With 7 nominations, 10 roles, and 22 years of accompanying the road, Cheng Xiuwen finally won the film queen at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards with "Flowing Water and Flowers".
When she got the queen, Zheng Xiuwen sang "I waited until the flowers were also thanked", she sighed from the bottom of her heart "This award is out of reach for me, and there is only one step away", and couldn't help crying excitedly "I'm really happy, I finally don't have to run with me on this track this time, I'm the one who crossed the line today"!
A golden statue trophy made up for Zheng Xiuwen's regrets for many years, but such a cheerful scene could not change the decline of Hong Kong films. The Academy Awards are in their 41st year, and now several popular films at the awards ceremony take turns to win awards, important award newcomers are absent, and even those who can hold the scene on the supposed star-studded red carpet can be counted.
Academy Awards, the front wave is still leading the way, and the back wave urgently needs to keep up.
01 Dreams come true, flowers are not thankful
At this year's Academy Awards, two women stood out.
One of them is, of course, Zheng Xiuwen, who won the "Queen of Films" award, from wearing a black dress on the red carpet to singing the theme song of the movie "Flowing Water and Flowers" live "I lived like this for a day", to the expectation of getting the golden statue queen, she has always been the focus of the audience.
Many people are looking forward to her dream coming true at this year's Academy Awards, because it has been too long to wait for this moment. Previously, she was nominated for Best Actress 9 times in the 6 Academy Awards for 9 films such as "Lonely Man and Widow", "Skinny Men and Women", "Live-in Honey Friend", "Zhong Wuyan", "Long Hate Song", "High Altitude Love II", "Blind Detective", "Taste of Peppercorns" and "Murder in San Jose".
Director To Qifeng once publicly questioned why the Academy Awards were not awarded to Zheng Xiuwen, and the person who presented her this time was Andy Lau, who had worked with her many times in the movies directed by To Qifeng, when Andy Lau read her name and the two hugged on stage, it seemed to dream back to the movies they had worked with along the way "Lonely Men and Widows", "Slim Men and Women", "Dragon and Phoenix Fight", "Blind Detective" and so on.
Directed by Jia Shengfeng, the movie "Flowing Water and Falling Flowers" that made her sealed this year tells the story of a middle-aged couple who lost their son in order to make up for their inner debts and regrets and become foster parents. In order to better complete the role of an ordinary and vicissitudes of a middle-aged woman, she chose to appear without makeup.
Compared with the previous "Hong Kong Girl" role to leave the audience with a deep-rooted free and straightforward impression, the mother in "Flowing Water and Flowers" is much more "disciplined" by life, and her restrained and realistic performance in the film also makes the audience feel the sincerity of this performance. As she said in her acceptance speech, from being recognized as a comedian to a drama, progressing, improving, and transforming, "It is difficult to pursue your dreams, but if you don't give up, you will succeed." ”
Another person who has attracted attention is Michelle Yeoh, who recently won the Oscar. More than 30 years after her debut, her film route began in Hong Kong. In her speech, she thanked Hong Kong films, thanked the Academy Awards for giving her the opportunity to return to Hong Kong to say thank you, she believes that Hong Kong has always been her blessed place, so loving and supporting her.
Michelle Yeoh did not award a more heavyweight award, but instead announced the first award "Best New Actor" in the audience. Recalling the first time she was shortlisted for the film award, it was "Royal Senior Sister" in 1986, which was nominated for the Best Newcomer at the Academy Awards, so she felt that she was a good fit to present this award.
In the end, the "Best New Actor" was awarded by Michelle Yeoh to young actor Lin Nuo, and when the 10-year-old boy received the trophy from the 51-year-old, it was like another spiritual inheritance of the filmmaker.
"If we struggle, work hard, persist and never give up, believe in our dreams, dreams can be realized!" This is Michelle Yeoh's emotion at the Academy Awards ceremony, and she and Zheng Xiuwen have achieved their heart's wishes with decades of daily dedication, and also pointed out the way forward for more confused women.
