I read with some interest, Paul Chan’s blog post titled Step Aside! Here Comes… where he announces the arrival of Chen Hanwei’s “next breakthrough project” — The Best Things in Life. According to the blog, this “breakthrough” project will reap another Best Actor nomination for Chen Hanwei at next year’s Star Awards.
Apart from the fact that it seems a wee bit premature for the VP of Branding and Marketing for Channel 8 to be proclaiming next year’s nominations when this year’s awards have not been conferred, I can’t help but wonder exactly what constitutes a “breakthrough” in the Bagua/Mediacorp world? How will this project be yet another breakthrough for Chen Hanwei? What exactly is he breaking this time? Another tooth?
As some of the comments on the blog have noted, the role does not look new at all and relies greatly on what they call imaging. Indeed, if the last blockbuster, Together, is any indication of how Mediacorp defines acting, then it would not be remiss to surmise that according to Mediacorp, imaging IS acting. While costume and make-up are integral to character construction, they are there to add authenticity to the character an actor creates. They are not the raison d’état of character. Equating imaging with acting creates caricatures, not characters.
So unless Chen Hanwei plans to bring something more to the table besides a gaping tooth, this impending, so-called “breakthrough” is really not a breakthrough at all, but a reprisal. A repeat performance. And an over-the-top one at that, if his previous roles are anything to go by. As a “Sensible” comment on the blog noted, Chen Hanwei’s roles of late have been far from subtle.
Hence since the Star Awards’ Best Actor category is really a Best Caricature category then Mr Bagua is absolutely right. Let’s send in the clowns because Chen Hanwei certainly does take the cake on that count, doesn’t he?
If he wins, then for the sake of clarity, Mediacorp should really consider renaming the category. Otherwise, God forbid, someone somewhere might just mistake this artiste for a real actor. Or worse–the horror, the horror–mistake the Star Awards as actual standards by which the industry measures excellence in acting. Now we certainly wouldn’t want THAT to happen, would we?
