[2014.04.11] BEST ACTORS AND DIRECTORS PICK THEIR HONG KONG FILM AWARD FAVORITES

Best Supporting Actor nominees: Eddie Peng (UNBEATABLE), Anthony Chan (RIGOR MORTIS), Max Zhang (THE GRANDMASTER), Huang Bo (JOURNEY TO THE WEST), Tong Dawei (AMERICAN DREAMS IN CHINA)

Best Supporting Actress nominess: Helena Law (THE WHITE STORM), Carina Lau (YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE), Kara Wai (RIGOR MORTIS), Du Juan (AMERICAN DREAMS IN CHINA), Crystal Lee (UNBEATABLE)

Nick Cheung

Simon Yam

Fruit Chan

Andrew Lau

Best New Performer: Babyjohn Choi (THE WAY WE DANCE), Angel Chiang (THE SECRET BETWEEN US), Lin Gengxin (YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE), Fish Liew (DOOMSDAY PARTY)
courtesy of mingpao.com

The 33rd Hong Kong Film Award will take place Sunday at the Cultural Center. Among this year's five Best Supporting Actress Best Actress nominees, model Du Juan has to challenge past Best Actresses Carina Lau Ka Ling, Kara Wai Ying Hung, Helena Law Lan and even child actress Crystal Lee. It is no easy task. Best Supporting Actor's Max Zhang Jin, Tong Dawei, Huang Bo, Eddie Peng Yu-Yen and Anthony Chan Yau are all good actors in a dead even match. On the other hand for Best New Performer THE WAY WE DANCE (KONG MO PAI)'s Babyjohn Choi Hong Yik has the best odds. Best Actors Nick Cheung Ka Fai and Simon Yam Tat Wa, gold label directors Andrew Lau Wai Keung and Fruit Chan Gor were invited to pick their favorites with their professional opinions, see if you would agree.

Hong Kong Film Award Best Supporting Actor's five nominees are all of substance, including after the 20 years away from film playing priest in RIGOR MORTIS (GEUNG SI) Chan Yau. His performance was brilliant and he was seen as the favorite; but with his hilarious portrayal of Sun Wukong in JOURNEY TO THE WEST CONQUERING THE DEMON (SAI YAU GONG MOR PIN), Huang Bo's messy haired Sun Wukong was seen as the second favorite. THE GRANDMASTER (YUT DOI JUGN SI) villain Zhang Jin did not have a lot of screen time but left people with a deep impression, one of the favorites among the nominees. Although Tong Dawei in AMERICAN DREAMS IN CHINA and Peng Yu-Yen in UNBEATABLE (GIK JIN)'s performance was less talked about, they still had an outside chance.

Best Actor Yam Tat Wa felt that the Best Supporting Actor battle was between Chan Yau and Huang Bo. He said, "Chan Yau has not performed in years but still was able to shine, which was truly not easy. He proved that he has never left film, his heart was still in the film industry. Huang Bo's messy haired hilarious portrayal of Sun Wukong was very lively, very memorable after a viewing."

Yet Director Chan Gor had a different opinion, as he picked THE GRANDMASTER's Zhang Jin. He analyzed, "Zhang Jin's advantage is that he is a stunt coordinator who performs drama well, which is very rare. Tong Dawei in AMERICAN DREAMS IN CHINA in order to play the character well worked hard on learning English. His performance was also natural. Huang Bo actually is good too, Peng Yu-Yen in UNBEATABLE has an easier character to play. Chan Yau performs well but his role doesn't have enough screen time, with a little less memorable spots. Thus I feel it will be between Zhang Jin, Tong Dawei and Huang Bo."

As for Best Supporting Actress, model Du Jun with AMERICAN DREAMS IN CHINA is nominated for Supporting Actress and New Performer and runs into strong competition in both, thus she is only a dark horse. In particular the Best Supporting Actress nominees are all Best Actresses, among them THE WHITE STORM (SO DUK)'s Law Lan and RIGOR MORTIS' Wai Ying Hung have the best odds. Everything agree that like ginger they get hotter as they get older.

Director Chan Gor and Lau Wai Keung both picked RIGOR MORTIS' Wai Ying Hung to win Best Supporting Actress. Chan Gor said, "Law Lan's role in THE WHITE STORM has too little screen time. With Crystal Lee, I personally don't like (her performance). I also don't understand why others say she performs very well. So oh well, I have to choose Siu Hung, supporting one of my own."

Lau Wai Kung also supported Wai Ying Hung to win. He said, "Siu Hung in RIGOR MORTIS plays a mother who takes care of her son. Her performance is very intense and very in character. Her acting is extraordinary, but she is obviously the lead actress. Why does she become Supporting Actress?"

Best Actor Cheung Ka Fai hopes his UNBEATABLE co-star Crystal Lee can win, but he also urges Crystal Lee to put education first and not to think too complicatedly. He said, "She should of course be very happy with an award, but her biggest responsibility now is education, be a happy child, she shouldn't put her ambition on awards."

Among the Best New Performer nominees, 5 film industry new comers shine with their performance but the competition is not considered fierce. Among them THE WAY WE DANCE's Choi Hong Yik is seen as the favorite, even Yam Tat Wa picks Babyjohn to win Best New Performer award. He says, "Babyjohn's portrayal of Chut Leung is very hard to grasp, but his performance is just right and not excessive. This film is under such a low budget but he is still able to perform, proving that he has a lot of potential."

Two of the New Performer nominees started as models, including Chinese model Du Juan who plays Huang Xiaoming's girlfriend in AMERICAN DREAMS IN CHINA. However her character does not have room to perform. Malaysia model Fish Liew catches Teddy Robin Kwan's eye, in DOOMSDAY PARTY (MOOT YUT PAI DUI) that reflects Hong Kong social problems she even has a daring performance.

Another actors Angel Chiang Ka Man competes with her romance THE SECRET BETWEEN US (DAI YUT CHI BUT SI NEI), and new Mainland actor Lin Gengxin with YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE: RISE OF THE SEA DRAGON both are looking for breakthrough among dark horses.

However, a defeat does not mean defeat forever. The film industry still needs to keep finding new blood. Opportunities are still waiting for actors with potential.