The 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony was held in Hong Kong recently.
As the most authoritative film award in the Hong Kong film industry, each Academy Awards has always attracted the attention of movie fans. This year, in " The Vicious Tongue ", " Under the Day ", " Youth Diary" Driven by well-received films such as 》, online discussions about nominations for major awards have also occupied hot searches on the Internet.
Last year, "Vicious Lawyer" released by Anle Films detonated Hong Kong theaters, and finally became the highest-grossing local film in Hong Kong film history with an astonishing result of 115 million Hong Kong dollars; later the film was renamed " Vicious Lawyer " login Mainland theaters received a box office of .3.187 billion, and the Douban score was .5.
This is a commercially successful film about "Zihua's divine tongue fighting against the Confucian scholars", and it is also a rare good film that has been unanimously recognized in recent years. With its box office performance, it won awards at the Academy Awards, which made it the "icing on the cake" and seemed to be the result that everyone expected.
But halfway through, two word-of-mouth films came out: "Under the Day" and "Diary of a Youth" . The former received as many as 16 nominations, and the latter also had 12 nominations, and their Douban scores were .2 and 8.5 respectively. , are all one level higher than "Vicious Tongue", making "Vicious Tongue"'s winning prospects full of uncertainty.
Therefore, who will win the major awards of this year’s Academy Awards is the most interesting topic on the Internet. Until the final results were announced, the issue of the ownership of the major awards also aroused heated discussion.
1. Best Asian Chinese-language film "The Three Evils" (nominated: "The Three Evils", "", "Fudu Youth", "", "About Me and the Ghost Transformation" There are a total of 5 films nominated for the Best Asian Chinese Film. Among them, only "Fudu Youth" written and directed by Wang Lilin is not familiar to us. It is a Malaysian film starring Li Xinjie, whom we know.
Since Brother Qie has not seen this movie, it is difficult to make an evaluation, so we will ignore it for now.
"Man Jiang Hong" was the movie with the highest box office in the mainland last year. Although the Douban score of 7.0 is not high, and the audience evaluation is very controversial, it is indeed very entertaining as a commercial movie.
The joining of powerful actors such as Shen Teng, Yi Yang Qianxi, Zhang Yi, Lei Jiayin, Yue Yunpeng, and the high-octane plot of the whole army reciting "Man Jiang Hong" are all the reasons for the film's box office success.
"All or Nothing" was also a blockbuster movie last year. Due to the strong topicality during the promotion period, the movie received great attention before it was released. After
was released, "All or Nothing" took in a box office of 3.848 billion yuan, which also proved that firmly grasping current hot topics and working hard on production are the golden keys to the success of a movie.
"That Time A Ghost and I Became Family" is also a very entertaining and good film. Xu Guanghan has many wonderful performances in the film. The movie has also caused a great response on the Internet, with a Douban score of 8.1, which also proves that it is a rare and good film.
"Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" is one of the recent popular movies. After its release, it quickly became a hot topic on the Internet. Iconic objects such as the divine song, the jamming pistol, and the piggy watch in the film have all become popular elements, and the "three evils" Ethan Ruan, Yuen Fuhua and Chen Yiwen have all become popular through this.
Perhaps it is precisely because it is so popular and is a collaboration between Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers that it finally won the Best Asian Chinese Film Award due to its high reputation. Perhaps because the crew was completely unprepared to win the award, director Huang Jingfu and starring Ethan Ruan did not attend. Only Yuen Fuhua, who plays "Aberdeen", and producer Huang Jiangfeng came to the scene.
When the two went on stage to receive the award, Yuan Fuhua, who seemed to have "never seen a big scene", was very nervous. He was so excited that he was vibrating his voice. When it was Huang Jiangfeng's turn to speak, he only said "Thank you". The scene was extremely funny.The award-winning "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils" also shows that its quality is recognized throughout the Chinese-speaking community, and also points the way for the future development of crime-themed commercial films.
2. Best Director Paul Cheng's "Homicide" (nominated: Jian Junjin's "Under the Day", Zhuo Yiqian's "Diary of a Young Man", Cheng Pauli's "Homicide", Chong Man-keung's "Goldfinger", Ng Wai-lun's "Vicious Tongue")
Chong Man-keung The director has won 4 Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, and his creative skills are obvious to all. He also won the Best Director for "Wushuang" and is the backbone of Hong Kong directors.
