Golden Horse Awards for 2022 go to "Coo-Coo 043" and "Limbo"

by Nathaniel R

Sylvia Chang wins her fourth Golden Horse. img via Golden Horse instagram

Whoops this year's 59th Golden Horse Awards slipped right by us. They were held on November 19th in Taipei. The annual event covers the best in Chinese-language cinema and are juried awards. Director Ann Hui was Jury President this year and actor Chang Chen was also on the jury. The cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bing (In the Mood for Love) took over the awards executive committee lead role from Ang Lee. Though the Hong Kong thriller Limbo had led the nominations with 14 and won the most awards, the big winner was a film called Coo-Coo 043. Nominees, photos, winners, and a few comments about the films are after the jump... 

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Linkers Dozen

• MovieMaker Bruce Willis retires from acting after Aphasia diagnosis. Our heart goes out to him and his loved ones.
• World of Reel polled 150 critics (including me) on the best films of the 1970s. No surprise to see The Godfather top it even though it wasn't on my list (we could only choose 10-15 films each). Four of my selections made the top ten (Nashville, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, and Network)
• Pajiba great piece on Ryan Reynolds turning himself into a brand while becoming blander as an actor

More after the jump including Essie Davis, Chang Chen, Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, and the aftermath of The Slap at the Oscars... 

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Interview: The Director of 'Lunana' on making the Oscar finals, working with yaks, and meeting Ang Lee

by Nathaniel R

Making movies is never "easy" but some movies achieve the impossible. Pawo Chonyning Dorji's debut feature, the Bhutanese Oscar finalist Lunana A Yak in the Classroom, is one of the latter kind. Its very existence is a miracle, and that's before you even get to the lottery-ticket like good fortune of competing for the Oscar. While Bhutan has a growing local film and television industry, heavily influenced by the films of Bollywood, the pictures are mostly low budget and don't travel outside of the small landlocked country. They definitely don't travel anywhere near the mountainous village where Lunana A Yak in the Classroom takes place, since there is no electricity let alone a movie theater. The charming soulful movie is about a restless young teacher named Ugyen (first time actor Sherab Dorji) who dreams of moving to Australia to pursue a music career. He very reluctantly accepts a final teaching gig to complete his government contract but that assignment is in the most remote part of all Bhutan.

Setting a story there is one thing, filming there without electricity with cast and crew of first timers -- some of whom had never even seen a movie -- is another.  We had the pleasure of talking to the director about his miracle Oscar contender and why he made it and our interview follows after the jump...

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Oscar hopeful "The Falls" wins at the Golden Horse Awards

by Nathaniel R

Alyssia Chia and Gingle Wang arrive for "The Falls" -- will we also see them at the Oscars?

Chung Mong-hong's mother/daughter drama The Falls, which revolves around COVID-19 and mental illness, and is Taiwan's submission to the Oscars this year took home the top prize at the 58th annual Golden Horse Awards. But it was no sweeper. Chung Mong-hong, who had previously dominated the Golden Horse Awards just two seasons ago with A Sun (which went on to make Oscar's international finalist list), lost best director. Overall the wealth was spread with all of the Best Film nominees taking home statues. Chang Chen's latest star vehicle The Soul (streaming on Netflix) picked up four of them, tying The Falls haul. 

The complete list of winners and gifs and photos from the event are after the jump...

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Golden Horse 2021: The Soul, The Falls, and Drifting lead the nominations

THE FALLSby Nathaniel R

The nominations have been announced for Taiwan's annual Golden Horse Awards. Social drama Drifting about a homeless ex-con leads the pack with 12 nominations. Very close behind are the mother/daughter pandemic drama The Falls (which we reviewed at Venice) and the Chang Chen led mystery The Soul (streaming on Netflix) with 11 nominations each. Moneyboys, the gay hustler drama that premiered at Cannes this summer snagged just two nominations but big ones (Best Actor for Kai Ko and Best New Director for C.B. Yi).

The actual winner doesn't often translate into being Taiwan's Oscar submission (The Assasin and A Sun are the only winners of the past ten years to be sent to the Oscars) though the submission is often among the nominees. UPDATE 10/06 That's true again this year as The Falls has just been selected for the Oscar competition.

The complete list of nominations and a lot more photos after the jump... 

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