Asian Film Awards 2018 nominations: Louis Koo gets best actor nod, but Hong Kong absent from best picture race, again
Hong Kong missed out on a best picture nod for the fourth year running, while Chen Kaige’s Legend of the Demon Cat garnered six nominations including best director. Read on for our complete list of nominations
Prolific Hong Kong film star Louis Koo Tin-lok earned a rare best-actor nomination for his role as an anguished father out for violent revenge in Paradox at the 12th Asian Film Awards, the organisers announced on Thursday.
But the popular actor’s admittedly deserved nod may not be enough to make up for the disappointment of his home audiences as Hong Kong cinema again comes up short for the awards’ top prize: Hong Kong films have failed to snatch a single best picture nod at the Asian Film Awards – which were first held in this city – for the fourth year in a row.
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The five nominees for best picture are Chinese writer-director Vivian Qu’s modern-day crime noir Angels Wear White; Indian comedy Newton; Korean art-house gem The Day After, one of three films Hong Sang-soo directed in 2017; Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda’s legal thriller The Third Murder ; and Youth, Feng Xiaogang’s sprawling drama about a Chinese military arts troupe who lived through the Cultural Revolution and the Sino-Vietnamese war.
Angels Wear White, The Third Murder and Youth have five nominations apiece; as does Sylvia Chang’s multigenerational relationship drama Love Education . But the surprise front-runner of the awards turns out to be Chen Kaige’s lavish supernatural murder mystery Legend of the Demon Cat , which received nods in six categories, including best director.
The nomination list surprises as much for its appreciation for popular actors (including Louis Koo) as it does for its curious snubs. Eddie Peng is recognised for his supporting role in Our Time Will Come , but his co-stars, Zhou Xun and Deanie Ip, are both notable omissions. Song Kang-ho failed to receive a best actor nod for A Taxi Driver after he essentially swept the domestic prizes in South Korea, while the Golden Horse best picture The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful is shunned in every category.