Golden Horse Wins
Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 2:45PM 
Today's Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-Taiwanese Oscars, spread the wealth. Superstar Andy Lau (A Simple Life, Infernal Affairs, House of the Flying Daggers) had the honor of presenting Best Picture. It went to Beijing Blues but Beijing hardly dominated. Every BP Contender took home at least one prize and some of them major.
I watched a bit of the ceremony live on the web even though I speak no Cantonese, Mandarin or Taiwanese. Awards shows are -- you'll never believe this -- a source of endless fascination to me. Yes, even if I have no clue what's going on.
I was told at one point though that the producers were asking the hosts to ad lib more since the ceremony was running short -- imagine it! Otherwise awards ceremonies speak a universal language. Consider the Best Actress category: silly presenter banter, 5 nominees, a mix of teary and elegant and 'why did they pick that?' clips, tense multi-camera grid as the winner is announced, and a tearful young beauty winning the big prize.
Also, just like it would happen at the Oscars, her equally pretty young male co-star (Joseph Chang) lost the counterpart male category to a mature and well respected character actor who'd paid his dues. The gender rules of awardage appear to be universal, too!
THE WINNERS
Best Picture Beijing Blues (pictured left) is a drama about a detective catching thieves
Audience Choice Gf*Bf (a popular youth-oriented romantic drama)
Best Director Johnny To Life Without Principle (Hong Kong's Oscar submission)
Best Actress Gwei Lun-Mei Gf*Bf
Best Actor Ching Wan Lau Life Without Principle
Best Supporting Actress Liang Jing Design of Death
Best Supporting Actor Ronald Cheng Vulgaria
Best New Performer Qi Xi Mystery
A complete list of winners and nominees can be found at the official Golden Horse site.
Reader Comments (7)
Having closely followed the Golden Horse Award ceremony for many years, I daresay that it's more predictable than the Oscars. Of course you have the Maggie Cheungs and Tony Leungs who have since nabbed numerous nominations and wins (Nat, have you seen Comrades Almost A Love Story? a must-watch if you're a Maggie fan - her performance is more authentic than that in The Mood for Love); it also tends to reward actors/directors/producers for paying their dues over the decades than their nominated output. But of late, I reckon their choices have been 'braver' and 'experimental' - with wins going to auteurs, rookie actresses, and first-time directors - deservingly so in my humble opinion.
I'm Chinese, but nowadays the quality of Chinese films have been slipped quite drastically, I haven't watched the ceremony, but the best picture winner BEIJING BLUES is a rather contentious choice, since its divisive nature and a mini-budget scale, anyway, recent years there are always dark horses popping up in light of the tepid qualities of the qualified competitors.
But love the win of Gwei Lun-Mei, no one could forget her in BLUE GATE CROSSING (2001), and I am in desperate urge to watch Gf*Bf.
Jans -- i have seen COMRADES. Big Maggie fan of course.
Yes Jans, Maggie is great in Comrades, especially that crying scene near the end. For some reason, I was in tears most of the time in that movie...
The happiest win for me is Ronald Cheng in Vulgaria. He practically outshines everyone by inhabiting that character totally, but still manage to shock and makes us laugh. I think Vulgaria is a movie probably understood mostly by native HK people. There were 3 person in a matinee that day, so the other two could not understand what's so funny about that movie. I feel so embarrassed that I was the only one laughing in that theater (so echo-y) lol.
Finally Lau Chin Wan won a Golden Horse! It's been too long for someone so talented and humble, even for a role that's more supporting (everyone in that film is almost supporting) and not particularly great.
Nat! Your post made me look brilliant to my Chinese-movie-loving husband. Hugs.
TOUCHED OF THE LIGHT, taiwanese oscar submission, nabbed the award for the New Director, Chang Rong-ji...wondering how it will score with Academy Members...
Gwei Lun-Mei's best actress turn in Gf*Bf is memorably poignant, so I highly recommend the movie's viewing to yours truly. I was also pleasantly surprised by the screenwriter/director's deft behind the camera. There is such a maturity and ease to his work, making him an exciting one to watch for me (next to other great Taiwanese directors such as Hou Hsiao Hsien and Tsai Ming Liang).
Here's a trailer of Gf*Bf if you haven't already seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-IsMR7DrXc