Well~ that was a LONG process. Buth ere it is, after nearly four months of movie-watching and voting… the YAM Magazine team’s favorite movies of this decade so far~ Hope you find one you like, discover one… and that we included some of your favorites!
Let’s start off by saying that my Chinese/Hong Kong film viewing… isn’t, just isn’t. LOL Of all the nominees, I have only seen two. Hahaha, I’m a little ashamed of that considering I’ve seen over 120 movies last year. Though, there were 3 other films I wanted to watch before the nominations were announced: Love in a Puff, Gallants, Under The Hawthorn Tree, and Detective Dee ;D
And I’ve decided I should watch Reign of Assassins with my dad, and Hot Summer Days with my mom. LOL
Also, Tetsuya Nakashima’s Kokuhaku was crowned as Best Asian Film, beating the likes of Aftershocks and Monga.
Anyway, we’re here because of the Best Song category, which had the most artists I was familiar with, and we’re going to be looking at each of them and their respective songs~ First, the winner:
Jun Kung’s Here to Stay from Merry-Go Round
They were held today at my worst possible timezone. I only made it to the Best Actress award… barely. I was already nodding off, but I had to stay up for that one.
I knew Yun Jeong-hee was pretty much a shoo-in for Best Actress for her amazing role on Poetry — what’s up with all these Korean ahjumas, they are fierce! — but I was secretly rooting for Fan Xu on Aftershocks because her role left me emotionally drained.
Also~~~ APSA > Oscar – why?
Please, awarding Aftershocks, Poetry and Caterpillar? Anyone who awards these, it’s on my good list — even if it’s not an “official” category, Shinobu Terajima winning the Jury Award is big. Oscars will never EVER nominate Shinobu Terajima for Best Actress — unless they surprise me. Please, surprise me — and they will never ever nominated Yun Jeong-hee either. Considering Japan and Korea chose other films to send…
Anyway! So many awards, eh? Check the sidebar to keep up to date with the Award Season~~~
Never have followed the Asian Pacific nominations… mainly because it’s hard to, you know~~~ watch films from that part of the world for me. However, distribution is getting better – dvds are being launched so much faster, and many of them come with subtitles in English (when needed), and there’s a lot more people willing to fansub when needed.
And YAY! Aftershocks has landed 6 nominations – including Best Film, Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay PLUS! Best Actor and Best Actress. Now, I’m trying not to be biased, I don’t think actor Chen Daoming was THAT good in Aftershocks, but actress Xu Fan completely deserves it.
The other big nominee of the night is South Korea’s Poetry (Shi) – crap! I’m really that good at film recommendations for distributors, someone hire me ASAP! – which received 4 nominations for Best Film, Best Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Actress. While Taiwan’s Monga – see, I’m good – was nominated for 3 awards for Best Film, Best Directing and Best Cinematography.
The APSA(wards) will be handed out December 2nd on a live webcast at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards site.
All nominations below the break~
I can feel it in the air. Award season is approaching. I think Indie Spirit Awards are also done with submissions, and their nominations should arrive come early December.
In the meantime, the Academy Awards has released the list of the 65 countries (or not-countries… Greenland?) that will be competing for 5 spots as “Best Foreign” nominees, as well as their 8 short documentaries.
Here are some of the reviews of the ones I’ve seen.
Let’s talk wild guess predictions in here. Which countries will be the 5 chosen ones?
Mexico’s Biutiful seems like an easy assumption.
China’s Aftershocks seems to be a good candidate for several reasons besides “film”. Whatever your thoughts on melodrama are, I mean… you really need to be a sour grape not to feel something for the family in that film. Either that, or you’ve never been in a natural disaster. Having said that, it is because it’s a melodrama that it’s perfect for Oscar. Moving family drama that deals with catastrophe with a really powerful and magnificently handled Earthquake scene that was a box office hit in China. It’s just good business.
Also, China being nominated is controversial. Anything to do with China since 2008 is controversial. Controversial always brings ratings. Also nominating China is just plain good business. If China gets nominated – I dunno, what are the chances of some state channel broadcasting the Oscar? Just imaging 2/3 of China’s internet population watches the Oscar that night. That’s 200 million viewers. Anything in China is big.
