Golden Horse Nominees Include Two Oscar Contenders

Subtitled fare always seems to consume me in September and early October as the Foreign Language Submission List for Oscar takes shape (it's not quite official yet but the submission deadline has passed). This is also the time of year when The Golden Horse, the preeminent Chinese/Taiwanese film awards, announce their nominations. Rather than a huge Academy vote, the Golden Horse is determined by a jury. Andy Lau who starred in Hong Kong’s Oscar submission A Simple Life last year and is best known internationally for two hits from the Aughts (The House of Flying Daggers and Infernal Affairs which was later remade into The Departed) is the president of this year’s jury. 

Caught in the Web, China's Oscar submission, was apparently not eligible.

BEST PICTURE NOMINEES

• Beijing Blues -a police procedural 
• Mystery - is the leader with 8 nominations. It's a thriller from Lou Ye, who is most known for erotic dramas like Summer Palace and Cannes hit Spring Fever.
• Life Without Principle - This Johnnie To film about a loan shark is Hong Kong's Oscar submission this year.
• Gf*Bf -a decade long love triangle between three intimate friends with some gay elements. I included the trailer below
• The Bullet Vanishes  -a period piece and whodunnit

Flying Swords of Dragon’s Gate, which recently played in the states, won some technical nominations but none of the headline categories. 

Best Actor
Nick Cheung – Nightfall
Ching Wan Lau – Life Without Principle
Joseph Chang  - Gf*Bf
Chapman To –Vulgaria
Nicholas Tse –The Viral Factor 

Taiwan's Oscar submission "Touch of the Light" was only nominated for Best Actress

Best Actress
Baihe Bai –Love is Not Blind
Lei Hao - Mystery
Denise Ho –Life Without Principle
Lun-Mei Gwei – Gf*Bf
Sandrine Pinna –Touch of the Light

You can see the rest of the nominees at the official Golden Horse Awards site.

Golden Horse Awards: Two Oscar Submissions Win Big

I'm so itching for a big American awards show to hit us. Soon, soon. But until then, let's look to Taipei where The Golden Horse Awards were just handed out.

As expected the hit Taiwanese film Warriors of The Rainbow: Seediq Bale took home Best Picture. There's the jubilant cast doing an aboroginal dance on the red carpet. Fun!

Andy Lau and Deanie YipThe big winners of the night are both Oscar submissions this year in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Taiwan's Seediq Bale which is a action drama about aboroginal tribes battling occupying Japanese forces won the top prize and four other statues including "Audience Choice". Hong Kong's caretaking drama A Simple Life must have been close to a surprise sweep since it managed three of the top four statues: Director, Actor and Actress.

Superstar Andy Lau won Best Actor for the second time. He'd previously won for an Infernal Affairs sequel (the original Infernal Affairs was remade into the Oscar winning The Departed where Matt Damon took on Lau's role). Lau then presented Best Actress a category wherein he'd worked with 3 of the 4 nominees. You can see Shu Qi, he calls her "the most huggable woman ever", grinning throughout the presentation. Best Actress went to Lau's costar and actual godmother Deanie Yip. She also won the Volpi Cup at Venice this year for this role as a grown man's lifelong help who he must then care for when she has a stroke.

Video, complete list of winners, and fashion after the jump.

Click to read more ...