This presents numerous opportunities for duels, and the film’s entire first hour feels like a breathless succession of action sequences, accompanied by one-liners of worldly wisdom couched in kung-fu terminology.
The one lying down is out only the last man standing counts.” Just turning 40 when the film begins in 1936, Ip is an entitled Cantonese gentleman of leisure who lives in Foshan, a popular hub for martial-arts experts from all over the country. This idea is demonstrated in the opening sequence, when Ip (Leung) remarks: “Kung fu equals two words: horizontal and vertical. Instead, by focusing on his encounters with other fighters, the film arrives at the enlightened realization that there is no single “grandmaster.” Offering an eye-opening pageant of martial-arts schools and their radically different exponents, the multistranded but generally linear narrative never dedicates itself entirely to charting Ip’s achievements. However, Wong’s interpretation stands apart from its predecessors by taking a less conventional biopic route. “Organizers, consider me!” he added.Five years in the making and reportedly 16 years in gestation, “The Grandmaster” is the latest in a string of period chopsocky films (“ Ip Man,” “ Ip Man 2,” “The Legend is Born - Ip Man”) centering on the life of the martial-arts master who taught Bruce Lee and popularized the Wing Chun kung fu style around the world. “I’ve been making movies for 53 years, and I’ve never won a Hong Kong Film Awards best actor award,” he said. Jackie Chan, when he presented the best film award, urged the Hong Kong Film Awards organizers to consider him for a best actor award.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Cheung Yam-yim, who, with Jet Li‘s first starring movie The Shaolin Temple (1982), was the first director to make a Hong Kong-Chinese co-production. Best new director went to Adam Wong for The Way We Dance, which also featured the work of best new performer Babyjohn Choi, and the best original film song. He sang the first verses of “The Sound of Silence” when he was onstage to accept the award, as it was the soundtrack during a montage sequence of him training in the film.īest supporting actress went to Kara Wai for first time director Juno Mak‘s Rigor Mortis. This was the second Hong Kong Film Award best actor nod for Cheung, after his win for Beast Stalker (2008). Nick Cheung was named best actor for his work in MMA drama Unbeatable. The Grandmaster also won best cinematography, best film editing, best sound design, best original film score, best action choreography, best costume and makeup design and best art direction. “I’m worked up not because I feel wronged, but because I feel grateful.” Zhang spoke of the hardships she experienced in her personal life and as Gong Er, “I shed a lot of tears,” she said. It was a short walk from the podium to the stage, but it took me 20 years to come back to this spot,” said Wong when he accepted the award.īest actress winner Zhang took home her ninth award, including the Asian Film Awards, the Golden Horse Awards, and the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, for the role of Gong Er, the heiress of a Northern Chinese martial arts dynasty. “I remember it was 1994 when I was last here. It was Wong’s third best director win at the Hong Kong Film Awards, after his Days of Being Wild (1990) and Chungking Express (1994).
HONG KONG - The Grandmaster swept the Hong Kong Film Awards with 12 wins, including best film, best director for Wong Kar Wai, best actress for Zhang Ziyi and best supporting actor for Zhang Jin.