Cinespot : HK Cinema 2008: A Summary

Hong Kong Cinema 2008

Foreword

The amount of Hong Kong production remained low in 2008. With a few exceptional works, i.e. The Way We Are, the rest are more or less flawed in one way or another, making the selection process rather difficult for our reviewers. One notable category is the best actor award. All five contestants are equally qualified, yet neither poses dominant advantage against the others. In general, 2008 was an interesting year for Hong Kong cinema, while the business was still struggling to regain its long lost glory, the good sign though was that the number of crappy productions was decreasing as a result of "natural selection".

* The discussion of the 4 reviewers was not included in this article.

The Winners

Best Picture: The Way We Are
Best Director: Ann Hui - The Way We Are
Best Actor: Nick Cheung The Beast Stalker
Best Actress: Paw Hee-ching - The Way We Are
Best Supporting Actor: Lam Ka-tung - Ip Man
Best Supporting Actress: Nora Miao - Run Papa Run
Best Screenplay: Lui Yau-wah -The Way We Are
Best Visual: Sparrow
Worst Picture: The Luckiest Man
Biggest Disappointment: CJ7
Hidden Gems: Moss
Worst Performance: Nicholas Tse - The Beast Stalker

Best Picture (Nominees)

Kantorates The Way We Are Ip Man True Women for Sale Sparrow Connected	Alan Chu Ip Man The Way We Are The Beast Stalker Red Cliff Sparrow
Ryan The Way We Are Sparrow Shamo The Beast Stalker Run Papa Run	Matt Wong The Way We Are Rule No.1 The Beast Stalker True Women for Sale Shamo

Winners: The Way We Are (19 points)

Remarks - Winning by a huge margin, The Way We Are won the best picture award without a doubt. 1st runner up would be Wilson Yip's Ip Man, gaining 9 points, and 2nd runner up The Beast Stalker, which was narrowly defeated by one point. Other notable mentions include Sparrow and True Women for Sale.

Best Director (Nominees)

Kantorates Ann Hui, The Way We Are Herman Yau, True Women for Sale Wilson Yip, Ip Man Derek Kwok, Moss Benny Chan, Connected	Alan Chu Ann Hui, The Way We Are Wilson Yip, Ip Man Johnnie To, Sparrow John Woo, Red Cliff Dante Lam, The Beast Stalker
Ryan Ann Hui, The Way We Are Johnnie To, Sparrow Soi Cheong, Shamo Derek Kwok, Moss Dante Lam, The Beast Stalker	Matt Wong Ann Hui, The Way We Are Kelvin Tong, Rule No. 1 Soi Cheong, Shamo Herman Yau, True Women for Sale Heiward Mak, High Noon

Winner : Ann Hui, The Way We Are (20 points)

Remarks - Ann Hui's brilliant direction in The Way We Are made her the unanimous winner of our best director award. Wilson Ip and Johnnie To both received 7 points and shared the runner up title.

Best Actor (Nominees)

Kantorates Nick Cheung, The Beast Stalker Shawn Yue, Moss Louis Koo, Run Papa Run Shawn Yue, Shamo Simon Yam, Sparrow	Alan Chu Nick Cheung, The Beast Stalker Louis Koo, Run Papa Run Liao Fan, Ocean Flames Simon Yam, Sparrow Nicholas Tse, The Beast Stalker
Ryan Nick Cheung, The Beast Stalker Shawn Yue, Shamo Louis Koo, Run Papa Run Sammo Hung, Three Kingdoms Shawn Yue, Moss	Matt Wong Takeshi Kaneshiro, Red Cliff Simon Yam, Sparrow Liao Fan, Ocean Flames Nick Cheung, The Beast Stalker Shawn Yue, Shamo

Winner: Nick Cheung, The Beast Stalker (17 points)

Remarks - As the most popular choice, Nick Cheung from The Beast Stalker grabbed 17 points and took home the best actor award. His only opponent was probably Louis Koo Run Papa Run, who is 7 points behind. Worth to mention is Shawn Yue, who won two nominations for his roles in Moss and Shamo and unfortunately had his vote split.

