Oscar Contender "The Assassin" Leads the Golden Horse Nominations

Nominations for the 52nd annual Golden Horse Awards have been announced with Taiwan's Oscar submission The Assassin leading the pack as well as netting arthouse favorite Hou Hsiao-Hsien a non-competitive statue for "Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker" to go along with his Best Director prize from Cannes earlier this year. The Assassin opens in limited US theatrical release on October 16th via Well Go entertainment. China's Oscar submission Wolf Totem, which is actually from animal-movie loving French director Jean-Jacques Annaud (!), only received 1 nomination for visual effects. The latter film is about a student living with Mongolian herders who adopts a wolf cub. 

Though The Assassin is likely to sweep the Golden Horses outside of acting (where only the ridiculously beautiful Shu Qi, Hou's regular muse, is nominated. No Chen Chang? Grrrr.) it's not the only big deal in Chinese languages cinema this year. Taiwan's Thanatos, Drunk, Hong Kong's popular crime thriller Port of Call, and China's acclaimed festival favorite Mountains May Depart also reaped several nominations. The event will be held on November 21st in Taipei. 

BEST FEATURE FILM

• The Assassin (Taiwanese arthouse action epic, Oscar submission)
• Mountains May Depart (Chinese family drama spanning 1995 to the future of 2025)
• Port of Call (Hong Kong crime thriller) 
• Thanatos, Drunk (Taiwanese LGBT-interest sibling drama)
• Tharlo (Tibetan black and white drama)

A complete list of nominations after the jump...

Asian superstars Aaron Kwok and Shu Qi are both up for lead acting honors

FEATURE FILM

• The Assassin (Taiwanese arthouse action epic)
• Mountains May Depart (Chinese drama)
• Port of Call (Hong Kong crime thriller) 
• Thanatos, Drunk (Taiwanese LGBT-interest crime drama)
• Tharlo (China)

BEST DIRECTOR

• Tso-Chi Chang - Thanatos, Drunk
• Hsiao-Hsien Hou - The Assassin
• Zhang-Ke Jia - Mountains May Depart
• Tseden Pema - Tharlo
• Hark Tsui - The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D

BEST ACTRESS

• Sylvia Chang - Office
• Karena Lam - Zinnia Flower
• Shu Qi - The Assassin
• Vivian Sung - Our Times
• Zhao Tao - Mountains May Depart

This could be a tight race between master filmmaker muses. Shu Qi headlines the nomination leader but Zhao Tao, regular muse to Jia Zhangke, has the juicier acting role in Mountains May Depart. 

BEST ACTOR

• Chao Deng - The Dead End
• Zijian Dong - De Lan
• Xiao-Gang Feng - Mr Six
• Aaron Kwok - Port of Call
• Hong-Chi Lee - Thanatos, Drunk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Wenli Jiang - The Master
• Elaine Jin - Port of Call
• Xuefung Lu - Thanatos, Drunk
• Sichun Ma - The Left Ear
• Jian Man Shut - Maverick

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Michael Chang - Laundryman
• Jen Shuo Cheng - Thanatos, Drunk
• Lawrence Ko - Murmur of the Hearts
• Michael Ning - Port of Call
• Qianyuan Wang - Saving Mr Wu

Thanatos, Drunk is about a straight guy, his gay brother, and a gigolo they both know

BEST NEW PERFORMER

• Hong-Chi Lee - Thanatos, Drunk
• Jessie Li - Port of Call
• Michael Ning - Port of Call
• Ado Kaliting Pacidal - Wawa No Cidal
• Cecilia So - She Remembers, He Forgets 

BEST NEW DIRECTOR

• Gan Bi - Kaili Blues
• Frankie Chen - Our Times
• Chung Lee - The Laundryman
• Alec Su - The Left Ear
• Quoqiang Xiang - Young Love Lost

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Mountains May Depart
• Mr Six
• Port of Call
• Thanatos, Drunk
• Zinnia Flower

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• The Assassin
• The Master
• Office
• Tharlo
• Wawa No Cidal

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Tharlo, from Tibet, is in black and white and follows a quiet man traveling to the city for his first photo ID

• The Assassin
• Mountains May Depart
• Port of Call
• Thanatos, Drunk
• Tharlo

The two cinematographers behind one of the most beautiful movies ever made (Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love) are up against each other in this category. Christopher Doyle, Australian born but best known for his collaborations with Asian filmmakers (particularly Wong Kar Wai) shot Port of Call. Ping Bin Lee, who works mostly in France and Asia, lensed the reportedly ravishing (visually at least) The Assassin. 

BEST ART DIRECTION

• The Assassin
• Gone with the Bullets
• Monster Hunt
• Office
• The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D

BEST COSTUMES & MAKEUP

• The Assassin
• De Lan
• Gone with the Bullets
• Monster Hunt
• Office

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Taking of Tiger Mountain is already one of the biggest hits of all time in China

• Gone with the Bullets
• Monster Hunt
• Rise of the Legend
• The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D
• Wolf Totem

BEST ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY

• The Assassin
• The Master
• Rise of the Legend
• SPL2 - A Time for Consequence
• The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D

BEST EDITING

• The Assassin
• Murmur of the Hearts
• Saving Mr Wu
• Thanatos, Drunk
• The Verse of Us

ORIGINAL MUSIC

• The Assassin
• Mountains May Depart
• Murmur of the Hearts
• Thanatos, Drunk
• Zinniz Flower

ORIGINAL SONG 

• "Aka Pisawad" - Wawa No Cidal
• "A Little Happiness" - Our Times
• "Darkness of the Sea" - Port Call
• "He Bi Ne" - Office
• "Twist" - The Laundryman

BEST SOUND EFFECTS

Cutesy CG fantasy Monster Hunt won some technical nominations

• The Assassin
• The Laundryman
• Monster Hunt
• Mountains May Depart
• Office

ANIMATED FEATURE

• McDull: Me & My Mum
• Monkey King-Hero is Back

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• 32 and 4
• The Chinese Mayor
• On the Rim of the Sky
• The Verse of Us
• Wansei Back Home

SHORT FILM

Death of Security Guard won Best Short at the Taipei film festival

• Death of a Security Guard
• Filial Pety Award
• No No Sleep
• Time to Die
• Under the Sun

OUTSTANDING TAIWANESE FILMMAKER
(non-competitive)

• Hsiao-Hsien Hou

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
(non competitive)

• Li Hi Hua 

Comments

[Jose]

"The Assassin" and "Mountains May Depart" are so spectacular. The cinematography race with these two doing so much with aspect ratios will be interesting to watch. A tie maybe? Hope one of the two gets nominated by ASC and Oscar too.

[NATHANIEL R]

Jose -- well i think only THE ASSASSIN will be eligible. i don't think Mountains May Depart is opening in the US?

[Glenn Dunks]

So glad to see the critical tide on MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART is swinging over towards positive. Cannes and the after period was quite muted, but I really enjoyed it. I get "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys in my head whenever the movie comes up in conversation.

[JoFo]

I'm sorry. I know I'll be blasted for this, but I thought The Assassin was awful. Beautiful? Yes. But there was nothing tangible in terms of plot or character I could give a rats ass about.