[2014.04.12] WONG KAR WAI IS THE BEST DIRECTOR FAVORITE

Wong Kar Wai spent 10 years on THE GRANDMASTER and finally made an unusual martial art film
courtesy of singtao.com

The 33rd Hong Kong Film Award will take place tomorrow night at the Cultural Center. For the past few days the Best New Performer, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor and Best Actress categories have been looked at. Today is the Best Director Award's turn. The five nominated directors include THE GRANMASTERS (YUT DOI JUNG SI)'s Wong Kar Wai, DRUG WAR (DUK JIN)'s Johnnie To Kei Fung, THE WHITE STORM (SO DUK)'s Benny Chan Muk Sing, AS THE LIGHT GOES OUT (GAU FOR YING HUNG)'s Derek Kwok Chi Kin, UNBEATABLE (GIK JIN)'s Dante Lam Chiu Yin. Many in the industry feel that THE GRANDMASTER has swept big and small award shows around the world, director Wong Kar Wai is the absolute favorite.

The film THE GRANDMASTER is about Wing Chun Grand Master Ip Man and his relationships with martial artists Gong Er and Ma San. Director Wong Kar Wai with his unrivaled determination spent 10 years to create a masterpiece, during which he ran into problems like actor schedules and Wai Jai's broken arm. However the director in the end still broke through each and everyone to complete an unusual martial art film. In the end THE GRANDMASTER performed well at various award shows around the world. No wonder Wong Kar Wai was seen as the Hong Kong Film Award Best Director favorite.

Directors Adam Wong Sau Ping and Andrew Lau Wai Kung both pick Wong Kar Wai. Wong's sincerity and persistence for film moved them both. Wong Sau Ping says, "Wong Kar Wai's influence on me is tremendous. He spent 10 years to make a movie, truly every shot can been seen as very unconventional and very powerful." Lau Wai Keung says, "THE GRANDMASTER was a very tough production, took a very long time and ran into many difficulties like funding and actors. Wong Kar Wai had to handle a lot of problems. As a director, making this type of films he has to be very persistent and self confident, only then can he achieve such a performance."

Crime film expert To Kei Fung's nominated film DRUG WAR even touches on Mainland sensitive subject, depicting how the police battles brains and bravery with a drug lord. The film has many exciting gun fight scenes. In it To Sir controls every scene very appropriately, creating an exciting and realistic result and displaying his unique directing style.

Another crime film THE WHITE STORM (SO DUK) is Benny Chan Muk Sing directed, Sean Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo Tin Lok and Nick Cheung Ka Fai play buddies who grew up together in public housing. As adults they are even in the police force's drug investigation unit. The most exciting scene in the film has Ching Wan, Goo Jai and Ka Fai trying to capture a drug lord in Thailand. However the drug lord's military attacks on land and in the air, creating a series of intense police chase and showing the director's abilities. Goo Jai who is in both DRUG WAR and THE WHITE STORM admits that if he has to choose between To Sir and Chan Muk Sing he is stumped. "It's very hard to choose! Because I have a part in DRUG WAR but with THE WHITE STORM both Ching Wan and I are nominated for Best Actor. So I still choose THE WHITE STORM's Chan Muk Sing! Actually DRUG WAR took us 8 months to make, which one to choose is quite a struggle."

Known as the new director with the most potential, Kwok Chi Kin this time with the Hong Kong firefight subject film AS THE LIGHTS GO OUT brings out a series of thrilling fire scenes with Nicholas Tse Ting Fung, Shawn Yue Man Lok, Simon Yam Tat Wa and Hu Jun as firefighters. Full of his personal style production method, front line firefighter's real life saving situations are on display. With a massive amount of computer special effects, the film created a power station 's raging five alarm fire and put viewers right in the midst of the smoke filled fire. His directing style is obviously more and more mature.

Always dare to try, Dante Lam Chiu Yin in UNBEATABLE gives up his usual production style. The story is about an over the hill fighter Ka Fai's comeback story as he returns to the ring. With Eddie Peng Yu-Yen, Crystal Lee and other characters, they knit together a human story with blood and tears and win a lot of compliments. Lam Chiu Yin's substance is again recognized with UNBEATABLE.