Hong Kong Film Awards 2011 Celebration
The 30th Annual Hong Kong Film Award (HKFA) was held on April 17, 2011. As Maggie Cheung predicted, Carina Lau, the favorite to receive the Best Actress award, won! After five previous nominations, the 46-year-old actress won on the sixth nomination, in the film Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame <狄仁傑之通天帝國>.
Dressed in a white Versace V neck dress, the wet weather outdoors did not dampen Carina’s spirits. Unfortunately, her husband Tony Leung could not rejoice with her due to scheduling conflicts. Nevertheless, in her thank you speech, she thanked the director and all those who worked on the set. In addition, she thanked her mother, saying that her Mom “wanted for her to win this award for a very long time.” In addition, she thanked her husband for his support and for giving her so much freedom. On the day of the award, his absence was made up by the numerous texts he sent her. Carina closed by noting that her one award does not compare to the success of Tony.
The Best Actor award went to 31-year-old Nicholas Tse for his performance in The Stool Pigeon <綫人>. He is the son of famed veteran actor, Patrick Tse and actress Deborah Lee. Nic entered the entertainment business at the tender age of 16. His talent and hard work has brought him success on many fronts.
This year, Nicholas was nominated for the first time and won, competing against experienced and previous award-winning actors such as Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Nick Cheung, and Jacky Cheung. Nicholas’ wife, Cecilia Cheung, accompanied him to the awards and was emotional with tears when he won. In his thank you speech, Nicholas thanked Cecilia from the depths of his heart. Nicholas also thanked his father while expressing regret for his earlier actions. When Nicholas won the Best New Actor award at the age o f 18, he acted disrespectfully toward his father. His father said to him that he has shot hundreds of movies and series to which Nicholas asked, “Have you received the golden award?” and placed the award on the table. Nicholas apologized for his past action and asked his father to forgive his young and arrogant self. Nicholas knows that his father is watching the televised awards and hopes that his father can forgive his thoughtless remark made twelve years ago. In fact, Nicholas praised his father as the best actor because his father was able to raise a real menace (when Nicholas was young) but still maintained a happy disposition.
Source: on.cc
Translated by Ms Nosin, a JayneStars.com contributing writer.
Thanks for the quick translation.
Enjoyed this year’s award ceremony a lot. I realize how much I hate TVB for cutting crap out. People work hard for these awards and it’s pretty rude to cut off their moment to thank the people that supported them.
I know!! I hate how TVB don’t allow the artists to express what they want, for how long they want! If they would bloody cut some of the stupid interviewing of the artists during the awards show, asking “who do you think will win?” or “oh, how confident do you feel this year about winning?” etc then they could give more time for artists to thank people!! GOD! (Sorry bout the long rant…)
That is because there are so few categories in this movie award that they can pretty much add in the descending elevator, the slow walk, the many useless banters, etc. And still finished on time.
Anyway Cheng Tan Sui was a very very good host. The way he could talk and talk when the first presenter was delayed for whatever reason.
yeah i notice the delay b/c of the instruments trying to leave the stage
he did a good job but teresa and fat kok tagged on well too. loved the trio!!!
I am glad Carina won. She’s terrific! However, disappointed with the best actor award. Was it given based on poularity or performance?
Let’s see
Chow Yun Fat could have gotten it too but because it was in mandarin and its not his natural tongue, he wasn’t very captivating. I felt he had his moments in the movie where the phrasing was just off.
Nick Cheung – already won, too quick to give him again since it’s the same type of movie too.
Jacky Cheung – the movie was horrific and his portrayal was mediocre. The movie made it in because there weren’t any strong competition
was tony leung ka fai the other nominee? i don’t remember.
Nic Tse – good portrayal and the movie got some pretty good reviews too.
I say, it was not given b/c of popularity but a mixture of performance + low competition.
Personally I don’t have any pick for Best Actor. However imho Nic’s performance in Stoll is stellar. Nick Cheung did a stellar job too, but Nic’s provide a refreshing controlled feel.
Having said that I also have this personal theory going on my mind. Copied from the my post in the other news:
Hence, I somewhat believe that Nic Tse’s win(besides his stellar performance along Nick) is somewhat contributed by HK film industry’s effort to push the younger actors up. Louis(and Daniel) need successors and Nic has the most potential so far. They maybe at the prime age now but in a few years to come they may already be reaching veterans status
There goes my English. I wish there’s an “edit” option.
I think the only other serious contender was Chow Yun Fat’s Confucius but that is by far not a ‘HK’ type of movie + the movie itself was not very good. It was quite flat thus not memorable.
Daniel Wu and Louis Koo are competent actors but they havent received any roles allowing them to shine. Louis seems limited by his own overacting and underacting while Daniel has yet to give an emotionally charged register. Nic Tse is definitely the better actor of the three.
