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Gangster, art-house films tipped to win Hong Kong awards
2007-04-13
Zhang Yimou's "The Curse of the Golden Flower" earned the most nominations for Sunday's Hong Kong Film Awards but a gangster saga and a family drama could share top honours, critics say. Zhang's colourful martial arts epic has received 14 nods, while Patrick Tam's "After This Our Exile" -- an art-house film about a single and abusive father who turns to gambling -- earned 10 nominations. Although director Johnnie To's gangster flick "Election 2" only picked up five nods, it has been nominated in the coveted best film and director categories, posing a strong challenge to Zhang and Tam. Film critics believe the two Hong Kong directors could beat "The Curse of the Golden Flower", a Hong Kong-China co-production starring Gong Li and Chow Yun-fat, in both major categories. "The Hong Kong Film Awards is like the Oscars. It is very political. The winners don't always reflect the quality of a film," said movie critic Shum Longtin. "'The Curse of the Golden Flower' is a very good film and my personal favourite. But it is seen as a mainland Chinese film with a mainland subject. So it could lose out," he said. The sumptuous movie tells the story of an imperial family falling into turmoil, with the emperor (Chow) gradually poisoning the empress (Gong) after she had an affair with her step-son. The film was nominated for best costume design at this year's Oscars, and has also been recognised for its costume and make-up design here, as well as in the best supporting actor category for Jay Chou and Liu Ye. For the best film gong, critic Jason Lam Keeto tipped "Election 2" to win, saying the drama about the city's triad gangs and how the underworld has coped for the past 10 years under the iron rule of Beijing has a winning storyline. "Although 'Election 2' is not (To's) best film, the plot and what he wanted to say makes it a very outstanding film. I believe that it could win," Lam said. To's other gangster movie "Exiled" has received four nominations, including nods for best director and best film. But critics say it is weaker than "Election 2" and has a lesser chance to top both categories. Tam could bag the best director prize, Lam says. "Patrick Tam hasn't made a film for 17 years but when he does it again, not only has he improved, this movie contains elements that have been long lost in Hong Kong movies," Lam said. "The editing is outstanding, the dialogue has been carefully thought through; the film is stylish. You can tell that he has a very strict requirement on each frame and each of the actor's performance," he added. Shum also believes that To and Tam will share the major gongs. "Election 2 is a very ambitious and outstanding film and Tam's movie was also good. The best film and best director prizes may properly be split between those two," he said. Tam's film won actor-singer Aaron Kwok his second consecutive award for best actor in last year's Golden Horse Film Awards, the Chinese-language Oscars, but critics believe he will lose in the local awards. Chow is expected to trump rivals for the best actor title, ahead of the charismatic Tony Leung Chiu-wai of thriller "Confession of Pain" and martial arts icon Jet Li for his portrait of master Huo Yuanjia in "Fearless". "Although Chow Yun-fat doesn't have as much screen time as Gong Li, every time he appears, he is immediately the centre of attention. He can be soft and he can be cruel. It was a very strong performance," Lam said. Critics believe Gong also stands out among her opponents and will be crowned best actress. "Gong Li should definitely win; there are no other possibilities. She deserves it," Shum said. The ceremony has struggled to attract much star power, with Zhang, Gong and Jet Li all absent. Chow's attendance was also in doubt, as he is shooting a film. Leung, Chou and Kwok are expected on the red carpet.
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