"Shadow" leads the Golden Horse nominations

Good news for fans of Zhang Yimou. His latest film Shadow, which we quite liked at TIFF, leads the 55th annual Golden Horse nominations which focus on Chinese language cinema. The higher Shadow's profile gets the more eyeballs it will theoretically find once Well Go, releases it in US theaters. It's definitely worth seeing in a movie theater since it's a visual spectacle. China still hasn't named their Oscar submission so we hope it's going to be Shadow which was released at home yesterday, the last day of eligibility for Oscar's Foreign Language Film submission requirements.

Interestingly enough, Hong Kong's Oscar submission Operation Red Sea received NO nominations whatsoever. 

A full list of Golden Horse nominations is after the jump with links to reviews for the few films we've seen...

BEST FEATURE

Roy Chiu stars as a gay man in "Dear Ex"

• Dear Ex
  A drama about a family dealing with the realization that their deceased dad had a gay lover
• Dying To Survive
  A dramedy that tells the true story of a man smuggling cheap unproven medicine into China for leukemia patients
• Elephant Sitting Still
  A four hour drama about a group of lost souls obsessed with the legend of an elephant that simply ignores the world in a Northern Chinese city
• Long Day's Journey Into Night 
  Bi Gan's romantic drama about a man remembering a mysterious woman
• Shadow 
  Zhang Yimou's historical drama about the Three Kingdoms era in China, and a secretive dying commander with a healthy doppleganger who is influencing a vain and foolish king

Best Director

Zhang Yimou on the set of "Shadow"

• Zhang Yimou, Shadow 
• Bi Gan, Long Day's Journey Into Night 
• Jiang Wen, Hidden Man
• Pema Tseden, Jinpa
• Lou Ye, The Shadow Play

Best Leading Actress

• Hsieh Ying-xuan, Dear Ex
• Sun Li, Shadow 
• Zhao To, Ash is Purest White
• Zeng Meihuizi, Three Husbands
• Zhou Xun, Last Letter

Best Leading Actor

Duan Yihong stars in "The Looming Storm"

• Duan Yihong, The Looming Storm
• Roy Chiu, Dear Ex
• Deng Chao, Shadow 
• Xu Zheng, Dying to Survive
• Peng Yuchang, An Elephant Sitting Still

Best Supporting Actress

Kara Wai in "Tracey"

• Ding Ning, Cities of Last Things
• Kara Wai, Tracey
• Xu Quing, Hidden Man
• Phoebe Huang, Dad's Suit
• Zhang Zifeng, Last Letter

Best Supporting Actor

Hong Chi-Lee is one of the stars of "Cities of Last Things" which starts with a suicide and goes backwards in time to see what led to it

• Lee Hong-chi, Cities of Last Things
• Cheng Jen-shuo, Gatao 2: Rise of the King
• Zhang Yu, Dying to Survive
• Tian Zhuang-zhuang, Us and Them
• Ben Yuen, Tracey

Best New Director

• Dong Yue, The Looming Storm
• Mag Hsu and Hsu Chih-Yen, Dear Ex
• Wen Muye, Dying to Survive
• Rene Liu, Us and Them
• Hu Bo, An Elephant Sitting Still (posthumous nomination)

Best New Performer

Fu Meng-po is the son in "Father to Son"

• Joseph Huang, Dear Ex
• Hsieh Chang-ying, Cities of Last Things
• Zhang Zaixing, Gatao 2: Rise of the King
• Si Panogoyod, Long Time No Sea
• Fu Meng-po, Father to Son

Best Original Screenplay

• The Looming Storm
• Dear Ex
• Cities of Last Things
• Dying to Survive
• Last Letter

Best Adapted Screenplay

• On Happiness Road
• Shadow 
• Us and Them
• Jinpa
• An Elephant Sitting Still

Best Cinematography

• Shadow 
• Xiao Mei
• Long Day's Journey Into Night 
• An Elephant Sitting Still
• The Shadow Play

Best Visual Effects

• Shadow 
• Monster Hunt 2
• Hidden Man
• Legend of the Demon Cat
• Detective Dee: Four Heavenly Kings

Best Art Direction

• The Looming Storm
• Shadow 
• Hidden Man
• Legend of the Demon Cat
• Father to Son

Best Makeup and Costume Design

• The Looming Storm
• Shadow 
• Dying to Survive
• Hidden Man
• Legend of the Demon Cat

Best Action Choreography

• Shadow 
• Monster Hunt 2
• Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy
• Hidden Man
• The Shadow Play

