4th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards Nominations

Today APSA announced the nominations for this year awards, with a total of 31 films from 15 countries and areas. Here are the nominations

Best Feature Film
Tangshan dadizhen (Aftershock), Xiaogang Feng, China and Hong Kong
Bal (Honey), Semih Kaplanoglu, Turkey and Germany
Báng-kah (Monga), Doze Niu, Taiwan
Paju, Chan-ok Park, Korea
Shi (Poetry), Chang-dong Lee, Korea

Best Children’s Feature Film
Boy, Taika Waititi, New Zealand
Bran Nue Dae, Rachel Perkins, Australia
Shui Yuet Sun Tau (Echoes of the Rainbow), Alex LawHong Kong
Digari (The Other), Mehdi Rahmani, Iran
Udaan, Vikramaditya Motwane, India

Best Animated Feature Film
Ibara no Ou (King of Thorn), Kazuyoshi Katayama, Japan
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, Zack Snyder, Australia and USA
Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Maho (Mai Mai Miracle), Sunao Katabuchi, Japan
Hottarake no Shima – Haruka to Maho no Kagami (Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror), Shinsuke Sato, Japan
Piercing 1, Liu Jian, China

Achievement in Directing
Feng Xiaogang for Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock), China and Hong Kong
Semih Kaplanoglu for Bal (Honey), Turkey and Germany
Doze Niu for Báng-kah (Monga), Taiwan
Chang-dong Lee for Shi (Poetry), Korea
Quanan Wang for Fang Zhi Gu Niang (Weaving Girl), China

Best Performance by an Actress
Xu Fan in Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock), Xiaogang Feng, China and Hong Kong
Tejaswini Pandit in Mee Sindhutai Sakpal (I am Sindutai Sakpal), India
Seo Woo in Paju, Chan-ok Park, Korea
Yun Jung-hee in Shi (Poetry), Chang-dong Lee, Korea
Yu Nan in Fang Zhi Gu Niang (Weaving Girl), Quanan Wang, China

Best Performance by an Actor
Chen Daoming in Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock), Xiaogang Feng, China and Hong Kong
Tony Barry in Home by Christmas, Gaylene Preston, New Zealand
Sergei Puskepalis in Kak ya provel etim letom (How I Ended This Summer), Aleksei Popogrebsky, Russia
Mark Ivanir in The Human Resources Manager, Eran Riklis, Israel, Germany, France and Romania
Atul Kulkarni in Natarang, Ravi Jadhav, India

To check nominations in other categories go here or here. The film with most nominations (6) is China’s Oscar submission Aftershock that APSA Nominations Council unanimously praised for its ability to deftly balance a large scale epic story with the intimate drama of one family dealing with the aftermath of the devastating Tangshan earthquake and I humble absolutely agree with this well-deserved honor. Haven’t seen Bal that I know will blow my mind as much as Semih Kaplanoglu’s two previous films in this story that’s told backwards, but wonder if the third installment is more accessible to those voting for the awards.

The awards ceremony will be held on Australia’s Gold Coast on December 2, 2010 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and like last year there will be a Live webcast.

Mao’s Last Dancer

Bruce Beresford’s latest pic is a melodrama that will entertain you with the biopic of classic ballet dancer Li Cunxin who in 1979 defects to America from China, especially if you’re not familiar with the real-life story or haven’t read the autobiographical book. Not a masterpiece but is one of the best ballet films I have ever seen with jaw-dropping performances by Chi Cao playing Li Cunxin –as an adult- that will delight your senses thanks to great cinematography that shows whole dance sequences with beautiful dancing.

Li Cunxin’s real-life story is truly interesting and worth telling but unfortunately Beresford chosen storytelling style went more after viewers’ sympathy –and tears- and less to explore modern Chinese history or to less superficially tell motives that make someone to leave everything behind for new and unfamiliar surroundings. Thus making the story too melodramatic for my taste plus actors and non-actors performances weren’t able to save the film as most felt stiff, fragmented and/or disassociated to the story. My one exception is Joan Chen playing Cunxin’s mother and creating perhaps the only strong character from the whole movie.

Still the film is entertaining and yes, I shed a tear or two, which means that Beresford managed to create an old-fashioned tear-jerker that many will enjoy for the story but I’m sure that more will enjoy for the beautiful dancing and because of the later I do suggest to many that read the blog to not skip the film as dancing is truly worth-watching and story stops when is still a happy ending.

I had a contradictory experience with this film as I really loved the dancing but was very uncomfortable with actors’ performances, terrible storytelling style, and the lack of depth when telling very human non-pleasant life situations. Still the film was able to involve me up to the end and even to make me curious enough to find what happened to Li Cunxin after the film ends.

Enjoy!

Watch trailer @MOC

Beautiful Kate

I got really curious about this film that collected numerous nominations at Australian awards and fests because one actress that always called my attention is Rachel Ward and her directing was something that I had to watch. Unfortunately even do has a very appealing cast the movie story is so common or maybe I should say, told so many times, that you easily guess what could happen plus really does not help to have transposed the story from the American West to the Australian outback, where life in the bush seems so tedious.

Based on a novel by Newton Thornburg with a screenplay also by Rachel, the film tells the story of a family that have past dark secrets and all come alive when the youngest son Ned, now a forty-something writer, comes back as his father is dying. Slowly one strand tells the present that honestly is not that interesting, while a second strand tells the past that definitively was more interesting. Perhaps this was a story to be told in chronological order and probably the film would have been a lot more interesting.