" Goldfinger " has a solid script and smooth plot transitions. The performances of Tony Leung and Andy Lau are remarkable. The street scenes and Fuhua Road of Hong Kong in the 1980s are also restored with great care, and every aspect is perfect.
What is rare is that Zhuang Wenqiang did not rest on his laurels and stay in the creative mode of "Infernal Affairs", but instead made "Goldfinger" into a work with a strong literary and artistic flavor according to his own wishes.
As a lively Lunar New Year movie, "Vicious Tongue" is remarkable for its strong box office performance.
Movies like this used to be called legal films. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were many classic works, such as "Inside the Law", "Inside the Law", "The Lawyer", etc.; South Korea also produced word-of-mouth movies. Excellent "The Advocate".
If you compare "Vicious Tongue" with these works, you can see that although its narrative structure is neat and the story is fascinating, it is lacking in the handling of the court trial scene in the climax.
Defense lawyer Jin Yuanshan, played by Tse Junhao, defected at a critical moment because of his adherence to principles. The exciting confrontation that the audience expected became Huang Zihua's personal performance.
As a movie with a legal theme, the bad guys in the film are not completely bad, and the protagonist does not encounter enough difficulties and setbacks. This is the biggest shortcoming of the film in the script, and it also reflects the limitations of the director's level. Therefore, in the competition for the Best Director Award, director Wu Weilun does not have much chance of winning.
"Under the Day" is a script jointly created by Jian Junjin and took 5 years to polish before it was finalized.
There were many script meetings during the period, and Er Dongsheng also gave a lot of valuable opinions. Although Jian Junjin lacked experience, under Er Dongsheng's "protection", the final performance of the film was satisfactory.
In contrast, Zhuo Yiqian 's "Youth Diary" is more based on independent creation. As a screenwriter, Zhuo Yiqian has participated in Lam Chiu-hsien's "Guild Wars" and "Magic Police", Wilson Yip's "Slaying the Wolf: Greedy Wolf", and Lu Weilin's "Zombie Fighting Tonight", all of which are commercial films and has accumulated rich experience. experience, laying the foundation for his creation.
At a previous film festival, "Diary of a Youth" received 5 nominations, and Zhuo Yiqian finally won the Best New Director Award, which is also a major advantage.
The development of the Hong Kong film industry urgently needs the infusion of new blood. Newcomers such as Jian Junjin and Zhuo Yiqian can produce good works and deserve more attention and encouragement.
It's a pity that the jury finally gave the award for Best Director to Zheng Baorui.
Director Cheng Po-sui returned to Hong Kong in 2021 to launch "Wisdom Teeth", which received 14 nominations at the 40th Academy Awards. In the end, the most important award he won was Best Screenplay (Kenya Ou, Michelle Shum).
Because "Wisdom Teeth" is adapted from the short novel of the same name by Mainland novelist Remi, the re-creation based on a solid story framework can easily produce excellent scripts.
"Homicide" is a script written by Li Chunhui and You Naihai, the team members of Yinhe. The plot arrangement is more arbitrary and there is no novel as a basis. The look and feel is quite different from "Wisdom Teeth".
Although it is also a film co-produced by Cheng Baorui and Lin Jiadong, "Homicide" is obviously not Cheng Baorui's best work. Being able to win the Best Director Award somewhat means "ranking based on seniority".
Comparing Jian Junjin, Zhuo Yiqian and Wu Weilun, they all have less qualifications than him, and Zhuang Wenqiang has already won this award with "Wushuang" before, maybe because of this, it is Cheng Baorui's turn this time.
3. Best Actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai "Goldfinger" (nominated: Lam Baoyi "Under the Sun", Lu Zhenye "Youth Diary", Tony Leung "Goldfinger", Huang Zihua "Vicious Tongue", Dapeng " eighth" Suspect ")
80 Hougang star Lu Zhenye played the role of teacher Zheng Youjun in "Diary of a Youth". An unsigned suicide note evoked his childhood memories of his brother Zheng Youjie. Lu Zhenye's performance level is very high, and being nominated also shows that the judges affirmed him.
However, the appearance of the character Zheng Youjun in the film has three stages: childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The childhood and adolescence Zheng Youjun are played by He Polian and Dai Yuqi respectively. Sharing the role between three people will also reduce Lu Zhenye's role, making it impossible for his performance to run through the entire film. This is a disadvantage that Lu Zhenye needs to face when competing for this award.
