" Vengeful Lawyer " won the best film at the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards Photo/our reporter Da Shi
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"Hong Kong movies, come on!" This is the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards Ceremony (hereinafter referred to as " The sentence that appears most frequently at the Academy Awards Ceremony, whether it is the presenter, the winner or the host, will say this sentence as the conclusion after a speech. Looking back at the overview of Hong Kong movies in recent years, we can see that this statement is not just a slogan. According to data released by the Hong Kong Film Industry Association, the top ten grossing films in the Hong Kong film market in 2023, except for "The Vengeful Lawyer" (115 million Hong Kong dollars), which ranked first, are all imported films; the second-highest box office Hong Kong local film "" "Youth Diary " was released for one and a half months, with a box office of 23.45 million Hong Kong dollars. The Hong Kong movie with the highest box office in 2022 is "Tomorrow's War" (81.78 million Hong Kong dollars), which is lower than the imported films "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Avatar: Water Path". A total of 267 films will be released in Hong Kong in 2023, including 46 Hong Kong films - the number in 2022 is only 27 films.
At 8 pm on April 14, 2024, the Academy Awards ceremony kicked off. Singer Chen Lei, accompanied by a band, performed the song "The Love of My Life" written by Lu Guanting. As the soundtrack of the movie "Westward Journey" (1995), this song has been circulated for many years. Amidst the singing of "Once upon a time, now, the past will never come again", a mixed clip of Hong Kong movie clips was played on the screen, from the prosperous years of the 1980s and 1990s, to the Hong Kong people's migration north in the 2000s and 2010s, to the massacre in recent years. Produced at a low cost, classic images are presented one by one.
At the end of the song, Carina Lau walked onto the awards stage in a black dress with an eye-catching golden lobster necklace on her chest. Before awarding the Best New Actor and New Director awards, she asked the entertainers in the audience: "What do you think is the most important thing about being an actor?" After a while of interaction, she gave her answer: patience. "There is an actor who was nominated for the Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1990 for "The Liar Woman". After 21 years of being nominated 6 times, she finally won the Best Actress Award for "Detective Dee" in 2011. So I think as an actor, the most important thing is to wait for the positioning and the good script..." The actor she was talking about was herself.
Dapeng was shortlisted for Best Actor with "The Eighth Suspect"
For actors and directors competing for the Academy Awards, "patience" is a long-lasting and effective vocabulary. Today's Hong Kong actors not only have to hone their acting skills amid self-doubt, but also squeeze out of the few filming opportunities before they can produce works that will be judged by the public. Only a lucky few among them will finally appear in the film industry. Among the Academy Award nominees. At this point, actors who have long been famous in public perception and new actors who are emerging are experiencing the same torture. In addition to Carina Lau, who said she needs patience, Sammi Cheng, who finally won the Best Actress Award in 2023, has been making films for 30 years and has been nominated for Best Actress 10 times; Tony Leung, who won the Best Actor Award this year, has been nominated for the Best Actress Award six times. won the award, but it has been 19 years since the last time (in 2005, Tony Leung won the Best Actor Award for "2046"); Liang Yongting, who won the Best Supporting Actress Award, debuted in 2014 and won the Academy Award for the most in 2018. It took six years for Jiaxin actors to be nominated and finally won the favor of the Academy Awards; Best Actress Award winner Yu Xiangning was also nominated for the sixth time and won for the first time; and Zheng Baorui, who won the Best Director Award, was the first The first nomination was for the Outstanding Young Director Award in 2003. Since then, he has been nominated for Best Director twice in 2013 and 2022, but missed it both times.
In the golden age of Hong Kong movies, the Hong Kong Academy Awards are extremely important. Winning the award is the icing on the cake, and it also means recognition from the entertainment industry and the audience. Nowadays, the argument that "Hong Kong films are dead" rises and falls like a tide, but it does not make winning awards any easier. As Hu Feng, the last winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, said in his speech: You should have received this award a long time ago, why is it only given to you now? I said that this award comes in order, one by one, don't be impatient. Now that I have received this award, I deserve it.