Best Actress (Nominees)

Kantorates Paw Hee-ching, The Way We Are Prudence Lau, True Women for Sale Shi Xueyi, Moss Monica Mok, Ocean Flame Zhou Xun, Painted Skin	Alan Chu Paw Hee-ching, The Way We Are Prudence Lau, True Women for Sale Monica Mok, Ocean Flame Barbie Hsu, Connected Rene Liu, Run Papa Run
Ryan Paw Hee-ching, The Way We Are Prudence Lau, True Women for Sale	Matt Wong Paw Hee-ching, The Way We Are Prudence Lau, True Women for Sale Rene Liu, Run Papa Run Monica Mok, Ocean Flame Barbie Hsu, Connected

Winner: Paw Hee-ching, The Way We Are

Remarks - Being hailed as the best Hong Kong film of 2008, again, the unbeatable The Way We Are captured its third prominent award of our year end summary. Paw Hee-ching's flawless performance as a commonplace mother and worker earned her a perfect score, leaving True Women for Sale's Prudence Lau behind as the 1st runner up. With her wild and influential performance in Ocean Flame, Monica Mok got 7 points and came in third.

Best Supporting Actor (Nominees)

Kantorates Lam Ka-tung, Ip Man Stephen Chow, CJ7 Nick Cheung, Connected Juno Leung, The Way We Are Louis Fan, Moss	Alan Chu Lam Ka-tung, Ip Man Liu Kai-chi, The Beast Stalker Louis Fan, Moss Zhang Fengyi, Red Cliff Nick Cheung, Connected
Ryan Liu Kai-chi, The Beast Stalker Lam Ka-tung, Ip Man Juno Leung, The Way We Are Louis Fan, Moss Zhang Fengyi, Red Cliff	Matt Wong Max Mok, Run Papa Run Liu Kai-chi, The Beast Stalker Anthony Wong, True Women for Sale Ekin Cheng, Rule No. 1 Louis Fan, Moss

Winner: Lam Ka-tung, Ip Man (14 points)

Remarks - Facing fierce competition, Ip Man's Lam Ka-tung barely won the best supporting actor award by one point. Coming right behind are Liu Kai-chi The Beast Stalker and Louis Fan Moss.

Best Supporting Actress (Nominees)

Kantorates Chan Lai-wun, The Way We Are Race Wong, True Women for Sale Siu Yam-yam, Moss Nora Miao, Run Papa Run Winnie Leung, Hong Kong Bronx	Alan Chu Nora Miao, Run Papa Run Chan Lai-wun, The Way We Are Race Wong, True Women for Sale Siu Yam-yam, Moss Zhang Jingchu, The Beast Stalker
Ryan Chan Lai-wun, The Way We Are Nora Miao, Run Papa Run Race Wong, True Women for Sale Siu Yam-yam, Moss Koo Kam-wah, Breeze of July	Matt Wong Nora Miao, Run Papa Run Race Wong, True Women for Sale Zhang Jingchu, The Beast Stalker Lee Wun, Rule No. 1 Kitty Zhang, All About Women

Winner: Nora Miao, Run Papa Run (16 points)

Remarks - Similar to the best supporting actor category, this shows another tight race, and Run Papa Run's Nora Miao prevailed at last, while another veteran Chan Lai-wun The Way We Are and Race Wong True Women For Sale yielded by two points. The result shows that it was much more difficult to choose the best supporting actors than the lead.

Best Screenplay (Nominees)

Kantorates The Way We Are True Women for Sale High Noon City Without Baseball Run Papa Run	Alan Chu The Way We Are The Beast Stalker Moss Run Papa Run True Women for Sale
Ryan The Way We Are Moss Run Papa Run True Women for Sale The Beast Stalker	Matt Wong The Way We Are High Noon The Beast Stalker True Women for Sale Painted Skin

Winners: Lui Yau-wah, The Way We Are (20 points)

Remarks - After winning the best screenplay award, The Way We Are hit the grand slam and became the first film that won best picture, best director, best actress and best screenplay in a row. What makes the achievement even more remarkable is that, other than the best picture category, all of the win is unanimous with perfect score.