Dapeng also received a nomination for his role as construction company boss Chen Xinwen in 's "The Eighth Suspect" . Dapeng really put in a lot of effort for this movie. In order to play the role well, he first gained 20 pounds and then lost 30 pounds, which made Chen Xinwen's character quite convincing.
Unfortunately, the reputation of "The Eighth Suspect" is not very good. It only received 6.0 points on Douban and the box office in the mainland was only 439 million yuan. This has an impact on Dapeng's bid for the best actor. Historically, in the competition for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, mainland male movie stars have rarely won awards, although they have been nominated. So far, Jet Li is the only exception, and everyone else is running with him, so Dapeng's chances of winning are indeed not good.
From this point of view, it seems that neither of these two people can win this award. Before the results were announced, Huang Zihua and Lin Baoyi were the most vocal. Both of them performed very well this time. But in the end, the best actor was won by Tony Leung, who had been crowned emperor five times before, which surprised everyone.
Lin Baoyi is very lucky to be able to play the role of Dean Zhang Jianhua in "Under the Day". What's interesting is that Zhang Jianhua is actually a very bad character. In Lin Baoyi's own words, he is "perverted" enough. This gives Lin Baoyi a lot of performance space and allows him to portray a good character in a more three-dimensional way.
Zhang Jianhua has the self-consistent logic that bad people often have. He will feel that as the dean, taking care of the elderly and disabled women, he has the right to dominate and bully them. This kind of abnormal psychology makes Lin Baoyi very disgusted, but it is undeniable that this is a very brilliant character, and Lin Baoyi also performed the character's personality characteristics well.
As mentioned above, the court trial scene at the climax of "Vicious Tongue" is a personal performance of Huang Zihua. The
movie is not perfect in terms of script, but it gives the "master of stand-up comedy" Huang Zihua enough room to play, and Huang Zihua alone supports the exciting, explosive and igniting points of the movie.
The role of lawyer Lin Liangshui was written for Huang Zihua, and it fits his temperament and personality very well. When shaping the character, Huang Zihua does not need to refer to other similar character images. He only needs to perform according to the director's requirements, and he will naturally be able to present the three-dimensional and layered sense of the character.
As the founder of Hong Kong-style stand-up comedy, Huang Zihua and the role of "lawyer" are a perfect match. In the film, Lin Liangshui's three-part court trial scene is full of fire and crazy output. Every word spoken is so sonorous, powerful and aggressive, hitting the heart of every audience like a hammer.
Huang Zihua also grasped Lin Liangshui's sense of justice and affinity very well. That's why "Vicious Tongue" was able to arouse such a huge response and create astonishing box office results.
This is the closest Huang Zihua has been to becoming the best actor, and his hard work and persistence are obvious to all.
However, in the end the jury was still more willing to award the award to Tony Leung, which deeply dissatisfied movie fans in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Even director Wang Jing, a big shot in the film industry, couldn't stand it anymore and wrote an article to express his dissatisfaction.
Wong Jing pointed out that "Goldfinger" "is by no means Tony Leung's best performance, it is a bit over the top." It is far from his previous performances. Wong Jing even unceremoniously suggested that Tony Leung should "follow the example of Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung who announced that they would no longer accept awards and give opportunities to the younger generation."
To be honest, the traitorous businessman Cheng Yiyan played by Tony Leung in "Goldfinger" is very different from his previous roles and is also different from his own personality. It can be seen that Tony Leung's acting skills are very strong, and Cheng Yiyan's confidence and madness were perfectly interpreted by him. It actually makes sense for him to win the award.
But in terms of the meaning of the "Academy Award for Best Actor" to individual movie stars and Hong Kong movies themselves, awarding it to Tony Leung is the "icing on the cake", and awarding it to Huang Zihua or Lin Baoyi is an affirmation of the two people's hard work for half a life, and for those who are in this stage. For Hong Kong movies that are in turmoil, it is also a "help in times of need", and it is clear at a glance which one is more important.
4. Best Actress Yu Xiangning "Under the Sun" (nominated: Xie Anqi "4 Shoots 4 Family", Wei Shiya "Married in a Day 2", Yu Xiangning "Under the Sun", Wang Danni "Vicious Tongue" "Da Zhuang", Chung Xueying "Lyrics")
"4 Pats 4 Family" is a musical movie starring Teddy Robin, with Xie Anqi playing the heroine Chen Lexin
. Angela Tse is a female singer under New Arts Records. She is also the second Hong Kong singer to be crowned Queen of Heaven as a mother after Faye Wong. Her strength should not be underestimated, but in terms of acting, she is just a sideline. It is not easy to be nominated.
