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Will you remember Leslie ?
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英文原文
Leslie as an actor.
Bewitchingly, delicately, beautifully---Leslie Cheung, The belle of the Hong Kong films.
By Ikuko Ishihara.
An original translation by Sako.
Here I have a Top 10 ranking of Chinese films, chosen by the members of the Hong Kong Cinema Express, boosting its 12 thousand members in Japan. This is a result that was chosen from the films which first released in Japan in 1997, a little old statistics I'm afraid, but it is amazing for me. [Happy together] won the best picture overwhelmingly. Then [The Phantom of the Opera] came next, the third was O[Lost and Found] , but again, the forth was [Tri-Star]. You can see all movies starring by Leslie ranked within Top 4. I can understand the win of [Happy together], but the other two were not the movies with such a good quality. ([Comrades, almost a love story],the fifth, [Stage door],the eighth, were much better). Obviously, I should call it the phenomenon of "Everything O.K. so long as Leslie's film".
And you can also find the unfamiliar film called [Chinese gender] at the 35th. This is the documentary film showed only once in Shibuya during the Tokyo film Festival, the compilation of the interview to the actors (including Leslie Cheung) about the gender allotment, directed by Stanley Kwan.
This show didn't promote at all, but so many people rushed to see that some couldn't enter and gave up.
Anyway, almost 3/4 of the members, who could be considered as the most acquainted with the Chinese movies, was to submit to the Leslie's charm.
In comparison with that, the same ranking in 1996 showed more reasonable result. The winner was [He ain't heavy, he's my father] (starring by Tony Leon), the second, [Fallen angel] (by Leon Lai), the third, [Ashes of Time] (by Leslie Cheung), the forth, [Summer Snow] (by Josephine Shao), and the fifth,[Temptress moon]. This result was in proportion to the movie's charms and the artistic quality, and I could admit they could chose [good movie] objectively in this year. But the next year, They lost their cool judgement, due to their ‘”adoring Leslie”.
Besides, Leslie has been winning the best actor 6 times continuously, and this record will never be broken. '92[Days of being wild], ‘93/'94[Farewell to my concubine], ‘95[He's a woman, she's a man],'96[Temptress moon], and ‘97[Happy together]. (He also ranked seventh in the best actress category!) That is, he has been starring the good films for a long time, but here in the [Happy together], his charm became overwhelmingly enough to make the audience lose their control.
Why on earth is everyone infatuated with Leslie this much? I couldn't recognize such a strong aura from him, when I met him in the press conference or else. He was very polite, agreeable in a way, rather than with a strong personality. He dressed neatly, but in a moderate, casual way, and he was very handsome but so-called a typical Asian face and build. That's why I couldn't find anything special from him.
However, Andy Lau, who co-starring in [Shanghai Grand], showed a befitting "brilliance", for example. But the surprising fact is that it was Leslie who impressed me most, not Andy who spoke in dead earnest, when I looked back later. Leslie was tactful, inserted some impressive words into the casual conversation, clearly insisted his opinion if necessary, of course with bright smile, and lightly parried an embarrassing question. First, he looked passive, but everyone there was dragged into his pace unnoticed. "He is really professional. No one can do that!" I was greatly impressed afterwards, but he behaved so naturally and wrapped everything in his gentle manner that I couldn't noticed it when he was in front of me.
So, Leslie is "sly". Say, Knaeshiro Takeshi, He always behaves as he is, but Leslie acts even his private self out of the stage and the screen. He opened up our hearts with his innocent smile, but behind this open and honest smile, he knows the effects of that. In addition, he understand the timing he‘d better show something a little strict face instead the smile, and do it appropriately. At the same time, he has never done such mistakes, like talking a dull, seeming to follow the how-to book just like a first-rate student, that is done by a lot of other stars. He looks enough to be natural and cheerful as he is, and yet he is attentive even to his finger's moves. He is a tempter by nature, and it got to get natural for him to produce himself perfectly. If you try to see deeply inside him, you can find his high intelligence, delicate sensibility, and the pride as a number one actor in Hong Kong behind that cheerful smile, but he never show them unless it is necessary. He attracts people too easily, too well. And we are unable to resist the pleasant feeling to be taken in his lead. He is such an attractive even when he seems to be relax, there is no word to describe him, when he is to act with make himself up, "irresistible". Sometimes he looks to be intoxicated himself, but in fact, he has a good grasp of the reaction from the audience. Once he said that the sweet breaths, which you can hear in his songs, is not unconscious one, but with knowing the effect of that. He never lose his self-control, how deeply he dedicates himself to the role.
