got the hydrangea. Zixia jumped up and split the hydrangea into two pieces. "You are my lamplighter, you can't catch the bouquets."
There was no pretense, no twists and turns. After Zixia and Zhizunbao finished talking about their intentions, they found that he could not pull out Ziqing. The sword simply ran away. But Zhizunbao, who had listened to the whole story, was seduced away. Before Zixia could fall in love, he fell in love with Zixia. As mentioned before, the first half of the movie is like fans making up for the regrets of "Westward Journey".
The father played by Ng Man-tat is still that smooth and cute, but in the scene of watching his son off, he deceived the audience into tears with just one line. The son insisted on leaving after seeing Zixia. Uncle Da knew that his son had no choice but to leave, so he could only complain: "Let's go as soon as we say, don't go so fast!"
This line Later, the movie "untimely" added a mixed cut of Uncle Ta. Although it was abrupt, the audience knew at a glance that this was the film crew's memory of Uncle Ta's memory through light and shadow. Uncle Da, leave as soon as you say, don't go so fast. The barrage finally stopped.
But in the second half of the story, the screenwriter began to show his planning skills and perfectly connected the entire story with "Westward Journey". The elder of the Tianji Pavilion, "Nine Holes Decoration", was selfish and snatched the Moonlight Treasure Box in an attempt to absorb the power of all the colorful stones. He injured Zixia, and the mortal body of the Supreme Treasure was burning with heart but could do nothing. Looking at Zhizunbao who was beating his chest in front of me, Zixia's line broke my guard: "I have always wanted to turn you into what I like, but I can no longer live without you as you are now.
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Isn't this the subtext of the Supreme Treasure towards Zixia in the 95 version of "Westward Journey"? She has always wanted to find the person she likes, but she doesn't know that the person she likes is right in front of her, just like the Supreme Treasure has been with her 27 years ago Looking for Bai Jingjing, but not knowing that Zixia is in front of him
The screenwriter obviously understood the love relationship in Stephen Chow's version of "Westward Journey", and completely reversed the positions of the two in the new work, which made the love of the past come true. The unexpected dream also solved the hatred of the Supreme Treasure.
At the end of the movie, Qingxia and Zixia worked together to defeat the elder of Tianji Pavilion. Zixia chose to clear everything, save the Supreme Treasure, and return to the world. At the beginning of the marriage robbery, in order to save Zixia who was seriously injured, Qingxia brought her to the Buddha to seek forgiveness, which revealed the characteristics of one body and two souls. , and embarked on the journey to find the one I love. Conclusion
Although it is an online movie, the completion of "Origin" can definitely live up to the claim of "the prequel of "Westward Journey"", and the story can be perfectly connected to 95. version, and used contemporary writing to fill in the bitter love that was 27 years late. In "The King of Destruction", Stephen Chow said to Ng Man-tat: "We will have the opportunity to work together again in the future. "
"The Origin of Journey to the West" finally makes up for the missed love between Zixia and Zhizunbao, and this posthumous work by Ng Man-tat is also like a conversation with Stephen Chow - there is a consummation The ending of the movie is also pretty good.