"Married Soon 2" is the sequel to the 2021 movie "Married Soon". The previous film failed to win awards that year, and its Douban score was also very low, only 5.5 points, making it relatively unpopular.
Wei Shiya can be nominated for the sequel, which shows that her acting skills have improved. This is also the first time she has been nominated for a film award.
"Lyricist" is a co-production between Hong Kong and Taiwan. Chung Xueying plays the heroine Luo Yingshi who aspires to be a lyricist in the film.
This is an inspirational and funny drama, with a Douban score of 7.6. Chung Xueying’s performance is also very serious. As a young actor born in the 1990s, an Academy Award nomination is the best encouragement for her.
Wang Danni is a well-known model in Hong Kong, China, with an astonishing height of 179cm. In 2016, she stood out in the casting audition of the movie "Anita Muita" and made her official debut by playing the role of Anita Mui.
In "Vicious Tongue", Wang Danni played the role of the single mother Zeng Jieer who harbored injustice. Her hard-working performance was impressive, but the role itself did not have many roles, which was a pity for her.
Comparing the four mentioned above, Yu Xiangning has the highest voice for breaking out of the industry with the role of reporter Ling Xiaoqi in "Under the Day".
Yu Xiangning has already won the Hong Kong Internet Film Critics Highlight Award, the Hong Kong Film Directors Guild Annual Award and the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award. It seems logical to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
The 31-year-old Yu Xiangning has just been promoted to a mother. She admitted that she is ready to play the role of a mother and a mature woman. When she played the role of Ling Xiaoqi in the film, she insisted on not wearing makeup, which also had a good effect.
Therefore, when the award presenter called out Yu Xiangning's name, no one present was surprised. This is also the least controversial and most "popular" award.
5. Best Film "The Big Thing" (nominated: "Under the Sun", "Diary of a Young Man", "Homicide", "Goldfinger", "The Big Thing")
The most interesting of this year's Academy Awards The phenomenon is that the first three awards nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay are all "Under the Sun", "Diary of a Young Man", "The Killing", "Goldfinger" and "The Big Bad" These 5 videos. Among them, "Goldfinger" and "Vicious Tongue" have been introduced to the mainland for release. The mainland box office of "Goldfinger" was .574 billion.
The domestic box office of "Homicide" is HK$11.5 million. This is the second film directed by Paul Cheng after returning to Hong Kong after "Wisdom Teeth". It is written by You Naihai, produced by Johnnie To, and starring Lin Jiadong, with a clear Galaxy image temperament.
Brother Qie has introduced this movie before. Although its story continues the "fatalism" theme of Galaxy movies, the ending of the movie is bright and counter-routine. It tries to tell the audience a truth: Don't think that "everything is fate and no one is responsible for it." As long as you make rational choices and learn to control your own behavior, you can change your destiny and find a way out.
Lin Jiadong's performance was very hard. It is said that one emotional scene took 53 times to pass, and his efforts alone supported the entire movie. But the chicken soup-like theme of "your destiny is determined by your choices" is actually not new, and the patchwork story is also scattered, so it is not a perfect movie.
"Goldfinger" , written and directed by Zhuang Wenqiang, the screenwriter of "Infernal Affairs", brings together the two great movie stars Tony Leung and Andy Lau. It is adapted from "The Murder of Jia Ning" among the "Top Ten Mysterious Cases in Hong Kong". It is a rare "murder" in recent years. Strange Case" movie.
The "Jianing Murder Case" occurred in the 1980s. Chen Songqing, the boss of Jianing Group, illegally manipulated Hong Kong stocks to harvest leeks and was involved in many murders.
"Goldfinger" unfolds the historical picture with scenes of drunkenness and glamour, and carefully restores that period of unbearable history. The film involves a lot of financial knowledge and techniques, as well as the history of the "Jianing Case", which is a big threshold for viewers who do not have this knowledge and understand this history.
Moreover, Zhuang Wenqiang is also lacking in handling the drama and fun of the movie. Fortunately, with the blessing of the "Double Best Actor", the box office of "Goldfinger" in Hong Kong was 3.43 million HKD , and it earned nearly .6 billion in the mainland. Box office is already not easy.
"Under the Day" is produced by Er Dongsheng and directed by emerging director Jian Junjin. It is adapted from a 2016 case of abuse of residents in a disability institution that shocked Hong Kong. Due to the sensitive subject matter, Ye Dongsheng found five investors, and only Louis Koo's Tianyi Films was willing to invest.