He is still very active as an actor and as a singer, though he retired once from both careers for learning movie producing. I suppose he was very serious each time.
At that time, he would hope to be a film maker rather than an actor. At that time, he would believe that he should retire when he was at the top. Maybe there was his aesthetic sense that a director is more artistic than an actor, and that it is the most admirable way to retire when you are young and beautiful. In other words, it is a will to make his presence to be "the most beautiful one". This attitude shows me his honesty and pureness towards beauty, though the way is very simple in a sense. However, there were too many calls from his friends and fans, who couldn't allow him retire. And I guess he himself didn't know what to do with his full of gift. Then he adjusted his direction again, but he has never changed his attitude to be "the most beautiful one". And it is terrific because he performed in many masterpieces and praised more than before.
Leslie began to draw some attention at the beginning of the 80's in Japan, as No.1 idol singer in Hong Kong and also as an actor who could act well unlike an ordinary idol. But I remember it was from [A better tomorrow]'86, that he appealed us clearly. It was an unforgettable experience for me. To compared with Chow Yun-fat's straight character as a man of integrity, Leslie's distorted, shadowed complexity. Though he did many action scenes, still there was something tender and gentle. In this movie, women didn't play important role very well and guys were overwhelmingly attractive, but it was Leslie who made this movie to be more than only action movie, by his tender atmosphere.
In [A better tomorrow], Leslie played very innocent young guy. And again, in [The Chinese ghost story], he also played innocent, pure and simple man. The ghost was moved to his innocence not to covet her body. In [Tri-Star], he tried to help the prostitutes and he was stoical as a priest, though there was a kiss-scene with Anita Yuen just once. Strange to say, Leslie, who seems to be sexy itself, fit in very well with such a "sexless" role. His clear eyes, as if knowing nothing ugly in this world, staring straight at us. His graceful, dignity in the way reminds me his private history stemming from good family. Refreshing brilliance just like a spring breeze. He looks very pure, and this purity is a kind of young, helpless boy, who doesn't have both power and money. And also, he looks very free, crosses over any border of gender easily. He has never been slaved to the convention that a man should do (or be) like this. I mentioned that he got to be named in a best actress ranking before, (though he didn't act this kind of roll except [Farewell to my concubine]). And this pointed out his flex character very well. He cut down the yoke of gender, with the words "I don't care if you are a man or a woman. All I know is that I love you", in [He's a woman, She's a man]. Talking about [The Chinese Ghost Story], it would be really shameful character-remember the scene that Leslie was pushed into the bathtub and helped by Joy Wong?-if you stick to the manhood. But Leslie was so cute and attractive in it.
However, such a gentle, pure character of him was treated cruelly very often. In [A Better Tomorrow 2], he was killed brutally. Chow-Yun-Fat played stable character, that we could relief that he would never die till the last, Leslie, on the contrary, alarmed us from the beginning by his situation-doing a dangerous undercover duty, though his wife was in the last month of pregnancy.
And how impressive that long scene of his dying! It wrung our heart to see him covered with blood, breathing faintly. He played this scene so beautifully, as if he was fascinated by himself.
You can find the same kind of beauty in [Farewell to my concubine]. He acted the opera star, who dedicated his life to the love with no return, and was toyed by fate in the changing history. He sometimes gave a glance with deep sorrow at no one, and it was so awfully beautiful that I felt that he dare to be treated cruelly so that he would be more beautiful.
And I found his own ultimate beauty in the moment when he was finally "fallen" after he had been tortured mercilessly. Even when he was falling, there still was another he inside, who were looking up high, still keeping the pure, gentle and innocent eyes, that made me more strongly feel the "fallen beauty" of him.