The cast couldn't be better with Ward's real life husband Bryan Brown and one actress I like in the big screen, Rachel Griffiths; but both performances are not their best at all. Other actors are not known to me and well, won't be looking forward to watch them in the future. I'm afraid that Ward's directorial abilities couldn't extract good performances from actors.

Cinematography is one element that the film has on the good side, especially with outdoor sights takes showing the dry -desert alike- Australian outback, but there are not many of those beautiful takes as most of the drama happens indoors or around the house.

Not a film I can recommend, but if you wish to watch a story of incest, family drama, and dysfunctional father-son relationship told in a blunt and awkward way, then you should give a try to this movie.

Sigh.

Watch trailer @Movie On Companion

51st AFI Awards Award Winners

Tonight the ceremony will be broadcast live on Channel Nine in Australia and it will be a huge surprise if Samson & Delilah does not win the top award. If you feel like checking the nominees in all the categories please go here.

Tomorrow I’ll post the winners.

And the winners are...

As expected Warrick Thorton Samson & Delilah won several awards including Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Original Screenplay.

In the Adapted Screenplay Balibo won and Anthony LaPaglia won Best Lead Actor for the same movie. Best Actress went to Frances O'Connor in Blessed, Best Supporting Actress to Rachel Griffiths in Beatiful Kate and Best Supporting Actor to Oscar Isaac in Balibo.

To check all the awards including the TV categories go here.

2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Yesterday they had the award ceremony at Queensland, Australia and here are the winners.

Best Film: Samson & Delilah, Warwick Thornton, Australia

Jury Grand Prize (tie):
Elia Suleiman for The Time That Remains, Palestine, France, Italy, Belgium and UK
Asghar Faradi for Darbareye Elly (About Elly), Iran

Achievement in Directing: Lu Chuan for Nanjing! Nanjing! (City of Life and Death), China

Best Performance by an Actress: Kim Hye-ja in Mother, Korea
Best Performance by an Actor: Masahiro Motoki in Okuribito (Departures), Japan

To check award winners in all categories go here and if you want to watch the complete award ceremony (1 hour 28 minutes) with clips of all nominees go to the official site. There are four films that I'm simply dying to watch.

16th Melbourne International Film Festival

The fest will run from July 24 to August in Melbourne, Autralia. Called by many “the most significant film event in Australia” this year has another large (really large) program with many films organized by categories and here are the categories.

Accelerator Shorts
Animation Gallery
Animation Shorts
Anna Karina
Arts and Minds
Australian Post-punk
Backbeat
Documentaries
Documentary Shorts
Eros + Massacre (interesting!)
Exp/Concept/VideoArt Shorts
Fiction Shorts
Homegrown
International Panorama
Neighborhood Watch
Next Gen
Night Shift
Premiere Fund
Special Events
The End of Europe: New Balkan Cinema (there is one Romanian movie that seems interesting: Munta Muta (Silent Wedding), Horatiu Malaele, Romania, Luxembourg and France, 2008)
The Primal Screen
Vengeance is Mine
Young Blood

To check info about the films go here and/or check the catalogue here.

56th Sydney Film Festival Award Winners

Recently the fest announced the winners and here they are.

Film Prize: Bronson, Nicholas Winding Refn, UK, 2009

Documentary Prize (tie)
Contact, Bentley Dean and Martin Buttler
A Good Man , Safina Uberoi

Short Films
Best Overall Short: The Ground Beneath, Rene Hernandez
Best Live Action Short: Miracle Fish, Luke Doolan
Animation Award: The Cat Piano, Eddie White and Ari Gibson
CRC Award: Missing Water, Khoa Do

Definitively Bronson is a movie that I’m not looking forward to watch, but perhaps eventually I will. To check more info about the winners go here.

2009 Sydney Film Festival

From Austria let’s go to Australia where the SFF will run from June 3 to 14 and will have as the Opening Night film none other than Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric. But that’s not the only Cannes film in the Official Competition as you can see in the following list.

Altiplano, Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth, Belgium, Germany and Netherlands, 2009
Beautiful Kate, Rachel Ward, Australia, 2009 (Rachel Ward directing! Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion)
Bronson, Nicholas Winding Refn, UK, 2009
Bumazhnyy soldat (Paper Soldier), Alexey German Jr., Russia, 2008 (Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion)
Coraline, Henry Selick, USA, 2009 (animation)
Disgrace, Steve Jacobs, Australia, 2008 (starring John Malkovich and a little lesbian interest… wow! Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion)
The Girlfriend Experience, Steven Soderbergh, USA, 2009 (I’m not sure I want to see it but watch trailer @ Movie On Companion)
Looking for Eric, Ken Loach, UK, 2009
Louise-Michel, Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern, France, 2008
La Nana (The Maid), Sebastian Silva, Chile and Mexico, 2009 (Yes, a must be seen for me, watch scene @ Movie On Companion)
Visage (Face), Tsai Ming-Liang, France, Taiwan, Netherlands, and Belgium, 2009 (so lucky those that live in Sydney and will be able to watch it fast…)

To check the many movies in the fest go here where you will find that the fest organized all the movies in quite an interesting way, as you can program your visit to the fest according to what you feel like watching. For example, Give Me a Kiss, Make Me Laugh, Push Me To The Edge, etc.