Ren Xianqi: Jianghu struggles | Southern Weekend

Beginning with To Qifeng’s film “The Big Event” (2004), Ren Xianqi has acted in many Hong Kong police and gangster films, with roles including police officers, undercover agents and gangsters. The picture shows his image in the new film “Edgewalker”, which will be released in April 2022. (Photo provided by the film maker/picture)

The 56-year-old Ren Xianqi has the distinctive imprint of a generation of Hong Kong and Taiwan stars: willing to endure hardship, dare to work hard, and dedicated to work.

He starred in the Hong Kong gangster film “Border Walker”. Director Huang Mingsheng came from Jackie Chan’s married class. He was an action director and injected a lot of intense action scenes into the film, such as chasing in dark alleys, underground boxing, slashing in the rain, and drag racing shootouts. Ren Xianquan went into battle in person. . One of the fight scenes took more than a week to film, and he couldn’t get up with back pain every day, but the director was not satisfied and had to make up the scene. “It’s really desperate, but I didn’t want to leave any regrets, so I just fought.” Ren Xianqi said.

“Borderwalker” is a typical Hong Kong gangster film. The story is set around 1994. The political, police, business, and black people collude with each other. The conflicts between various forces intensify and violent incidents occur frequently. In the chaos, the gangster Lin Yaochang (played by Ren Dahua) entrusts his cronie A Luo (played by Ren Xianqi) with the important task of the gang. In fact, A Luo is a police undercover agent. He has been walking on the edge of black and white, and is also struggling between love and law. After taking over, Ah Luo changed his previous low-key and restrained style and became a high-profile operator…

Jianghu Fengyun is the usual metaphor system of Hong Kong gangster films, and undercover is an important element in it. Film critic Tang Zhenzhao pointed out in “Hong Kong Film Blood and Bone” that “undercover” in a sense reflects the anxiety of the identity of people who leave Hong Kong. Most of the police and bandit stories are also set on the eve of Hong Kong’s return in 1997. The uncertainty of the future and the changing circumstances of the times have a lot of material to play.

Ren Xianqi, who grew up in a military dependents village, did not experience the history of Hong Kong, but he also experienced the unpredictability of the future. Many people know Ren Xianqi from his status as a singer. “I was really confused at the time, and there are many uncertainties in the future. If “The Heart Is Too Soft” does not become popular, I will face a situation where there is no record company to sign, and I don’t know where to go.” Ren Xianqi told the Southern Weekend reporter.

In 1996, Ren Xianqi’s album “Heart Is Too Soft” achieved a sales record of 26 million copies, and the title song “Heart Too Soft” made him an instant hit. Since then, “Sad Pacific” and “The Girl Opposite” has established his status in the music world.

At the same time, the career of actor Ren Xianqi has also blossomed: he played Yang Guo in the martial arts drama “The Condor Heroes”, and he played the warm man in the romantic comedy “Momo Tea in Summer” and “Extinct Good Man”. In 2004, director Du Qifeng discovered Ren Xianqi’s both righteous and evil temperament, and asked him to star in the police and gangster film “The Big Event”.

After “The Big Incident”, Ren Xianqi formed an indissoluble bond with police and gangster films, “Exile”, “Big Search”, “Accident”, “Fire Dragon Showdown”, and “The Big Tree Draws the Wind”, one by one. Under the market and the tide of the times, Hong Kong movies are declining day by day, but gangster films, the “specialty” of Hong Kong movies, have bucked the trend and found a way to survive. Before “Edgewalker”, “The Hurt Locker 2” and “Rage: Serious Cases” all received good word of mouth and box office.

In Ren Xianqi’s opinion, some of his early roles have many similarities with the green forest heroes in martial arts novels. They have a romantic and reckless heroic temperament, and they all have a righteous character in their hearts. This is this kind of role. attracts him. “Of course, the rivers and lakes are not the same now, and many rules are not particular, so we also sighed during the shooting process, what should we do.” He said.