Shut Up Already

Kudos to the Golden Horse Awards committee for the generally convincing results this year (Aaron Kwok finally didn’t win best actor and, despite all the hype, Tang Wei didn’t get anymore than best new actor). Then again, the climax of the event was, sadly, marked by the few tricks of Japanese street magician Cyril, which have been seen millions of times on YouTube but still proved to be enough to wow the crowd.

I can’t recall ever having seen the live broadcast of Taiwan’s Oscars on TV before this past Saturday. But I pray that the next time I see it, whichever broadcaster airing it would get it right. I’d like to know which dumbass at aTV thought it was okay to have viewers switch back and forth between its two channels to watch what one could only hope to be a bona fide live coverage with minimal interruption; and which other dumbass thought it was a good idea to have two unattractive “hosts” narrate the Mandarin award show in Cantonese by reading of uninspiring tidbits from cue cards and blocking out what witty comments the Taiwanese emcees had to make.

Since when do award shows need narrating? It’s not like viewers are getting immediate interpretation of what was being said by the emcees, presenters or winners. When nominations are being announced, the narrators are merely reading the names of nominees and films that are already appearing on the screen in Traditional Chinese characters.

The funny thing is, when the live broadcast was aired on aTV World, viewers with Nicam facilities could choose between Mandarin and English narration. Thank God the Mandarin narrator kept her mouth shut for most of that hour and a half. That makes one person at aTV who understands the stupidity of narrating a Mandarin show in Mandarin.

It seems to me that aTV will never be able to pull off “grand”. For something as prestigious as the Golden Horse Awards, they decided to have Patricia Liu and Vinci Wong “host” the live broadcast, neither of whom showing any improvement from their days as disenchanted TVB staff. To go with the cheap cardboard backdrop, Liu wore what looked like a Statue of Liberty costume made from the backside of grandma’s old drapes.

My guess is that an award show of this scale brings aTV more viewer numbers than any of its regular scheduled programs could ever hope for. Yet aTV’s regular scheduled programs are apparently too important to be preempted to make way for an uninterrupted live coverage. The fanciest logo change can’t fix what stupid decisions like this break.

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On a different note, does anyone else think Tang Wei’s become a big fake? She’s given nothing but model answers to every question in every interview I have seen her in since Lust, Caution was released. You don’t have to be charismatic to be a good actor, but she tries so hard to speak with her eyes every time she’s in the presence of a camera it’s just uncomfortable to watch. When Lust, Caution won best film and the cast was invited to accept the award on stage, Tang Wei said, with tears rolling down her face mid-way, that she made a wish on her birthday that they (the cast and crew) would remain like a family forever.

And that makes her the best actor of the night.