02 The movie goes back and forth, and the actors do not pick up
At the Academy Awards ceremony, "The End of the Sea is a Grassland" directed by Er Dongsheng and starring mainland filmmakers Ayunga and Ma Su won the "Best Asian Chinese Film" award, and the main creative team also appeared on the red carpet and at the award ceremony, winning their own honors on behalf of mainland filmmakers.
Mainland filmmakers are often seen in the Academy Awards, and last year's film queen was young mainland filmmaker Liu Yase. However, even if mainland filmmakers inject fresh vitality into the Academy Awards, it is difficult to change the decline of the Academy Awards and Hong Kong's local film industry.
In addition to "Flowing Water and Flowers" starring Zheng Xiuwen, "Detective War", "When the Wind Rises Again", "Tomorrow's War" and "Justice Corridor" have won 2-3 awards, and even in the award ceremony, each film once won two awards in a row, making the audience can't help but sigh "back and forth on these movies".
Among these movies, "Detective Wars", "When the Wind Rises Again" and "Tomorrow's War" have all landed in mainland theaters, but the box office and word of mouth are not satisfactory, and the final box office of "Tomorrow's War", which invested nearly 400 million and needs 1 billion box office to return the book, is less than 700 million, and the final box office of "When the Wind Rises Again", which is considered to have the style of old Hong Kong films, did not exceed 50 million.
Mainland audiences believe that these films have obvious Hong Kong film imprints in terms of narrative, but the routine expression makes them aesthetically fatigued, even if there are many actors such as Kwok Fucheng, Koo Tianle, Liu Qingyun, etc., it is difficult to buy it.
I don't know when Hong Kong movie stars familiar to mainland audiences have no longer become representatives of film quality, and even for audiences who have not been paying close attention to Hong Kong films, there are fewer and fewer familiar faces at today's Academy Awards, such as they do not know who Jiang Tao, who took photos with Andy Lau and Hui Anhua, or what works most of the young actors who participated in the red carpet have.
Liu Qingyun, the winner of this year's Academy Awards for Best Actor, has become a golden actor for the third time, and Wu Zhenyu ridiculed why some people say that Hong Kong movies are already green and yellow when presenting him with an award, the reason is that Liu Qingyun is still taking on the drama one after another, resulting in juniors having little chance to take the position.
Even actors Xu Guanwen and Wang Yanzhi, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress, are also regular visitors to the Academy Awards. Xu Guanwen is the actor of the 1st Academy Awards and just won the Lifetime Achievement Award last year; And Wang Yanzhi also broke the historical record of the award with 5 nominations at the 34th Academy Awards and won the Best Supporting Actress Award. These two actors won the award at this time, which also proves the reality that there are no successors in the Hong Kong film industry.
In addition, the controversial award at this year's Academy Awards was Best Film, which finally went to the documentary "To Nineteen-Year-Old Me". Directed and narrated by Zhang Wanting, the film focuses on six female students born in the millennial era, and chronicles the growth of female students by documenting the reconstruction of "Anglo-Chinese Girls' School".
But after the release, the schoolgirls recorded in the film claimed to have signed the consent form "misled", and the director did not let everyone see the final cut version of the image; He also accused the school and the producer of ignoring everyone's reluctance to release it publicly, and even used some content obtained by secret filming in the film. Films caught in the vortex of public opinion were suspended 4 days after their release.
Although the film stopped being released, the Academy Awards did not allow films that had already been registered to withdraw their registration, and it is impossible to know whether the producer took the initiative to withdraw the registration. The final result was that the film beat the hit film "The Corridor of Justice" to win the best movie.
The 41st Hong Kong Film Awards had 33 films exhibited, and after Michelle Yeoh's return and Cheng Xiuwen's seal, female filmmakers were dazzling; The five major films take turns to win awards, and in the midst of controversy and praise, Hong Kong films in the bottleneck period are always seeking new breakthroughs.
03 Conclusion
"Applause or boos, I accept them all, it's better than silence." This is actor Liu Qingyun's acceptance speech as the actor of this year's Golden Image Actor, and for the current Hong Kong films, praise or controversy, if you want to really see Hong Kong films rise again, you have to wait for more fresh blood to be injected, and more eclectic genre works will come out and be full of vitality again.