Sigh.

Last month after watching the schziophrenic Asian Film Awards, I was hoping for...more, better, something else from the HKFA. Sadly, it was another 'all over the place' affair.

First, the good stuff.

I was happy that Hanjin Tan won Best New Peformer for his role in Bruce Lee My Brother. He was a bright spot in an otherwise heavy-handed film (notice the lack of awards for the film in general, particularly in the writing, directing, best film categories).

I was really chuffed that the gorgeous and immensely talented Nic Tse won Best Actor. The only thing that would have been better is if both Nic's from Stool Pigeon had won, as Nick Cheung is also a very good actor.

I was also pleased the Felix Chong won for his crazy Once a Gangster. I really enjoyed that film.

A couple of awards given to Detective Dee... were well deserved, including the Best Visual Effects, Sound Design, Costume and Make-Up Design, and Art Direction. However, I was NOT happy that Carina Lau won Best Actress.

Ms Lau did indeed give a solid performance, as she always does. However, it was a usual solid performance and nothing special. I really thougth that Josie Ho deserved to win, as her performance in Dream House was extraordinary.

And I'm still left confused over all the wins for Gallants. I wasn't interested in seeing it when it came out, and despite all its wins on the 17th, I'm still not motivated to see it.

It seems that 2010 was not an extra special year for HK films, despite the fact that I'm a fan and continue to champion local cinema whenever and to whomever I can.

Maybe next year's awards will be more satisfying...

I want to thank the organisers of the HKIFF for including among the many wonderful films shown this year Jiang Wen's masterful 'Devils on the Doorstep'. Although I had to take a taxi back to HK Island from TST because all of the public transportation had stopped running, I don't regret it.

The film is amazing, as I expected it to be. I just hope Mr Jiang feels that it was worth losing seven years' worth of time for making films in his homeland for.