The 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards took place on Sunday (Apr 14) at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the biggest winner of the night was undeniably The Goldfinger.
The crime drama, which marked the onscreen reunion of acting legends Tony Leung and Andy Lau, picked up six awards at the ceremony including Best Actor for Tony Leung.
With this win, Leung has now won Best Actor six times at the Hong Kong Film Awards; his previous wins were for 1998’s Happy Together, 2001’s In The Mood For Love, 2003’s Infernal Affairs, 2005’s 2046 and 2014’s The Grandmaster.
Accepting the award on his behalf was his wife Carina Lau. Despite not being present at the ceremony, Leung managed to record an acceptance speech via video where he thanked fans who had supported him for over 40 years.
Set in the 1980s, The Goldfinger tells the story of Henry Ching (Leung), the morally questionable chairman of a Hong Kong conglomerate, and Lau Kai-yuen (Lau), the principal investigator of the Independent Commission Against Corruption who is probing Ching.
Besides Best Actor, The Goldfinger also won Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume And Makeup Design, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Design.
The award for Best Film went to the crime comedy A Guilty Conscience which starred comedian Dayo Wong and actress-model Louise Wong. The movie, which tells the story of an attorney trying to clear the name of a woman accused of murdering her daughter, was a box office hit – earning over HK$114,200,000 (S$19.8 million) and becoming the highest-grossing Chinese film in Hong Kong.
Other winners include Jennifer Yu for Best Actress (In Broad Daylight) and Soi Cheang for Best Director (Mad Fate).