I found Kidnap (Bang Jia, 2007) to be a mediocre movie with lots of plot holes and was surprised that Rene Liu was even nominated by HKFA.

Charlene Choi’s turn as a mainland chinese girl is a big improvement over her usual cutesy teenage girl’s roles in many of her earlier movies. I have been living in Taipei, HongKong, Shanghai & Beijing for 10 years and must say that her accent is spot-on accurate, a delight to listen to. Nevertheless, i still find it hard to shake-off her cute image and facial expressions, making her good for comedic roles but not serious dramatic performances.

Mr Cinema (Lao Gang Zheng Chuan, 2007) didnt impact me as much as the other two HK-handover movies. Honestly, I have not met anyone this poor in HK, and my lack of exposure due to my relatively shorter stint of stay in HK prevented me from really understanding what this strata of society has gone through over the past few decades. Teresa Mo’s portrayal was good, her words in the misplaced letter brought a tear to my eye, but I feel that the best acting amongst the four lead cast really belongs to Karen Mok in the Supporting Actress category.

Finally, way above all other nominees in the Best Actress performance this year is none other than Siqin Gaowa. She has aged gracefully since my last-viewing of her in Full Moon in New York (Ren Zai Niu Yue, 1990) She is unbeatable this year as the favorite to take this title, and deservedly so.

My Top 5 Nominees for Best Actress 2008:

5) Gigi Leung for Wonder Woman (Nv Ren Ben Shi, 2007)
4) Teresa Mo
3) Miriam Yeung for Hooked on You (Mei Dang Bian Huan Shi, 2007)
2) Zhang Jingchu
1) Siqin Gaowa

If Lust, Caution (Se Jie, 2007) qualifies, i would have placed Tang Wei’s performance at No.2 position.

That said, I’m amazed she got nominated; Simply Actors was okay, and she was the best thing in it, but Best Actress for that? She was, as Eliza notes, so much better in stuff like Just One Look or Funeral March.

I didn’t see Kidnap but I’m sure I’m not missing any earthshaking performance. Teresa Mo is my favorite of these 5 as well.

I think that pic is of Monie Tung not Zhang Jingchu.

I’m enjoying these posts too.

RC

Is it just me or are lot of nominees “miscategorized” or is it the nominee pool is just thin? I still can’t get over junkie Louis Koo as Supporting Actor! Is the HK Cinema industry THAT bad that they can’t find another supporting male over Louis Koo as junkie?

I liked Post Modern Life of … and Siqin Gaowa really gave a brilliant performance.

I think that Zhang Jingchu’s (the pic doesn’t look like her)performance shined becaused everyone else was either bad or blah or hindered by make up and fake teeth.

I can’t seem to like Ah Sa’s performances simply because she is not a good on screen crier. And it is very important for me whether an actor can cry well or not. Moreover she can’t take me away with her performance - this happened only twice one in Funeral March and the other in Just One Look. I hope that she improved since everyone liked her in Simply Actors.

I also liked Diva Ah Hey and My Wife is 18 more than I should have but not due to her performance (maybe due to her cuteness).

And thank you for starting this up, it is very enjoyable to read what you have written, like welcoming a friend back from a long trip.

I agree with you about the best actress noms, right down to thinking Siqin Gaowa will win but rooting for Teresa Mo. I wouldn’t mind if Charlene won either.