@SDS, Daniel Wu announced that he will soon retire from acting onscreen due to co-founding a film company with good friend, Stephen Fung. Daniel Wu and Louis Koo have their place in pulling box office sales. Nic Tse does look like the new hope of the Hong Kong film industry and his filming fee of $180 million (HKD) in Dante Lam’s new film, “The Viral Factor” seems staggering! How much are Daniel and Louis’ filming fees?
@Jayne
Oh Daniel is going into behind the scenes work? Good for him then. Stephen Fung could have been a competent actor too, but he too has gone into directing etc. I suppose this could spell good fortune for future cinema experience cause right now, a lot of the big name movies in HK are pretty bland.
I’m sure Louis Koo receives a nice pay cheque since his such a sought-after actor.
I wonder what Jay Chou’s salary is in Dante Lam’s new movie. Lol can’t be less than $180mil considering its the chairman! My only hope is this new action ‘blockbuster’ isn’t going to turn into some ‘average mess’ thing because its about time Asian/Chinese cinema got one of these good big budget modern actioners.
louis is better than Daniel in carrying a movie by himself and pull box office. In most of his movies Daniel only supporting or second, 3rd lead except a few. In his movies with Louis he’s always second. Love undercover is carried more by Miriam. Banquet more weight into ZZY.
@Viv
i do love daniel and louis though despite their mediocre acting. they need to stick w/ comedy 🙂
Congrats to Gallants. Very deserving win.
Congrats to Gordon Lam too for this achievement in his debut producer effort.
Congrats to Teddy Robbins and Siu Yam Yam for their win too. 😀
I also agree with Detective Dee’s win for Best Art Direction. I love the unusual cinematography of the film.
I am very interested to watch the Gordon Lam movie. Looks like a very strange cast and crew and the movie looks sorta funny!
I hated the whole preachiness of the award. At the start there were some horrendously slow songs being sung, I thought in memoriam started so early. The singing proper were also bad except for the 2 china singers I believe. The whole stage/elevator descending was painfully slow and what a drag. Eric Tsang is funny but when he gave a speech, it was preachy and why the need to justify the survival of HK cinema? Be like oscars; everyone be damned, we ARE the best sorta attitude. The atmosphere was like an empty huge stadium and some didn’t bother to dress up which was disappointing. I thought it was a joke when the winners for best dressed was announced when it was actually real. The while tributes, etc were corny although Jacky Cheung can sing a phonebook if he wants to.
The whole show is trying hard to upgrade themselves in terms of respectability, I love the old clips, and was such a joy to see Stephen Chow, etc. Wish he was there. But yet it downgrades itself with such poor execution, camera work and some really WTH awards such as the fashion award. And none of the show seems exciting.
The best though was Jackie Chan seriously shouting NO!!! with what Carina said about favouritism and Fiona Sit. Poor girl, being rubbed it in that she lost. I didn’t think Carina was gracious. There was a tinge of arrogance in her speech or maybe it is how she looks all the time. The heartfelt one was Nicolas Tse, and I sensed he and his father never got along well at all until he himself got married and became a father.
Overall a really boring show but compared to Oscars and Golden Globes, I can say I don’t think this was the worst.
I am happy however to see Gordon Lam again looking handsome and smart.
“The best though was Jackie Chan seriously shouting NO!!! with what Carina said about favouritism and Fiona Sit. Poor girl, being rubbed it in that she lost. “
Did she said this in another speech? I watch the her Best Actress speech 3 times and still did not catch where speak about Fiona.
Later, in a blue dress, when she came out with Jackie as presenters I believe for best movie.
Doesn’t matter anyway; Fiona looked lost and ermm.. not too attentive.
One very obvious shot, 1 second and you’ll miss is the expression of the China actor who lost the newcomer award? The winner was giving thanks and I remember specifically he rolled his eyes. I think that’s the award.
I didn’t catch the Fiona bit either. Perhaps I wasn’t paying attention. The show feels quite lengthy too this year.
Agree with Funn on the preaching. They do it every year. But I think it’s not as bad this time.
I haven’t seen Detective Dee, therefore I cannot comment on Carina’s performance and whether or not she deserves the award. However, after being nominated six times, any artist would want to take home this award. Furthermore, there isn’t much competition this year as all the other nominees were from later generations, thus making her win not surprising.
In terms of fashion, Carina usually knows how to dress herself up.
Finally, I just have to say that it’s sweet of Tony to send her all these messages to reassure her and that she has his support even though he couldn’t make it.
Congrats to Carina!
But Tsui Hark as best director.. hmm I think he has done better!