If there’s no China, it must be another cheese movie… like South Korea’s A Barefoot Dream. An underdog story of a kiddie football team and a coach. It shall make you feel happy xD
Canada’s Incendies?
and… I dunno what else. Peru’s chances? From what I have seen, and what I’ve heard. It could very well get into the nine before they select the final five. I’ll have a better grasp once the 9 are out xD
Some very exciting news – First, it seems I’ve seen more than TWO of the Foreign submissions this year LOL. Of course that’s without considering the 9 films that will go through the other stage, and the 5 that will be chosen. I’ll probably get a 1/5 ratio at the most.
Second of all… China chose Xiaogang Feng’s earthquake drama Aftershocks to represent them. *jumpy claps* Now, this is my weakness. I love tear-jerking dramas. Anyone who’s lived through an earthquake should and will be affected by the story, anyone who’s lived through a hurricane, typhoon, any catastrophic natural disaster. Aftershocks is for you. But this is not to say that Aftershocks is exploitative of the tragedy, because this “earthquake” film is little about the earthquake and all about the people affected by it.
Considering the technical achievement this is, and how human and audience-friendly this drama is, I think this might have high chances of passing to the “chosen 9”. *crosses fingers*
Here are some of the submissions I’ve seen and reviewed:
The updated titles via Indie Wire!
Bam! I’m into making lists now. xD
To push distributors, and tickle their curiosity, as well as showing them it can also be good business to bring Asian flicks. Plus, cinephiles would love a little more variety in their local theaters, and I bet regular moviegoers wouldn’t mind one or two non-Hollywood blockbusters… after all, we already watch everything subtitled! We don’t have an issue with them like some… other… people.
If Americans (and Canadians) complain about the little variety of Asian films outside martial arts, or auteur cinema – well, really. Stop complaining. It’s even worse down here. If you got 5 releases a year (just an assumption), then we get one… if we’re lucky. Sorry, I’m not so campy with J-horror… I’m a little tired. I must be too old for it now. LOL
I just spent nearly 2hrs. posting this somewhere else, and I still need to email everyone. LOL
Without further ado,
Hi, some American [and Peruvian] distributor, you should totally buy this.
Newsweek has a very interesting article on Xiaogang Feng and his latest IMAX flick, Aftershocks (aka. After Shock, Aftershock), which has just beaten James Cameron’s Avatar in the biggest Chinese opening for a film. Aftershocks is the first ever non-American IMAX film… so of course Aftershocks opened in more than 4 000 screens – which is also a first – and it only made about $5.3M on a day, but it is still a feature. I mean, not everyone pays $15USD to get into the theater.
So when I think of IMAX… I think National Geographic under the sea films, Star Wars, and The Dark Knight. But let me tell you, Aftershocks is playing a complete different game. Aftershocks is a drama… it’s a tear-jerking, heart-tugging drama. It depicts the story of a family that was forever affected by the 1976 7.8 magnitude in the city of Tangshan, which had a reported death toll of 240 000 people.
When I first heard about Aftershocks, not being familiar with Feng’s style, I thought “Oh, China is making their big Hollywood Disaster Film on IMAX” and boy, was I wrong. Sure, the film counts with a luscious (and devastating) sequence that last several long minutes of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake… which felt like a mega-earthquake on screen. However, after that scene, which pretty much starts the film, it aptly turns into a drama telling the struggle of a mother that had to choose between her daughter and her son, and the hurt of a daughter that believes to have been abandoned.
The film lasts about 2hrs, and I was possibly in tears in the first few minutes as the earthquake struck, and the audience immediately feels connected to the mom and her kids. It instantly reminds me of writers telling me “You need something big so your reader believes the connection can happen,” and for the viewers watching Aftershocks, this big event is the devastating earthquake.
When you thought the worse of the crying was done, a brand new wave came over you and you were at it again. I think I was bawling for a good 1.30hr of the film. LOL
A good solid 4/5
Oh how I wish this opened in America so there could be ANY nomination for actress Fan Xu, though the whole cast was remarkable.
