The real king bomb lineup in Sir's mind is here——
Tony Leung + Andy Lau.
How fierce?The last time I watched them cooperate was 21 years ago in "Infernal Affairs", the two male protagonists not only killed all sides at the Academy Awards, but also became the rescue work of Hong Kong films that year.
21 years have passed.
Tony Leung has become more and more handy in awards, and continues to open up international routes.
Andy Lau began to cultivate the mainland market and became more and more popular.
But. At the same time, Hong Kong films, especially co-productions, are becoming more and more tired.
So before watching the film, the biggest question in Sir's mind was why they wanted to work together again, and to take on a Hong Kong film?
Because the director is the screenwriter of "Infernal Affairs", Zhuang **?
Or do they have ambitions to set off the revival of Hong Kong films again?
Until the end of the movie.
Sir realized that after so many years, what can make the two of them work together again is not only the strength of the lineup (Ren Dahua, Jiang Haowen, Fang Zhongxin, Cai Zhuoyan, Taibao, Bai Zhi, are all familiar faces in Hong Kong films), but also the story itself
Goldfinger
The film is adapted fromJianing case(also known as the "Jianing ** case"), this is a major financial case involving tens of billions of funds, many lives, and many mysteries.
Hong Kong films have always had a tradition of adapting strange cases.
For example, the Rainy Night Butcher Case, or the HelloKitty Hidden Body Case, these have been adapted into many film and television dramas, but the "Jianing Case", as one of the top ten strange cases, only appeared in "Crazy Boy" or "Fuse News Line" in a few words, and none of the works were fully presented, why?
Because it's so "strange".
Just like the title of the movie, "Goldfinger", viewers who don't know the reason will think that this is nonsense, how can it be possible to open a goldfinger in the real world?
But on the contrary. Reality is more outrageous than the movie.
So today, when the movie has not yet been released, Sir not only wants to talk to you about the look and feel of this film in advance.
More, I still want to talk about reality.
Under the image of excesses and exuberance.
What is hidden, the era of profit-seeking, and the shocking conspiracy of the public**.
First of all, Cheng Yiyan, played by Tony Leung in the movie, is a big boss, a bad guy, a villain, a criminal, and a ......Anyway, Sir definitely doesn't agree with his behavior, and this movie is not whitewashing him.
The reason for stacking is because of——
Whether it is the Jiawen case of the movie or the real Jianing case, the legendary story about this criminal looks like a "cool article" no matter how you look at it.
The kind that can teach bad children.
Compared with him, any dragon king's son-in-law can only be said to lack imagination.
Three no port drifting, in just a few years, gathered tens of billions of net worth, overshadowing Li Ka-shing, this real story is also the main line of the movie
In the mid-70s of the last century, Cheng Yiyan, a civil engineer, went north from Singapore to Hong Kong to pan for gold.
At this time, he was nearly forty years old, the company was bankrupt, poor, unaccompanied, and did not even have a legal identity.
Although that era was the cusp when Hong Kong's economy began to take off.
But he Cheng has no principal and no background, according to the current statement, an older Hong Kong drifter, no one may want an interview.
So at the beginning of the movie, he begged for a job, lived in a cage house, and was picking and searching every day to calculate the cost of living.
But no one thought of it.
Such a frustrated middle age, after just a few years.
Suddenly there is money.
Reselling land, speculating**, holding companies, operating industries, step by step into the commercial real estate ......Not only has a net worth of 10 billion, the industry involves finance, real estate, tourism, manufacturing, transportation and other fields, but also in Hong Kong, becoming a guest of major commercial banks.
How arrogant is that?
It's a billion-dollar big business in hand.
Don't look at the current Hong Kong billionaires.
You must know that in the early 80s, Li Ka-shing's largest transaction was only 600 million, and even HSBC's annual profit was only 300 million.
Cheng Yi's words were like a sentence used in the trailer to the Hong Kong business community at that time
Atomic bomb.
Bang!
Let the movie have a cool temperament——
Resplendent clubhouses, desks full of cash, buzzing markets, champagne, cigars, yachts, girls, ......
The paper is drunk with gold, and even the smell of banknotes wafts in the air.
As for Cheng Yiyan himself?
Let's put it this way. This may be the most presumptuous Tony Leung appearance Sir has ever seen:
There is an unspeakable greasy, indulgent, villainous nouveau riche appearance in his smile, which is completely different from his previous character image.
