Poster of the movie "Anita Mui".
The Philosopher's withering
The light and shadow still remain in the heart
Among the finalists for this year's Best Director, there is a deceased predecessor Chen Musheng . Fans who like Hong Kong action movies must have seen Chen Musheng's movies. He died of nasopharyngeal cancer on August 23, 2020. Many fans expressed their reluctance to part with him. At that time, he also had a movie "Fury" (called "Fury" in the Mainland). Fury·Serious Case ") was to be completed, but unexpectedly this film became his last work.
"Rage" is of course a 100% work directed by Chen Musheng. It is full of crazy action scenes and over-the-top explosion scenes. You can find the same traits in his works. But "Rage" is also the most emotionally charged of Chen Musheng's works. The emotional power accumulated in the film from beginning to end can be regarded as an accurate capture of the emotions of the times. If you simply regard it as a police film, you will be underestimating this movie. If you can understand the message that Chen Musheng wants to send to Hong Kong, you will have an extra layer of calm reflection after the blood boiling. Chen Musheng has been nominated for Best Director 5 times before, but unfortunately he failed. This time he was shortlisted based on his posthumous work. If he misses again, it will be a foregone conclusion. After all, he will not be able to have any new movies released.
Black and white tones
Cult movies are about to reach the level of elegance
No one thought that the most nominated (14 items) at this year's Academy Awards was actually a cult (cult) movie " Wisdom Teeth ". Just looking at the poster of "Wisdom Teeth" indicates that it will not be a movie that you can comfortably watch.
director Zheng Baorui regained his "self" in the filming of " Dog Eat Dog ". It took 5 years of preliminary preparations. Filming started in 2017, and post-production was not completed until August 2020. The entire film is pushed to the extreme in terms of art, performance, and story. Under the black and white tone, there is a stage covered by rain and dark clouds. Whenever the wind blows, it will set off a huge wave for the characters in the movie. Mainland actor Liu Yase gave a self-destructive performance for this film, which was breathtaking. Her hard work made her the favorite for Best Actress at this year's Academy Awards. At the story level, "Wisdom Teeth" also contains many metaphors. For example, the protagonist's name "Wang Tao" is pronounced like "The Outlaw" in Cantonese. The "wisdom teeth" in the film's title is both a literal reference and an image. It symbolizes a superfluous but extremely uncomfortable state. The various discomforts "Wisdom Teeth" gives you are like simulating the process of wisdom teeth removal. The 28th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards gave the best director to Chen Musheng, the director of "Rage", and the best film to "Wisdom Teeth". This award has always been regarded as the weathervane of Hong Kong Film Awards , " "Rage" and "Wisdom Teeth" are likely to go head-to-head that night.
The uncrowned king
The Academy Awards owe him recognition
The competition for Best Actor this year is quite fierce, and Francis Ng is regarded as this year's favorite. Many people may not know that this powerful actor, who is well known to the audience, has never been awarded the Best Actor at the Academy Awards. He was nominated for Best Actor 5 times, but unfortunately he failed to win the award. Looking back at Wu Zhenyu's history of gold statue nominations, you will find that he does lack a little luck.
In 2000, Wu Zhenyu was nominated for the best actor for the first time with "Explosion Detective", but lost to Andy Lau in "Dark Battle"; the following year, Wu Zhenyu won again with the highly acclaimed drama "Juliet and Liang Shanbo". Nominated for Best Actor, he accidentally ran into Tony Leung of "In the Mood for Love"; in 2004, Wu Zhenyu was nominated for his superb performance in "Infernal Affairs 2". When everyone thought that he deserved to win the award , he once again lost to Andy Lau, who was shortlisted for " big guy ". He was nominated twice for Best Actor, but he failed to win. This time, Ng Chun-yu handed himself over to new director Li Junshuo in "Drifting on Muddy Waters". He once said in an interview with a Nandu reporter that he "enjoyed this performance". He worked his way up from the bottom to play the role of a Sham Shui Po man. of homeless people.In order to better restore the character, Wu Zhenyu basically started filming when he woke up, without makeup, and did not talk to the actors, leaving himself in a lonely state on the set. Among the five best film nominees, "Drifting" is the one with the most social significance. Wu Zhenyu lost the halo of stardom and chose to "go down". Behind this is a care for supporting Hong Kong's local production and society.
Lao Dang Yizhuang
" Fourth Brother " also wants to win the Oscar.
The younger generation of movie fans' understanding of Xie Xian basically stays at the two concepts of " Shaolin Soccer " and "He is Nicholas Tse 's father" an impression. But Tse Hsien, known as "Fourth Brother", was a pivotal figure in the early development of Hong Kong films. He had acted in hundreds of films. When he became popular, the Hong Kong Film Awards had not yet been born.
In 2019, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Academy Awards. At that time, he was rated as "the best among male stars", and the then Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor presented him with the award. This kind of treatment shows Xie Xian's status in Hong Kong. At the award ceremony, he said, "I hope I can make more good shows for you in the future." He was 83 years old at the time. Now he has been nominated for Best Actor for the first time for "Beyond Dusk", becoming the oldest actor nominated. If the 85-year-old Xie Xian can win the best actor, he will break the 69-year-old award-winning record of actor Taibo. Xie Xian plays a retired killer who comes back to life in "Beyond Dusk". The role overlaps with the actor's life. Xie Xian, who has not been a protagonist for many years, comes out this time just to prove that his sword is not old.
Newcomers emerge in large numbers
sets off a new wave of Hong Kong films
The lack of success has always been a weakness of Hong Kong films. Fortunately, there are many good newcomers in this year's shortlist. For example, Wang Danni was shortlisted for Best New Actor for "Anita Mui". The crew spent three years interviewing countless actresses across Asia before finally selecting this newcomer. Although there are still many shortcomings in her performance, her performance in "Anita Mui" did move many people to tears, and the audience regarded her as Sister Mui herself several times.
In addition to actors, two new directors shortlisted have also produced outstanding works, namely Li Junshuo who made "Drifting in the Muddy Waters" and Chen Jianlang of "Hand-Rolled Cigarettes". Li Junshuo made his first feature film "" in 2018, which focuses on Hong Kong's sexual minorities and is known as the Hong Kong version of "The Danish Girl". The second work "Drifting on Muddy Waters" is still unique, focusing on Hong Kong's homeless people. Director Chen Jianlang's debut film "Hand-Rolled Cigarettes" presented a wonder film to the Hong Kong film industry with its stylized narrative.
is well-deserved.
He deserves the Lifetime Achievement Award.
This year’s Academy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award winner is Xu Guanwen . Seeing this result, no one should have any objections. From 1974 to 1981, the comedy films "The Ghost Horse Double Star ", "Half a Category" and " Modern Bodyguard", which he wrote, directed and starred in, won the Hong Kong annual box office championship five times and broke the box office record for Chinese films three times. , is the director with the most annual box office hits in Hong Kong.
Xu Guanwen, known as the cold-faced comedian, was the king of comedy earlier than Stephen Chow . With "Modern Bodyguard" (1981), he became the best actor in the first Academy Awards the following year. His "Xu Guanwen" "Comedy" focuses on the daily lives of ordinary people in Hong Kong. While laughing, it does not forget to care for the people at the bottom. Later, Stephen Chow's "nonsensical comedies" also contained a lot of laughter and curses from small characters. Looking back to the source, he inherited the line of "Xu's comedies". In addition, Xu Guanwen's clever use of Cantonese slang in his movies has promoted the popularity of Cantonese culture. His contribution to Cantonese culture is not inferior to that of his brother Xu Guanjie 's Cantonese pop songs.