Best Original Score

• Shadow 
• Xiao Mei
• Long Day
• Father to Son
• An Elephant Sitting Still

Best Original Song

• "Bali Song" - Dear Ex
• "Excuse you, Boss" - Gatao 2: Rise of the King
• "Light Echo" - Xiao Mei
• "Us" -Us and Them
• "Keep the Heart Out of it" - Father to Son

Best Film Editing

• Four Springs
• Our Youth in Taiwan
• Dear Ex
• Dying to Survive
• Us and Them

Best Sound Effects

Shadow

• The Looming Storm
• Shadow 
• Long Day's Journey Into Night 
• Father to Son
• The Shadow Play

Best Documentary

• Four Springs
• Our Youth in Taiwan
• Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story
• 24th Street
• Umbrella Diaries: The First Umbrella

Best Animated Feature

• Cats and Peachtopia
• On Happiness Road
• A Dog's Life

Best Live Action Short

• 02-06
• Temporary
• Brotherhood
• A Final Reunion
• My World

Best Animated Short

• Si So Mi
• Where Am I Going?
• Infidelity
• Muteum
• Kin's Hair

Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year

• Saburo Liu

Special Contribution Award

• Liao Ching-sung

Comments

[kin]

I am not surprised about Operation Red Sea's shutout as it is a very pro-China movie. In fact, its Chinese wikipedia seems to suggest it never made it to Taiwan. Anyways, I really wish Dante Lam go back to personal (police) dramas instead of the spectacles with Mainland that he keep making now.

[Mareko]

Why do Hong Kong and China get separate Oscar submissions? Hong Kong *is* part of China (and has been for decades), so that’s weird.

[kin]

Mareko,

1) Don't let anyone (else) from Hong Kong read that. Very, very sensitive subject.
2) Hong Kong really does have its own government and also different industries in many aspects, including movies and sports. The funding and the rules are entirely different. That's why Hong Kong has its own Olympics sports team and also own Oscar submission.
3) It used to be that Hong Kong filmmakers really have their own distinct style, but now not so much. Maybe one day, Hong Kong submitting for themselves won't be necessary, but I would hope they just go and submit movies that are more local instead.

[Owl]

First, it is heartening to see Zhao Tao get a lead actress nomination in Ash is Purest White although I am not sure she'll win. Jia Zhangke's films are highly regarded not only in film festival circuits but also in academia, but not sure if the cinematic articulations transfer well to popular consumption and acceptance.

Second, of all the films I saw in NZIFF last July, Elephant Standing Still lasted longer in my memory. It is haunting in the same way as Zvyagintsev's The Return or Ozon's Sous le Sable. The film traumatized me the way not unlike what the characters went through in very trying life challenges and non-cathartic resolutions. Hu Bo's posthumous nomination as director is a beautiful recognition of his rarefied talents. When I first read that he ended his life in his late 20s, I was puzzled how someone with so much visionary perspective in filmmaking and making the indescribably liminal come to life, could die suddenly. Then after seeing the film I kinda guess that his sensitivity may not have lasted long in this world or mortals. Also it is refreshing to see Peng Yuchang cited as supporting actor; plus the screenplay and music. I urge TFE fans to see this film - it is uncomfortable, sublime, strange, ethereal and ironically life-affirming all at the same time. Probably will be talked about years later.

Third, is that Tian Zhuangzhuang, the director of The Blue Kite being nominated as best supporting actor? I don't think I have seen him act in films before although one quick look at IMDb mentioned a few appearances in films as actor. Will be sure to watch Hou lai de wo men aka Us and Them when it hits the festival circuit.

Fourth, it is indeed a sensitive topic to talk about Hong Kong in relation to China. While we understandably cannot make sense of this from an outsider's point of view, there are fraught relations between neighboring territories that had historically driven them apart. I always call Hong Kong cinema as Hong Kong cinema in recognition of their own thriving industry and singularity of vision.

[Jack]

Owl

Yes that is the director of The Blue Kite, Tian Zhuangzhuang. For some political reasons he is not willing to direct the film, so he is doing acting now, and he is a quite good actor though, nominated for best supporting actor (Us and Them) this year, also nominated best leading actor (Xiang Qin Xiang Ai aka Love Education) last year.

[Owl]

Thanks, Jack. I will be on the look out for his films. If his films are font, they will be non-serif because of the lack of sentimentality and extraneous effects -- just showing us what is depicted onscreen as clearly as possible and that's where we draw our insights and emotional response in the film. Thanks for the heads-up. It'll be strange but I will be on the look out for Tian's acting projects from now on.

[Carl Papa]

On happiness road is a lovely animated film :)