On 14 April, the Hong Kong Film Awards Ceremony kicked off as scheduled.
When awarded to the best actor, the five finalists appeared on the big screen one by one, Wu Zhenyu, Huang Qiusheng, Zhou Runfa, Aaron Kwok, Jiang Haowen, although they were all properly maintained, but the young people still had to shout "uncle".
The average age of the five people is more than 57 years old, and the youngest Jiang Haowen is already 53 years old.
On the cover of the special issue filmed for the Academy Awards, although the group photo of the five people is still handsome, it is more than mature, just like the Hong Kong Film Market, which vaguely reveals a hint of "twilight".
The silent cover, still the old actor controls the overall situation, causing many sighs, netizens' questions focus on Hong Kong actors, is it really green and yellow?
Old faces dominate the screen
This year's Academy Awards, mutual praise and nostalgia have once again become a whim.
Wen Muye, the director of "I Am Not a Medicine God" born in 1985, said when winning the Best Cross-Strait Chinese Film Award: "I grew up watching Hong Kong movies, and basically half of my knowledge comes from Hong Kong movies. ”
Guest performer and Malaysian singer Huang Mingzhi also wrote in the lyrics of "Learn Cantonese": "I have a lot of Hong Kong movies and TV series, Star Ye Fa Da Ge Viagra Brother ..."
Remembrance and tribute are the main themes of the Academy Awards ceremony in recent years.
Indeed, in the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, Hui Yinghong, Ip Tong, Mui Yanfang, Maggie Cheung, Cheng Yuling, Yuen Wing Yee, Wu Junru... A number of Hong Kong local actresses blossomed, and the competition for Academy Award-nominated actors was fierce, like "fairy fights".
They were all under the age of 35 when they were first crowned.
In 2009, the 60-year-old Bao Qijing ended this situation with "The Day and Night in Tin Shui Wai", and the prelude to the veteran actor's award was also opened.
In the nearly 10 awards ceremonies since then, in addition to Hui Ying infrared who has opened three degrees, Hong Kong actors Liu Jialing, Yip Tak-hsien, Yang Qianwei and Mao Shunjun were also 46, 65, 39 and 59 years old when they won the best actress for the first time.
Such a phenomenon has also made some fans complain about the Academy Awards "respect for the elderly".
On the male actor side, in the past decade, in addition to Tse Ting-feng, who won the award in 2011, it is basically a male actor over 40 years old, such as Leung Ka Fai, Liu Qingyun, Andy Lau, Cheung Ka Fai, etc., and still leads Hong Kong films.
The strong "suppression" trend is still eye-catching at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival - in the film list released at the end of March, Andy Lau, Gu Tianle, Zhang Jiahui... This group of male actors still firmly occupies the "C position".
"Debut is the peak"
It's hard for newcomers to get ahead.
It's harder for new actors to get ahead. What they want to break through is the "suppression trend" formed by their predecessors with their acting experience, star characteristics, acting skills, and commercial value.
It is for this reason that it is very rare for young Hong Kong actors to continue to export high-quality works.
In the 10 years from 2009 to 2018, there were 7 Hong Kong local players who won the best new actor, including 4 post-80s and post-90s actors - Li Zhiting, Cai Hanyi, Hu Zitong, Ling Wenlong basically "debut is the peak" - after winning the best new actor, there are no more masterpieces such as "The Thief of Years" and "Crazy Dance School".
Screenwriter and critic Zhang Xiaobei told China Newsweek that the Academy Awards reflect a continuous decline in the hematopoietic capacity of the Hong Kong film industry system, and a fault line in the "movie stars" with cultural and market influence.
At the award ceremony on the evening of the 14th, Nicholas Tse, Wu Yanzu, Feng Delun and Li Cansen, who starred in the movie "SWAT New Human", took the stage to present the award, which became a major attraction.
Seeing this scene, fans were in a trance for a while, like going back to 1999 and seeing the film's youthful fearlessness.
However, these 4 people on the stage are no longer young boys.
"As long as you are willing to work hard and will not give up, just like tonight's theme is exactly the same 'keep rolling', as long as you 'keep walking', one day you can be affirmed, you can be nominated." 」 Gu Tianle frantically poured a pot of chicken soup during the award.
"Remember, that's the spirit of our Hong Kong actors." As soon as Gu Tianle's voice fell, there was a warm applause from the audience. The new Academy Awards for Best Actor was announced.
Support Hong Kong movies, synchronize with supporting young actors
This time, the awards ceremony was hosted by more than 30 new film actors.
"There are enough young actors in the Hong Kong film industry, and these newcomers are just unknown." Zhang Xiaobei said.
One confirmation is that as soon as the news was sent, the discussion on the Internet was not about sighing or "chasing the stars", but on "whether the young actor host will fall asleep".
Of course, whether young actors can get more opportunities depends on the promotion of their predecessors.
Similarly, "Red Sister" Hui Yinghong, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress this time, has also spared no effort to bring new people.
When she received the award, she was not as excited as in previous years, but began to inspire: "Hong Kong (film) must have a hundred flowers, and there must be a descendant (young people)." I hope to see Hong Kong films that produce more than 400 films a year a year, just like I did when I first debuted. Therefore, I hope that the older generations will support the descendants (young people) more. ”
The slow and static replacement of actors is behind the changes in the development of the industry.
According to Zhang Xiaobei's analysis, the fundamental reason for the "movie star" fault in Hong Kong is that the rapid rise of the Chinese film industry, which is dominated by the mainland film market, has replaced the once brilliant cultural and entertainment status.
"Movie stars are the engine of commercial films, but when this commercial system loses its cultural and commercial influence, the engine naturally loses the possibility of repair and upgrading."
In an interview with China News Weekly, Dai Jinhua, director of the Center for Film and Culture Studies at Peking University, agreed.
In her view, the powerful directors of Hong Kong, China, went north and fully participated in the entire Chinese mainland film market and became the main force in the market. In their film works, Hong Kong actors are not necessarily the first choice, and it is natural for Hong Kong actors to change generations slowly.
If the Hong Kong film market is to continue to recover to its glory years, it still needs to be steady and steady. Supporting Hong Kong films is indispensable to support young actors.