On the surface, it seems that the old people can't retreat and the newcomers can't take over, but the lack of support may not be the biggest problem. Hong Kong movies are in a tug-of-war with time. From this point of view, "come on" and "patience" are the spirits that best fit the current moment.
Audiences watching the red carpet ceremony
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At the Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony, trailers of upcoming new films will be played between some awards. On April 16, 2023, among the multiple movie trailers played at the 41st Academy Awards ceremony, two of them left a deep impression on people, one was " under the day " and the other was "Diary of a Youth", both of them focus on the social reality of Hong Kong, one focuses on the elderly and the other on children. After the release of
's two films, they have indeed received excellent reviews. As of press time, "Under the Sun" has a rating of 8.0 on Douban, and "Diary of a Youth" has a rating of 8.6. "Under the Day" is directed by Jian Junjin, starring Yu Xiangning, Lin Baoyi, and Jiang Dawei. It tells the story of news reporter Ling Xiaoqi (played by Yu Xiangning) who received a report about the abuse of residents at the "Caiqiao Home", a nursing home for the disabled. In order to investigate the truth, she disguised herself as the granddaughter of the old man Tong Bo (played by Jiang David) and went to make a secret visit, gradually uncovering the cruel truth about the hospital. The stories in the
movie are adapted from real events that have occurred in Hong Kong, including the 2015 incident where an elderly person was stripped naked and showered in the open air, the 2016 residential home suspected of abuse and long-term binding incident, and the 2016 Cambridge Home where six people were sexually assaulted in eight months. The mysterious deaths of residents and the withdrawal of charges against the former dean for allegedly having illegal sexual intercourse with a mentally retarded woman have recreated the tragedies that have occurred in private institutions in Hong Kong due to poor supervision. It took five years to find investment for the film, but it was finally completed with the support of Louis Koo's company.
At about 5 pm on the day of the Academy Awards, the crew of "Under the Sun" walked on the red carpet. As one of the popular films at this year's Academy Awards, "Under the Sun" won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. , Best New Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, New Director, etc. Nominated for 16 awards.
In the end, "Under the Sun" won three awards for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Actress.
The competition for the Best Supporting Actor award this time is fierce, including Wu Kangren ("May You Live forever"), Tse Kwan-ho ("The Vengeful Lawyer"), Li Shangzheng ("Dead Man"), Huang Zile ("Diary of a Young Man") All performed well. In the end, 76-year-old David Chiang won the award for his role as the helpless old man Tong Bo in "Under the Sun". This was also his first time winning an Academy Award.
David Jiang has been in the industry for 72 years. He performed on stage at the age of 4 and appeared in "Plum Blossom" as early as the 1950s. In "Under the Day", he played Tong Bo, who pretended to be crazy and acted like a fool, just to find a place to stay. The last time David Chiang won an acting award was in 1970. He became Hong Kong's first Asian Film Festival Best Actor with "Revenge". When receiving the award, he said: "In this life, movies have given me everything. If there is a next life, I will still be a filmmaker." At the end of his speech, he thanked his mentor, the late director Chang Cheh, in Mandarin. This is a name that has not appeared in the public's ears for a long time, but as soon as it is mentioned, it can evoke a memory of fighting and iron horses.
Sammi Cheng, the winner of the previous Best Actress Award, served as the presenter of this year's Best Actress Award. None of the five finalists for the Best Actress Award are familiar faces, except for Yu Xiangning ("Under the Sun"), Wang Danni ("Vicious Lawyer"), Wei Shiya (" will get married soon 2") , as well as female singer Xie Anqi ("4 Beats 4 Family") and DJ and lyricist Zhong Xueying ("Lyrics L"). Yu Xiangning has previously won the 30th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award and the Hong Kong Film Directors Guild's Best Actress Award for "Under the Sun", and is the favorite to win this Academy Award. She said on stage: "As a woman, I believe we can pursue our dreams at any age." She was born in 1993 and has acted in many dramas, but has never won a sufficient award. She recalled that before receiving the script for "Under the Sun", she had just given birth to a child, was working as a full-time housewife, and was well prepared to play the role of a mother in the future."I'm too old (precocious) to have played the role of mother a long time ago." So when she saw a role like Xiaoqi, she readily agreed.