Wong Ka-Wai drew this charm of "fallen beauty" from Leslie most. [Days of being wild] brought him the best actor award in Hong Kong and a chance to come back. It also indicated his talent as an actor in the artistic movie, which was far different from the familiar action or comedy in Hong Kong. He acted a guy, who was leading an idle life, with a yearning toward his real mother. At last he left, though he was loved by two women.
Both his expressions and moves were rough, but they were so sexy and mysteriously graceful as if they were the dace perfectly composed. That fresh passion, for which he could dare lose his life. The long and dark time that was decaying until the last, brilliant moment.
In this movie, he was cruel to the girls, but he was cruel most to himself. He tormented himself, like he knew that he was most beautiful when he was treated in that way.
"The beauty in the falling" ---. That's why he looks greater in dishabille rather than stark nude.
At that time, the two sexes would dissolve in him gently. The ultimate performance of this beauty would be that acclaimed tango dance in his concert'97, but speaking of movies, maybe the historic dramas are better to express it, because the costumes in such dramas are usually intricate and gorgeous and enhance Leslie's brilliance.
He appealed even in comedy films, such as [It's a wonderful life] or [The eagle shooting heroes/ Dong Cheng Xi Jiu], though he once said that he thought of himself not suited to this kind of comedy movies. But [The Bride with White Hair] is more than unforgettable. Brigitte Lin showed valiant figure, while Leslie showed pure-hearted sweetness. How beautiful he was in such a distraction as the love scene in the water! In this scene, both of them were wearing soft, long-sleeved cloth soaked to the skin, and water trickled down their cheeks and lips, with disheveled hair. [The Ashes of Time], in which there were elaborately action scenes, remains us only a shadow of prompt illusion. But Leslie's longing look with a thousand thoughts to his lost love, or his lonesome, nihilistic and stoical glance formed the keynote of this ambiguous, but sentimental film. The classical pleated cloths in this film also gave him a kind of bisexual sweet atmosphere.
The cloths in the middle of the ancient and the present, 1920-1930 period, also very suits him, but the air of this age does more suit him. In [The Temptress Moon],its background was an ”enchanted city” Shanghai, he was a lady-killer in the white suit.
He treated women cruelly as professional gigolo, with distorted hatred in his heart, and these arts of coaxing captivated us completely. Besides, the expressions of sorrow, anxiety, and grief, when he was hugging Gong Lee in his arms, were more than unforgettable. He was running into the tragedy himself, but again, we found a kind of sweet eroticism in his despair glance.
[The rouge], in this film Leslie's every kind of charm, such as a pure-hearted lover, as a sophisticated woman-killer, grace, and weakness, was all elicited. Especially, he was great in love scene, showing sweet expression with half-closing eyes with long eyelash, and with opening good shaped lips.
In [The Shanghai Grand], Leslie was not a sweet lover but a lone wolf. As he was in [A Better Tomorrow], Leslie was treated very cruelly. In its last scene, he was beautifully dressed up in black suit, and he made it perfect by bloody hurt.
Anyhow, I hove to say about [Happy Together]. As for Leslie, he can be attractive to whom no matter it was a man or a woman .His self- torment beauty is exceptional in this film. Spoiled, selfish, sly, and a liar. Exploits his friend as he wants, but never allow anyone to occupy him. Tony thought he has had quite enough of him, but he couldn't refuse him once Leslie came back. This should be so-called unpleasant, disliked character. But why it turned to be such an attractive character when it was Leslie? We can share the happiness with Tony, when he was feeding Leslie or when he was wiping Leslie's body.
Though he already had been in his 40's, Leslie is still getting more brilliant as if he had been polished by every affair with many men and women. It would be his deep, complex and unique attractions that make him so special among these many handsome stars.
He is a great belle without a parallel in Asia. ( I know that "belle" is a word for women, but it suits him more than anybody) I deeply appreciate to be living in the same period with him.
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Ms. Ikuko Ishihara is comparatively well-known film commentator. She wrote many articles on Leslie beside this.
Hong Kong Cinema Express（香港电影通信） is a monthly newsletter for members of Yum-Cha Club（饮茶俱乐部）. Yum-Cha Club is maybe most famous and large fan club for Chinese and other Asian movies. This is a society under the supervision of Burenon Ash Co., which is the film distributing agency famous for its co-produce of [Happy Together].
