Two productions which won awards in the recent "Golden Bell" ceremony for outstanding television movies, "He's My Brother" and "Reaching for the Stars Tonight" showed how the TV industry in the Republic of China has attracted top-quality scriptwriters and dedicated and hardworking performers. If further progress can be made in the production of films, local television enterprises will soon be able to enter a new era.
For their brilliant performances in the award winning movies, Koo Pao-min and Chang Hsiao-yen won the best actor and actress awards respectively. Besides being recognition for talent, the awards show that audiences in the Republic of China prefer real-life characters to cardboard figures whose only attributes are good looks.
The success of the two movies must be put down in large measure to their outstanding scripts. For years, the themes of television plays have been confined to love stories in one form or another, which made it difficult to upgrade actors' performances. Fortunately, a few enlightened people noticed this weakness, and began to take their raw materials from everyday life as a means of enlightening audiences as well as entertaining them.
In "He's My Brother," Koo Pao-min plays the part of a mentally and physically handicapped boy who is looked after by his elder brother. But when the brother decides to get married, he tries to keep his fiancee from meeting the boy. A chance encounter eventually brings the three together in a moving scene. Writer Chen Chia-yu said he was inspired to create the script when he saw a father carrying a handicapped boy on his back. Producer Lu Kuan-hao said Koo so immersed himself in the role that it took him some time to return to reality after shooting stopped. Even some of the staff were moved to tears, he said.
"Reaching for the Stars Tonight," was written by Hsia Mei-hua, the award-winning scriptwriter at last year's ceremony. In this play, she again displayed a talent for detailed description and colloquial dialogue in telling the story of an aging taxi dancer.
Playing the leading role, Chang Hsiao-yen portrayed with great skill how the taxi dancer's coarse exterior disguised the loneliness in her heart. Besides highlighting the bright side of human nature, the play puts forward the thesis that every job has its nobility. An outstanding writer teamed up with outstanding performers to turn ordinary material into a powerful exposition.
[Picture Caption]
1. In "He's My Brother," Koo Pao-min (right) puts in an outstanding performance as a handicapped boy. 2. A moving scene in "He's My Brother." 3. "He's My Brother" highlights a problem with which audiences can identify. 4. Chang Hsiao-yen puts in an inspired performance as an aging taxi dancer in "Reaching for the Stars Tonight."
A moving scene in "He's My Brother.".
"He's My Brother" highlights a problem with which audiences can identify.
Chang Hsiao-yen puts in an inspired performance as an aging taxi dancer in "Reaching for the Stars Tonight.".