[2012.04.12] LAU CHING WAN AND ANDY LAU BUTT HEADS OVER BEST ACTOR

courtesy of mingpao.com

Hong Kong Film Award Will Be Unveiled On Sunday
Deanie Ip Firmly Win Best Actress

The 31st Hong Kong Film Award will take place Sunday (the 15th) at the Cultural Center.  A SIMPLE LIFE (TOH JEH) as a critical and commercial hit is seen as the favorite.  Deanie Ip Tak Han has already won five Best Actress awards with this film and can be considered poised to win another.  The Best Actor competition is more ferocious.  Lau Ching Wan in LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE (DUET MING GUM) and OVERHEARD 2 (SIT TING FUNG WON 2) performs outstandingly and has a higher chance than A SIMPLE LIFE's Andy Lau Tak Wa.

Lau Ching Wan: Two Nominations Split Votes

Lau Ching Wan this year is nominated for Best Actor with both LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE and OVERHEARD 2, in competition with A SIMPLE LIFE's Lau Tak Wa, LET THE BULLETS FLY's Jiang Wen and Ge You.  He in LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE handle the Panther character superbly, but because he has two nominations the vote split concern remains.  In addition Lau Tak Wa's A SIMPLE LIFE performance is solid and natural and also won the Golden Horse Award, Lau Ching Wan would face some pressure; the other two strong rivals Jiang Wen and Ge You's acting is powerful and strong.  This battle is not simple at all for Ching Wan.

The Best Actress fight of course is all on Ip Tak Han's side.  She in A SIMPLE LIFE grasped the character accurately and with layer, sweeping the international award stage as she won the Venice Best Actress, the Golden Horse Best Actress, the 15th Tallinn Black Night Film Festival Best Actress, the Hong Kong Film Critic Society Best Actress and the 6th Asian Film Award Best Actress.  As for the competition, only Shu Qi's tear jerking film A BEAUTIFUL LIFE had any chance.  FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE (LUNG MOON FEI GAP)'s Zhou Xun, DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART (DAN SUN NAM NUI)'s Gao Yuanyuan and WU XIA's Tang Wei inevitably can only run along.

Best Picture: FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE Vs. A SIMPLE LIFE

Director Ann Hui On Wa's movies have always been detailed.  The film that she produced and directed, A SIMPLE LIFE, is a critical and commercial hit and motivates Hong Kong film's rise; the Tsui Hark directed FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE with 3D technology brings wu xia to life.  With its 13 Hong Kong Film Award nomination both hold their own in Best Picture and Best Director; however, opponents LET THE BULLETS FLY's Jiang Wen, OVERHEARD 2's Alan Mak Siu Fai and Felix Chong Man Keung and LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE's Johnnie To Kei Fung all have decent word of mouth and each has supporters.  The dark horse possibility cannot be eliminated.