The ceremony for the 28th Hong Kong Film Awards was held yesterday. Leading with the most awards is John Woo's historical war film Red Cliff with 5 winners for Best Art Direction, Best Costume & Makeup Design, Best Sound Effect, Best Visual Effect and Best Original Film Score. Ann Hui’s drama The Way We Are followed closely behind with 4 winners including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. In the Best Picture category, Wilson Yip's martial arts biopic Ip Man was declared the winner. The film also picked up the award for Best Action Direction. It was a glorious night for Xu Jiao, the little girl portraying a boy in CJ7 as she took home the hardware for Best New Actor.
The complete list of winners is after the break.
BEST FILM - Ip Man
BEST DIRECTOR - Ann Hui (The Way We Are)
BEST ACTOR - Nick Cheung (The Beast Stalker)
BEST ACTRESS - Bao Hei-jing (The Way We Are)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Liu Kai Chi (The Beast Stalker)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Chan Lai-Wun (The Way We Are)
BEST SCREENPLAY- Lou Shiu Wa (The Way We Are)
BEST NEW ACTOR - Xu Jiao (CJ7)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY- Arthur Wong (Painted Skin)
BEST EDITING - Yau Chi Wai (Connected)
BEST ART DIRECTION - Tim Yip (Red Cliff)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN & MAKE UP - Tim Yip (Red Cliff)
BEST ACTION DESIGN - Sammo Hung, Leung Siu Hung (Ip Man)
BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE - Tarô Iwashiro (Red Cliff)
BEST ORIGINAL SONG - "Painted Heart (literal)" (Painted Skin)
BEST SOUND DESIGN - Ng Kwong, Roger Savage (Red Cliff)
BEST VISUAL EFFECT - Craig Hayes (Red Cliff)
BEST ASIAN MOVIE - Assembly
BEST NEW DIRECTOR - Derek Kwok (The Moss)
Professional Achievement Award - Ding Yue
Lifetime Achievement Award - Josephine Siao Fong-Fong
Red Cliff winning everything but the 'good' awards.
Sparrow should have won for soundtrack…maybe cinematography as well. Red Cliff soundtrack was pretty epic but come on…Sparrow shouldve won that. Xu Jiao’s crying speech was really fake. Not sure who told her to do that. Ip Man for best film? I liked Ip Man but Best Film should’ve been Ann Hui’s. Id take To’s Sparrow over Ip Man for Best film as well. Well, atleast Painted Skin didnt win it. Best Director was a good choice. It was either her or Johnnie To - or maybe John. Nick deservedly won best actor - though if he wasnt it the comp I would have given it to Donnie. I thought Liu was good for supporting actor. The guy is in tons of movies but doesnt get much recognition or credit so good for him. Ip Man deservedly won Best Action and Assembly deservedly won Best Asian film.
@Crazybee
In your opinion what was the best HK film of last year? Just wondering if I seen it or not.
While Ip Man is great I don't think it is THE best of 2008 too, just among the best. I guess popularity played a huge role in this as Ip Man was obviously praised too much. Overall, I'd say Sparrow was the best movie of 2008.
I would absolutely have gone with Red Cliff part 1 or Sparrow. Hell, I thought Dante Lam's Beast Stalker was infinitely better as well. It really surprised me, as did Connected (a remake of the US flick Cellular, but really well done). Ip Man's story is just far too contrived to be considered the best. I know it's based on truth, but I felt like there was little to no emotional engagement with any of the characters. Compare it to the similar Fearless, and the difference is huge - Fearless feels so much more personal and deeply emotional.