Yu Xiangning won the Best Actress Award for "Under the Day"
"Diary of a Youth", which also received multiple nominations, told this story: Zheng Sir, a middle school teacher, was experiencing a broken marriage and his father was critically ill. One day, He received an unsigned suicide note. In the process of searching for the writer, scenes from his childhood full of violence and regret emerged. He hoped to find the classmate who attempted suicide and prevent the tragedy from happening again. The slogan on the movie poster is "For you who have never been loved." "Diary of a Youth" won 12 awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best New Actor, and New Director at this year's Academy Awards. Nominations for awards. In the end, director Zhuo Yiqian won the New Director Award. When
received the award, Zhuo Yiqian shouted to his future self: "I want to say to my future self, Zhuo, you will definitely encounter failures and lows, but you must not forget how many people accompanied you when you were filming. Let’s go together, just as they believe in you today, you will have to believe in yourself tomorrow.”
Zhuo Yiqian also thanked the film producer Er Dongsheng. Both "Under the Day" and "Diary of a Young Man" are produced by Er Dongsheng. From 2015 to the present, Er Dongsheng has been re-elected as the chairman of the Hong Kong Film Awards Organizing Committee. During this period, he has been committed to promoting Hong Kong’s “first feature film project” - the “2013 Policy Address” announced the implementation, supported by the Hong Kong Film Bureau and Film The funding from the Development Fund is the latest measure taken by the Hong Kong SAR government to support the film industry. This program aims to select emerging talents through film creation and production project competitions and provide subsidies to applicants in the form of bonuses to cultivate talents for the local film industry. As of November 2023, 13 works funded by the program have been screened in Hong Kong cinemas, and another one has only had a limited screening at film festivals. "Diary of a Youth" and films such as "A Thought of Nothingness" and "Golden Capital" that were refreshing at the previous Academy Awards are all the finished products of this plan.
The crew of "Diary of a Young Man" on the red carpet
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The two awards for Best Picture and Best Director are competing for the five films of "Vicious Lawyer", "Under the Sun", "Homicide", "Goldfinger" and "Diary of a Young Man" This is a battle between the old and the new in Hong Kong films. "Homicide" director Cheng Po-sui, "Goldfinger" director Chong Man-keung, and "Vicious Lawyer" director Ng Wai-lun were all nourished in the golden age of Hong Kong cinema (although this is Ng Wai-lun's first A mature director who has followed the Hong Kong film industry all the way. Kan Kwan-jin of "Under the Sun" and Zhuo Yiqian of "Diary of a Young Man" were both born in 1987. They obviously have the perspectives and characteristics of the new generation of Hong Kong filmmakers. Kan, Zhuo, and Wu were also nominated for the New Talent Award. Director Award. Before the two awards of
were awarded, "Goldfinger" and "Homicide" almost shared all the technical awards. "Goldfinger" won five awards including Best Sound Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Styling, while "Homicide" won Best Editing. Subsequently, "Homicide" screenwriters You Naihai and Li Chunhui won the Best Screenplay Award, while Tony Leung won the Best Actor Award for "Goldfinger".
This is the third time that You Naihai has been on the podium of the Academy Awards (the first two were "Big Brother" in 2004 and "Underworld" in 2006), but it is the first time for Li Chunhui to win, although he has already Gray hair. On stage, he was so nervous that his hands were shaking, and he took out a crumpled cheat sheet on which he wrote down the people he wanted to thank. "Having said so much, what I am most grateful for is the people around me. Because screenwriters are emotional, poor, and aloof...it is really difficult to get along with them," he said.
