Unlike the mess that was the 29th Golden Eagle Awards, the Magnolia Awards were more sensible and predictable, so kudos to the judges (director Gao Xixi, actress Ma Yili, screenwriter Chen Tong among others) for judging based on merit.
No matter which way you look at it, Daylight Entertainment is the clear winner of the night. Like A Flowing River took home a total of five awards, including Best Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Art Direction, while All Is Well took home Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. It’s important to note that this year they finally separated original and adapted screenplays, and I’m hoping they keep the two categories separate for future awards.
Television Series
Best Television Drama:
- Like A Flowing River 大江大河
- Entrepreneurial Age 创业时代
- All Is Well 都挺好
- The Way We Were 归去来
- The City, the Family 那座城，这家人
- The Rise of Phoenixes 天盛长歌
- Little Woman Under Zhengyang Gate 正阳门下小女人
- Memories of Peking 芝麻胡同
- The Story of Minglan 知否知否应是绿肥红瘦
- Perfect Youth 最美的青春
Best Director:
- Kong Sheng & Huang Wei, Like A Flowing River
- Jian Chuanhe, All is Well
- Liu Jiacheng, Little Woman Under Zhengyang Gate
- Shen Yan & Liu Haibo, The Rise of Phoenixes
- Zhang Kaizhou, The Story of Minglan
Best Original Screenplay:
- Gao Mantang & Li Zhou, The Frontier of Love 爱情的边疆
- Gao Xuan & Ren Baoru, The Way We Were
- Guo Jingyu & Yang Yong, Perfect Youth
- Liu Yan, Memories of Peking
- Wang Zhili & Hao Jinming, Little Woman Under Zhengyang Gate
Best Adapted Screenplay:
- Yuan Keping & Tang Yao, Like A Flowing River
- Wang Sanmao & Lei Zi, All is Well
- Zeng Lu & Wu Tong,The Story of Minglan
- Li Jia, With You 最好的我们
- Yan Geling & Peng Sanyuan, The Years You Were Late
Best Actor in a Leading Role:
- Ni Dahong, All Is Well
- Chen Kun, The Rise of Phoenixes
- He Bing, Memories of Peking
- Wang Kai, Like A Flowing River
- Zu Feng, The Mask
Best Actress in a Leading Role:
- Jiang Wenli, Little Woman Under Zhengyang Gate
- Liu Bei, Memories of Peking
- Wan Qian, Lost in Love (1949)
- Yao Chen, All Is Well
- Zhao Liying, The Story of Minglan
Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
- Guo Jingfei, All Is Well
- Gao Xin, All Is Well
- Li Naiwen, Frontier of Love
- Liu Yijun, Great Expectations 远大前程
- Zhu Yilong, The Story of Minglan
Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
- Tong Yao, Like A Flowing River
- Liu Lin, The Story of Minglan
- Sa Rina, The City, the Family
- Tian Hairong, Little Woman Under Zhengyang Gate
- Li Nian, All Is Well
Best Cinematography:
- Li Xi, The Rise of Phoenixes
- Frontier of Love
- Like A Flowing River
- The Sound of Bells at Shanghai Bund 外滩钟声
- Great Expectations
Best Art Direction:
- Shao Changyong, Like A Flowing River
- Frontier of Love
- The Rise of Phoenixes
- Great Expectations
- The Story of Minglan
Best Variety Program: Super-Vocal, Reviving The Forbidden City 上新了, 故宫!
All is Well: Guo Jingfei, Li Nian, Gao Lu, Gao Xin, Yao Chen, Ni Dahong
Like A Flowing River: Wang Kai, Tong Yao, Kong Sheng, Huang Wei,
Little Woman Under Zhengyang Gate: Tian Hairong, Jiang Wenli
Lost in 1949: Wan Qian
The Story of Minglan: Zhu Yilong, Liu Lin
Yan Ni and Hu Ge recently opened a new company together with Tangren:
Chen Shu, Pan Yueming and Tong Yao recently wrapped up filming Who Says I Can’t Marry 谁说我结不了婚
Tong Liya
I feel like the only ??? winner is Best Art Direction. The Rise of Phoenixes or Great Expectations should’ve won. Other than that, I would’ve preferred Wang Kai and Yao Chen for the leads, but Ni Dahong and JIang Wenli are also deserving. Every other winner is my top choice of the nominees.
Perhaps the Best Art Direction nod is for how meticulous the Art Direction team & head were in collecting the period-appropriate pieces in assembling their whole stage design. The Rise of Phoenixes’ art direction looked fab but no one knows well enough to comment on how accurate the whole set was for that particular time period. No one from that period is still alive today.
When I started reading the list, I was terrified at entries like Entrepreneurial Age, The Way We Were in the Best Drama list. Some of the dramas in this list stand out from the rest and not in a good way. Not sure about Perfect Youth either. I didn’t watch any of these 3. Are they really among the best dramas in your opinion? Also wonder why the Best Drama list is twice as long as the other category’s. Also, these 3 didn’t get nominated for anything else, but somehow they are among the best. It doesn’t seem to compute.
It’s interesting how Ni Dahong’s family let him go to the award ceremony dressed so casually. The guy wearing shorts above Tong Liya’s picture stands the farthest away from the group picture. Is that discomfort from being under-dressed? lol
“The Rise of Phoenixes’ art direction looked fab but no one knows well enough to comment on how accurate the whole set was for that particular time period. No one from that period is still alive today.”
By the same token, we should also doubt the historical accuracy of costuming/aesthetics for all ancient dramas about Rome, Egypt, Japan, etc.
The Oscars also have ten spots for Best Picture vs. five for other categories. But the Oscars also often leave spots open if it doesn’t have enough nominations. I’m guessing they don’t do that here and just put in whatever dramas that had maybe two votes? Haven’t seen the other ones but Entrepreneurial Age is 100% terrible.
Ni Dahong is under Chen Kun’s company so I’m pretty sure it’s a style choice.