Back to the plot. Cheng Yiyan, who rose at the speed of light, shocked Hong Kong's business community like an atomic bomb.
And the shock brought by his falling at the speed of light is no weaker than that of an atomic bomb.
Even, that's what makes the story legendary:
After less than two years, with the financial problems of Jiawen Group in Hong Kong, Cheng Yiyan, began to appear, followed by a sharp drop in stock prices, bankruptcy and delisting, ** became waste paper, and the hard-earned money of countless shareholders came to naught.
As much as 10 billion yuan was involved, and both the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Independent Commission Against Corruption were involved in the investigation.
It stands to reason that at this point, Cheng Yiyan is going to be unlucky.
can belong to Cheng Yiyan's cool article, and it has not ended.
Not only unscathed.
And the relevant witnesses, the dead died, and the fleeing.
He himself has been at large for more than a decade.
Think about it, from being penniless to dominant, the story of the rise of the little people, I have seen it.
But defrauding money, killing people, and finally being able to get out of the way calmly.
No one really makes it up.
If it's just a movie, I believe the audience will scold and scold.
But the fact is that the Jianing case, the prototype of the "Goldfinger" case, and the experience of the owner Chen Songqing are so outrageous.
Even excessive.
The absurdity and bizarre shown in this film are beyond the imagination of ordinary people, and at this point, the screenwriter does not carry the pot of "Goldfinger".
Because the highlight is not only in the play.
Irony, even more off-the-scenes.
If you just make a cool film and talk about the drunken gold fans in Hong Kong in the 80s, you don't have to bring such a team.
Zhuang **'s ambition was revealed in the first scene:
In 1977, there was a conflict between the police and the integrity of the police in Hong Kong.
The ICAC's crackdown on corruption put everyone in the Hong Kong Police Force in danger, and thousands of police officers and their families stormed the ICAC, and finally forced the Hong Kong Governor to announce that the past before 1977 was not to be blamed before the incident was settled.
Why shoot this?
Just because it was an important event of the year?
No. To a certain extent, this reflects the helplessness and gloom hidden in that colorful world.
We often say "do things according to the law".
The establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is aimed at this purpose, and it is a great weapon for the rule of law in Hong Kong to maintain the market and business environment.
To this day, the ICAC's slogan is still the same: Hong Kong is better with you and ICAC.
But here's the thing. In an era of total corruption, can we "do things according to law"?
The so-called law does not hold the public accountable.
In the case of the continuous impact of the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the initiation of sabotage, the "law" can only be compromised, and the behaviors that have been used to collect protection money and collude with gangsters have all been blamed in the past.
And ironically.
It is precisely this "past not to blame" that has created an era of relatively stable social security (the Police) and a relatively clean business environment (ICAC), which became the beginning and guarantee of Hong Kong's economic take-off in the 80s.
So. Start over", after opening a new chapter, will everything be fine?
Of course not. In the movie, Andy Lau plays Liu Qiyuan, who is the person in charge of the ICAC's investigation into Jiawen's case.
But throughout the movie, while Cheng Yiyan is calling for wind and rain in the business world, it is also the process of Liu Qiyuan hitting the wall again and again.
Why did it hit a wall?
Because the ICAC, which is regarded as a representative of civilization and the rule of law, found itself powerless when faced with Cheng Yiyan.
Don't look at the eight arrests, it seems to be at the mercy of others.
But the front side was caught seven times and released seven times.
Who is more disgraced?
So you see, in order to catch Cheng Yiyan, Liu Qiyuan brought more than 100 accountants to Jiawen Group to audit the accounts, and it is inevitable to make the teachers move.
But every time it didn't work.
This just illustrates:
Cheng Yiyan is a stubborn disease that cannot be relied on by the rule of law and regulations.
Yes, the law is not omnipotent.
In any era, even in a society governed by the rule of law, there are many people who take advantage of loopholes.
So for the 80s.
Although it seems that the economy is developing and the scenery is unlimited, behind this, there are actually many gray areas and dark corners.
And this, to a certain extent, is also the "past of Hong Kong" in Zhuang **'s mind.
But. Zhuang ** took such a great deal of trouble to discuss the influence of the law and the times, just want to say this?
No. More often, he is talking about people who are under the influence of such an atmosphere of the times.
