The Black Samples Of Hong Kong Movie

“Film Noir” is a kind of movie with a controversial definition,an unclear connotation and an undefinable extension.Compared with most kinds of movies which has gained tacit understanding between producers and audiences which are easy for scale production,film noir seems to be a proper noun the critical circles tend to use.This can be proved by its unique way of birth.Different from general movies which are named by the producer according to the apparent type features and for convenient production and classification,the concept was raised by the critics of French movies in the mid 1940 s.Therefore,the research on Film noirs is generally accompanied by the definition of its concept in order to build an essential judgment criterion or academic basis for the identification of the corresponding phenomena,facts and works in creative practice.As an important precondition,the concept of “Film noir” is defined basically by integrating several representative opinions raised by scholars both abroad and at home.Simply speaking,this kind of movie universally embodies deeply doubtful or pessimistic attitudes towards the fundamental cognition or attitudes towards life,society or the whole world in terms of thoughts and ideas;in terms of artistic presentation,those movies distinctly manifest as the image style with the full-bodied “dim” visual elements,such as the specific environmental atmosphere,the figures of which the spiritual temperament agrees of unifies with the surroundings,the gloomy plots generally relating to death and dangers,and the subjects and connotations with strong spirit of suspicion,critical consciousness and tendency of subversion.Notably,the movies with those corresponding features not necessarily belong to “Film noir”;in most cases,“Film noir” is not the self-conscious type selection or positioning of their producers but an “undercurrent” of creation hiding or surging under the housings of “gangster movie”,“crime movie”,“detective movie”,“science fiction movie” and other conventional recognizable types.Therefore,the emergence of,film noir is related to the specific interests and pursuit of some movie creators and the collective emergence of Film noir,as a phenomena,has a significant relation with the specific historical background,times context and cultural soil.As a kind of movie first created and drawing attention in Europe and America,“Film noir” is a relatively strange experience and imported works for Chinese audiences.However,in Hong Kong where type production had been relatively developed and mature,“Film noir” not only found the basis of production of movies(such as the representative “crime movie” in Hong Kong movies)with a “near relation” and high degree of fusion but had an instant “chemical reaction” with the complex emotional appeal produced by the special cultural identity and historical situation of Hong Kong.Therefore,Hong Kong's Film noirs gradually developed into a creative phenomenon with cultural symptom by combining with its local realities and revealed the appearance and shape different from other countries and regions because of its special content,elements and subject demand.Generally speaking,the creation of Film noirs in Hong Kong experienced five phases up to now,including imitation period(from middle and late 1940 s to early 1950s),downturn period(from middle 1950 s to 1960s),exploration period(from 1970 s to 1980s),transformation period(1990s)and adjustment period(since the new century).What's more,numbers,degrees of maturity,art forms and appearances of Hong Kong's Film noirs vary from period to period.And Hong Kong's Film noirs began to reveal its tendency of “localization” and gradually have its own features in the “exploration period”.In this period,Hong Kong's filmmakers began to explore the content conforming to the real experience of local audiences and the ways and means conforming to local audiences' appreciation habit,created many Film noirs with a high artistic level and gradually the mode of Film noirs with Hong Kong's features.Though the mode maintained(originating from Europe and America)the type gene of basic image style features and tendency of subject content of Film noirs,it,at the same time,included the relatively clear and highly recognizable “Hong Kong features” in terms of subject demands including specific visual elements,figures,identities,urban landscapes and movies.Especially in the specific historical period,namely 1997 context that Hong Kong transformed from “colonial culture” to “home country culture”,some movies reflecting reality anxiety were created under the influences of a kind of uneasy feeling prevailing in Hong Kong society.Those works have obvious reality disclosure,vague and ambiguous meaning orientation but unusually clear creation motive.They spontaneously revealed the mood or mentality of panic,displacement and anxiety,which is in line with the style of Film noirs,and became the most important and special symbol of Hong Kong Film noirs.Besides,the long-existing and ingrained “underworld culture” provided a certain degree of nourishment for Hong Kong Film noirs.Overall,Hong Kong Film noirs have their specific growing environment and soil and include the unique artistic imagination and cultural expression of Hong Kong.The summary of its short history is beneficial to the understanding of the creation features and expression of the special movie type and the examination of an important spiritual side of Hong Kong movie from a cultural angle.