Louis Koo believes that investing in movies should not only be considered from a commercial perspective, but should also value good books that can reflect the current situation of society, so he decided to invest in filming.
Louis Koo also planned to play the role of Dean Zhang Jianhua in the film, but after carefully studying the script, he felt that he was not suitable, so he changed the role to Lin Baoyi. Unexpectedly, Lin Baoyi's highlight performance was achieved.
This popular movie received 6 nominations . More than 10,000 people rated it .2 on Douban. The local box office was HK$322.28 million, which shows that it is of high quality and is recognized by Hong Kong audiences.
"Diary of a Youth" is produced by "mm2 Hong Kong" and directed by Zhuo Yiqian, a post-80s director. The investment was only HK$3.25 million, but it received a box office of of HK$325.89 million. It is a model of small and big. The
movie revolves around the story of "a ten-year-old schoolboy committing suicide by falling from a building". It uses a diary to connect two different time and spaces, and explores the educational issues of young people in a dual-line narrative.
The film involves patriarchal consciousness, indifferent and alienated family relationships, the disadvantages of chicken-child education, and educational problems caused by campus bullying. These are all factors that promote the phenomenon of suicide at a young age.While the audience sympathizes with the protagonist's experiences in the film, they also reflect on the social contradictions and ideological lesions behind these phenomena.
It is precisely because it focuses on life, exposes social problems, and can arouse the audience's thinking that it can gain great attention from the audience, which in turn generates ideal box office results.
"Under the Day" and "Diary of a Young Man" are both films directed by new directors. They are also rare outstanding drama works in recent years. They are indeed strong contenders for the best film at this year's Academy Awards.
As for "Vicious Tongue", judging from the movie's box office performance, it is undoubtedly the most "strong" film in this award.
Compared with the above two movies, the story and operation of "Vicious Tongue" are more inclined to a more mature commercial film, with exciting points, irritating points, obvious dramatic conflicts, and the ability to grasp the audience's emotions.
But success or failure is also "dramatic". In terms of realism, "Vicious Tongue" is lacking compared to "Under the Day" and "Diary of a Youth".
The crew of "Vicious Tongue" spent the whole night with them. They thought they would get nothing this time, but they finally won the Best Film Award, which made the whole crew overjoyed.
Huang Zihua stood on the stage to receive the award. Although he was excited, he could not hide a hint of loneliness on his face. It was indeed a bit disappointing for him to miss out on the Best Actor Award, but being able to win the Best Film Award was a confirmation for the entire team.
6. Hong Kong movies are doing well again
An obvious development trend is that the Hong Kong film market will not return to the saturated state of the early 1990s with an annual output of hundreds of films. However, the requirements for the subject matter and quality of the films themselves have changed. becomes more and more important. And realistic works that can reflect social reality are more popular with the audience.
Two new directors, Jian Junjin's "Under the Sun" , received 16 nominations; Zhuo Yiqian's "Diary of a Youth" also received 12 nominations. This fully shows that the Academy Awards jury is very interested in Attention to newcomers in the film industry. Both of these films are based on realistic themes and have received good reputations and box office results. They are also the winners of this year's Academy Awards.
Last year, Chinese-language films were indeed in full bloom. "River Red" and "All or Nothing" were both excellent commercial films from the mainland; and "That Time a Ghost and I Became Family" and "Zhou Chu's Three Evils" were both produced in Taiwan. Blockbuster movies.
Although it was "Zhou Chu's Three Evils" that won the award in the end, each of these movies is excellent.
Yu Xiangning, who has made her debut for 10 years, has already polished her mature acting skills in many film and television works. In addition, her good looks are online, she is low-key and meaningful, and she is deeply loved by Hong Kong movie fans. Winning the Academy Award for Best Actress this time will definitely be of great help to her acting career.
Tony Leung Chiu Wai proclaimed himself emperor six times, which is unique in the Hong Kong film industry, but the efforts of Huang Zihua and Lin Baoyi cannot be ignored. From the final results of this year's Hong Kong Film Awards, we can see that the Hong Kong film market has shown signs of recovery in recent years.
After these years of development and updates, young filmmakers have slowly emerged, supporting the entire market and allowing us to see the future of Hong Kong movies.
believes that in a few years, Hong Kong movies will usher in a new market boom. By then, we will also be able to see more newcomers in the film industry and more outstanding works.
(Movie Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Department: Hot-Blooded Heart)