The last Tsui Hark movie I enjoyed was made in 1995 which means in my books he hasn’t done anything memorable since… that’s 15 years of career obscurity. I wonder what happened…
Personally I think Detective Dee was his crack at going back to his best form with films such Once Upon a Time in China and Chinese Ghost Story; but Detective Dee was by far too ambitious, becoming messy. Its similar to his Seven Swords (2005). The atmosphere, the direction, the conversation style and the acting… shriek
I totally agree with you. I couldn’t even finish watching the movie, had to turn it off. Personally, I’m disappointed that Carina won best actress for this role. Overall, the movie was one huge mess.
@Lol
I don’t even think Carina should have been nominated in the category. I truly ‘lol-ed’ when I realised it. She’s lucky the competition was weak. I bet Fiona Sit and Josie Ho were thinking- ‘damn man, next time i’m going to find a role with less lines so it appears I’m a great actor!’
Even Andy Lau is bad in Detective Dee
@SDS
I don’t think Fiona qualified yet with her acting now. Nothing special and sometimes annoying. Weak competition this year.
@Vivien
Oh yea. I don’t like Fiona Sit’s acting at all. I was just saying that’s what they would be thinking. People liked the movie Break Up Club though. I found it quite passable and annoying.
Andy Lau has always been an inconsistent actor. It really depends on the script and direction. Generally his competent but he comes off being too detached with more serious characters. Problem is he accepts too many varied roles that don’t have enough substance. Its like rumours are true, he does movies based on favours for directors. That or money… I have no idea…
@SDS
Andy Lau problem is he can’t differentiate between himself and his characters. All the roles he acted becomes Andy Lau
@Vivien,
“All the roles he acted becomes Andy Lau”
Agree. But sometimes this can work to his advantage – I hear Yang Guo and I think Andy Lau. That’s like claiming an identity from a classic novel – pretty powerful.
@Vivien
Well yea, basically his using the same formula to do many roles. However with certain scripts he does show a little more difference.
I think one problem is that his done over 100 movies, so it is claimed. His ‘acted’ so much that its become second nature to just bring the same persona to everything because its easier and his use to it cause, lets face it, his done a lot of crap movies where his basically played flat characters. Its definitely worked against his acting.
However much I may dislike Andy Lau, etc I must admit his acting has improved in recent years and frankly he was fantastic in Infernal Affairs.
The singing at the beginning – was it shirley kwan or atv’s lousy audio system or tudou that was bad???
probably lousy audio but then the 2 China singers sang very well. So must be the singers themselves.
it was the singers themselves. why is it always shirley kwan???? she’s not a good singer. she’s unique but wow, she ruined anita’s song!
both.
they ruined all legendary songs…
This whole award ceremony was weird.
So many so many awkward moments.
Chan Chi Keung coming out on a yacht (wtf?!), and then everyone on stage watching Jacky Cheung in Wet Hair Concert Special together (which was really nice by the way…that glass piano rocks!); the fashion award that was announced but never given out; Gigi Leung riding down the stage on a square whatever that thing was; the host(that fat guy) asking for a piece of tissue just before he interviewed tang wei; the angle of the camera on the hosts throughout the night…etc.
Honestly, I would rather TVB do it. Their scripts would have been just as lame, but the overall effect, I believe, would be better.
A pretty forgettable 30th anniversary. None of the movies in contest were spectacular. Gallants, Once a Gangster and Dream Home were probably the better movies of 2010 but beside the first one, the rest were underrated. They aren’t the sort of films with commercial appeal nowadays but if you watch it, you’ll find at least they’re decent.
Also I don’t think Carina should have been nominated in the Best Actress category given how small her role was in the overall film. I suppose the fact they nominated Zhang Jingchu for her role in City Under Siege in Best Supporting Actress is evidence this year’s award was… an intellectual wasteland.
But I do think Chow Yun Fatt saved the show. Talk about charm…
I think he was the best part of the awards… He deserved an award for being there and making people laugh!
Seriously they need to set the mood right for these awards nights. The atmosphere is borderline ‘funeral’ in my opinion.
Bring in Sandra Kwan next year!
Oh yea, the second best part of the awards was showing old clips of past HKFA. Certain celebrities just have a more unique flair… or seem less guarded when on stage in front of live cameras.
They need to pick better guests to give the awards.
the clips of past award shows SAVED THE SHOW!!
hahaha
I had a feeling that Carina would win even though some don’t feel that she deserves the award. BUt then again, there are many movies,directors,actors/actresses,etc.. that have received awards in the past that some may also feel did not deserve it. Therefore, I wonder how much an award even means anymore??
I was so touched reading about Nicholas and his father. I am glad that he has finally realized that he should appreciate and love his father. Maybe part of the reason is because he is now a father himself, so he realizes the love a parent has for their children.
The award show was boring and too long. TVB should do it next year since they create better news then ATV.
I do not agree with the winners of best actor/actress, especially Nicholas Tse.