An interesting place :
Through the deflatability of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Hong Kong's ace organization, Cheng Yiyan's business experience is slowly revealed to the audience step by step.
How did Cheng Yiyan's tens of billions of assets come about?
The movie has some financial thresholds, but at the end of the day, **
Every big move and big news released by Cheng Yiyan and Jiawen Group is good news, which continues to give shareholders confidence.
At a time when Hong Kong's economy was booming.
The stock price rose, Cheng Yiyan's net worth also rose, and he issued ** to the bank as a mortgage, in exchange for capital to continue to make big moves, big transactions, continue to rise, continue to issue, continue to mortgage ......
Snowballing, and finally becoming a behemoth.
Moreover, the profit-seeking nature of capital can allow Cheng Yiyan to pull down all banks.
This is also the reason why Cheng Yiyan looks invincible in the middle of the movie:
When he owes enough money, he can be too big to fail.
When he successfully tied a large amount of capital to his chariot, all those who stood in his way would be crushed.
What's even more terrifying.
In Hong Kong at that time, Cheng Yiyan's gameplay was still a gray area.
Stockholders are not stupid, they know that a ** cannot rise forever.
The bank is not stupid, and it also knows that Cheng Yiyan cannot win forever.
Even the rich, brokers, and white gloves who cooperated with him and helped him stand on the platform knew that there was something wrong with his business.
However, looking at the rising stock price, looking at the real gold ** in front of you, and the dividends that do not fall.
Who can resist not being greedy?
They all want to make more money, but they don't want to get off the bus first.
So looking back, what is Liu Qiyuan facing?
Is it just Cheng Yiyan's Jiawen Group?
No, it was the profit-seeking atmosphere of Hong Kong society at that time, and the greed for profit.
and,Gradually crazy people's hearts.
That's right. This is a time of profit.
And such a shocking ** as the Jianing case is the result of everyone's conspiracy.
This is also the ambition of the director.
"Goldfinger" uses Cheng Yiyan and Jia Wen's copywriting to present the two cornerstones of modern Hong Kong society.
Two indispensable ideas:
The greed for profit and the rule of law in modern civilization.
The former is enterprising, the latter is the ballast stone.
After all, there is money beyond that.
There is also right and wrong, right and wrong.
But here's the thing. In fact, what defeated Cheng Yiyan was not a fair rule of law.
It's the law of the market.
Because of the Sino-British negotiations, ** plummeted, and the drumming and passing flowers could not be played, and Jiawen went bankrupt.
But even so.
Liu Qiyuan also spent more than ten years collecting evidence across borders and spending 200 million yuan in litigation costs to convict Cheng Yiyan of a misdemeanor.
The so-called justice was achieved.
Think about it. In fact, how many times has this situation been repeated around us in the future?
Speaking of which, you may think that this is probably another story of the rise and fall of the "hero".
The traditional entertainment of Hong Kong films.
After watching the movie, Sir actually thought of a movie like "Lame Hao", or a series like "Hurricane", and even Cheng Yiyan is another version of Gao Qiqiang, whose way of collapse is so overwhelming.
But when you think about it, it's not.
Do you remember what sir said at the beginning?This is one of the "Ten Strange Cases".
In the real Jianing case.
From the normal business bankruptcy to the source of the investigation of the case, it is actually a homicide case.
In July 1983, a Malaysian financial manager was strangled to death and his body was dumped, and the subsequent arrest claimed to be at the behest of Tan Songqing.
As for the financial manager, the purpose of this trip is to check Chen Songqing's accounts.
That's right. He's the one who bursts the bubble and doesn't want to go with the flow.
But so what?
The movie shows the extremely outrageous side of this story:
After the murder, Cheng Yiyan was prosecuted, but strangely, the judge acquitted him for other reasons and released him on the spot.
**Knot?Don't rush to conclusions, because at the same time, the lawyer who helped Cheng Yiyan fight the lawsuit drowned in his own swimming pool.
Suicide in fear of sin?Then, Liu Qiyuan, who was filming in the movie investigating him, was attacked, and in reality, a director of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, who was actually investigating him, also "committed suicide", which is said to be "too stressful".
So, is it to extinguish the mouth?
What's even more bizarre is that the judge who helped him and acquitted him was also killed in a car accident in Cyprus many years later.
emm……In such a short time, his partners, someone was shot, someone was burned.
Everybody knows it's about him.