Zheng Baorui won the Best Director Award for "Homicide"
In the competition for the Best Actor Award, Lin Baoyi ("Under the Sun") and Huang Zihua ("The Vengeful Lawyer") were once predicted by many media. This is the first time that 58-year-old Lin Baoyi has been nominated for the Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards.In the past impression of the public, he mostly played elitist and gentle characters in dramas. This time he plays the director of a disabled home with eye disease, who struggles to maintain the existence of the disabled home under pressure from the management. He While patiently caring for the residents, he also reaches out to the vulnerable groups. The characters are complex and rich in layers.
Huang Zihua gained a high reputation with "Stand-up Comedy". In his early years, the movies he starred in failed miserably at the box office. However, in 2022, he starred in "Food Drama", which won the second place in the annual box office of Hong Kong movies. In 2023, he starred in "The Vengeful Lawyer", which became The annual box office champion of Hong Kong movies. Louis Koo and Anita Yuen interacted with him when they were presenting awards. He joked, "If you don't win the award, you will walk away." The award finally went to Tony Leung Chiu-wai. He, who is in Germany, had a silly smile on his face in the video, "Can I start talking now? After he gave his acceptance speech, Carina Lau, who accepted the award on his behalf, added: "I know that when Tony Leung wins the award, many people will say, no, is it him again? But I have been with him for so many years, and I think he is. He is really a great actor. Ordinary actors may give 100 or 200 points, but Tony Leung gave 500 or 1,000 points of effort." After hearing this, Tony Leung quickly said, "It's not that he is great, he is just a good actor." "Goldfinger" won the Best Actor Award
In the competition for the Best Director Award, Zheng Baorui, who was nominated for the third time, won the gold for the first time with "Homicide" ((2013 " Driver ", 2022 " Wisdom Teeth ")) Award for Best Director. In "Homicide", Lin Jiadong plays a fortune teller who wants to help others change their lives, but ends up being involved in a series of bad lucks. There are a lot of dark corners in the room, bloody bathrooms and other cramped spaces in the film. The camera moves between similar scenes, which is absurd, scary and cruel, with a clear Galaxy Film style. Cheng Baorui said that he had a lot of feelings when the film was shot during the COVID-19 epidemic, and he was especially grateful to Johnnie To.
The best film was awarded by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, and the award fell to "The Vengeful Lawyer" who sat there all night.
"Vicious Lawyer" won the best film, and the leading actor Huang Zihua gave a speech.
After the producer Jiang Zhiqiang gave his acceptance speech, he left the seats to Wu Weilun and Huang Zihua. Huang Zihua recalled that during the filming, every line had to be confirmed and explored with the legal consultant. "We didn't get a single award from the beginning to the end of our play. I really wanted to say to Jack (Wu Weilun) if I won an award at that time, 'If we don't get any award tonight, I will give this award to you.' But Now a better result has appeared. Thank you everyone, thank you to our director, thank you to the boss." He choked and said, "When I was waiting for the 'Best Actor' award just now, I actually felt that if I had the opportunity to go on stage to receive it. When it comes to winning awards, I will only say the same thing, which is what I often say. Although peony is good, it still needs the support of green leaves. We actors are just green leaves. The most important thing is the person who created it, our director."
Wu Weilun said: "I feel. I think it is more important to work together to make a movie than to win awards. I hope that every movie in the future and every filmmaker can work together to make the movie at hand. "
Awards may be an important thing. thing, but compared with the entire process of film production, it seems not that important. As Hirokazu Kore-eda said before awarding the award: It is not so much the creators and performers who need awards, but each of us poor filmmakers who need an annual ceremony to constantly confirm their love for movies. .
Look, hundreds of people on stage and off stage still love her.
Sammo Hung received the Lifetime Achievement Award
Southern People Weekly reporter Zhang Mingmeng
Editor Yang Jingru