Best Visual (Nominees)

Kantorates Ip Man Connected Sparrow Moss Missing	Alan Chu Red Cliff Sparrow Ip Man The Beast Stalker Connected
Ryan Sparrow Red Cliff Ip Man CJ7 Shamo	Matt Wong Painted Skin Red Cliff Shamo Connected Sparrow

Winners: Sparrow (13 points)

Remarks - Both Sparrow and Red Cliff received 13 points, and through second round vote, Sparrow won three to one. Best visual isn't about special effects only, it is about whether the film succeeds in balancing visual and storytelling, so a bigger budget doesn't always guarantee a win.

Worst Picture (Nominees)

Kantorates The Luckiest Man Happy Funeral Empress and the Warriors, An Playboy Cops My Wife is a Gambling Maestro	Alan Chu The Luckiest Man My Wife is a Gambling Maestro See You in Youtube
Ryan Empress and the Warriors, An All About Women Kung Fu DunkMissingButterfly Lovers	Matt Wong Vampire Who Admires Me, The Scare 2 Die The Luckiest Man Forgive and Forget L for Love, L for Lie

Winner: The Luckiest Man (3 votes)

Remarks - The Luckiest Man garnered three votes to secure its title as the worst film of the year. Looking at the films picked by our reviewers, it seems like most are comedies. The result makes us worry about the future of Hong Kong comedy.

Biggest Disappointment (Nominees)

Kantorates CJ7 Red Cliff Linger Painted Skin	Alan Chu CJ7 Kung Fu Dunk Red Cliff
Ryan Besieged City City Without Baseball Linger Ocean Flame Connected	Matt Wong Legendary Assassin Three Kingdoms Fatal Move Champions

Winner: CJ7 (2 votes)

Remarks - CJ7, Red Cliff and Linger tied with three votes, and after second round vote, CJ7 garnered two votes and became the final winner.

Hidden Gems (Nominees)

Kantorates Hong Kong Bronx City Without Baseball Highnoon	Alan Chu Moss The Beast Stalker
Ryan Moss Breeze of July	Matt Wong Hong Kong Bronx High Noon City Without Baseball

Winner: Moss (2 votes)

Remarks - Another tie for this category and Moss won by getting two votes in second round vote.

Worst Performance (Nominees)

Kantorates Nicholas Tse, The Beast Stalker The entire cast, Happy Funeral Shaun Tam, Playboy Cops Kelly Chen, Empress and the Warriors, The Tony Leung, Red Cliff Liao Fan, Ocean Flame	Alan Chu Nat Chan, The Luckiest Man Elane Kong, See You in Youtube Ip Man, Painted Skin
Ryan Barbie Hsu, Connected Vic Chou, Linger Kitty Zhang, CJ7 Kitty Zhang, All About Women	Matt Wong Nicholas Tse, The Beast Stalker Wong Cho-lam, La Lingerie Lam Wai-kin, Forbidden Legend, The

Winner: Nicholas Tse, The Beast Stalker (2 votes)
Nicholas Tse has been a popular candidate in this category since we first established it, and this year, he won the award the second time since 2005.

Notes

All of the above selections were provided by the reviewers and reflect solely their perspectives. It does not represent the editorial position of Cinespot. The nominees are listed in order unless otherwise stated.

Criteria for nominees: Any Hong Kong movies receiving premiere in any Hong Kong theaters in 2008. In order for a movie to be qualified as Hong Kong movie, at least 1/3 of the cast and crew should be Hong Kong residents, and the production companies or individuals should be located in Hong Kong.

Information provided by: Kantorates, Ryan, Alan Chu and Matt Wong
Compiled by Kantorates (3/2009)