However, he couldn't help him at all.
Why?In the real history, the investigation of the identity of the victim gradually revealed the biggest mystery of the Jianing case: Chen Songqing and the funds of Jianing Group**.
But in the movie, it has always been a mystery that Cheng Yiyan's money came from **.
There are rumors in the market.
Some people say that behind Cheng Yiyan is the ** party in Europe, some people say that he has a great relationship with the royal family in Southeast Asia, some people say that he worked for the drug lords in the Golden Triangle in his early years, and some people even say that he has an unspeakable relationship with a certain country...... **
*, the army, drug dealers, gangsters, the mysterious financier behind Cheng Yiyan, the more it is rumored, the more evil it becomes, and the more it is rumored, the bigger it becomes.
So much so that when Liu Qiyuan investigated him, what he wanted to ask most was:
Where did the money come from.
Why is it so mysterious?
The movie didn't say it explicitly, so that when those bizarre events happened one by one, Sir thought of a line from "Lord of War":
The world's largest arms dealer is your boss.
Sometimes, he needs freelancers like me.
to support those armies that he could not possibly support.
Although it is said that arms.
But it's the same with capital.
ICAC is not just fighting human greed.
It is also a capital system that encourages human nature to pursue profits.
And Cheng Yiyan is just a white glove that will inevitably breed under this system.
Without Cheng Yiyan, there will be Cheng Eryan and Cheng Sanyan.
This is what the movie "Goldfinger" wants to criticize the most.
And what about reality?Most people think that the reason why Chen Songqing has created such a sense of mystery is just to take advantage of people's guesses, and when a thing is more mysterious and incomprehensible, people will often give up thinking and follow the tide.
Like these years.
Various emerging "industries" are continuous, "digital currency", "blockchain", and "metaverse" are the tuyere of the times at every turn.
The less people understand.
The more followers there are.
As a result, the tycoon made a lot of money, and the average person lost all his family property.
Is there a way, no.
History is constantly repeating, and today there is one "Cheng Yiyan" after another, in a world that encourages profit-seeking, white gloves like Chen Songqing are like flu viruses.
It doesn't die, it just comes back again and again.
For Hong Kong films that are often very clear in terms of commerciality and authorship, "Goldfinger" is an absolute non-mainstream and completely unconventional.
There is not even a benchmark.
It's 2023, how can anyone use a top-level business team to do such a serious value critique on such a strange true story template?
This is too unHong Kong film, right?
But whether it is Tony Leung, Andy Lau, or director and screenwriter Zhuang **, they obviously want to be willful in "Goldfinger", just like when they were in "Infernal Affairs".
Don't be an easy cool pill, and don't be an antidote to life.
Stretch the time, broaden the horizon, and enlarge the perspective, when the personal honor and disgrace are closely intertwined with the ups and downs of the times.
In addition to the involuntary reincarnation, there is more helplessness in the force.
The story of "Goldfinger" is like a tranquilizer and sobering soup served after a glitzy and carnival hangover, which is used to heal the emptiness and sadness that wells up in the heart after indulgence.
It doesn't move everyone, but it tries to retain a kind of "real imagination" that belongs to the image alone.
After all, the absurdity of reality is even more "uneasy".
Unlike Cheng Yiyan, who was successfully prosecuted by the ICAC at the end of the movie, it was not until more than ten years after the case that Chen Songqing took the initiative to admit two crimes and was sentenced to three years in prison, of which one and a half years were spent in the intensive care unit.
After his release from prison, he has been living in seclusion in his mansion.
His family is also said to control several private companies, operating real estate,** etc.
As for the billions of assets involved in the case, several lives in the case, and countless ordinary people whose lives have been changed because of this, there is no follow-up.
No one was punished.
Only ICAC, which had been silently chasing this case for more than ten years, left behind astronomical litigation costs and a large number of trial documents.
At one point, it even sparked a public debate about whether public money was wasted.
That's right, the so-called "Skynet Restoration" is not as natural as we think.
A righteous ending sometimes only exists in movies.
The same is true of the Jianing case.
The same is true of Zhu Ling's case.
This is especially true of those thousands of financial thunderstorms that led to the destruction of families and the death of people.
It's not that we don't know the truth.
But. Unfortunately, knowing the truth is only the first step in seeking justice.
Justice is still on its own.
But at least, we still have movies.
There is also the desire to record justice.
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