A Fistful of Stances

I have decided to at least keep this blog until the end of this year to continue with my blogging of TVB's series this year. A Fistful of Stances has been named one of the best series this year, finally I finished watching it and I have to agree. It's not perfect but it was definitely a very good drama and definitely the best I have watched atm. I think this story succeeds because it was generally well paced, I found that many dramas this year started off well but ended in a dump. Anyway here are my nominations.

Best Actor

Kenneth Ma

Kenneth has always been one of my favourite TVB actors, last year I thought was a really strong year for Kenneth and it seems like he's growing from strength to strength as his next drama is "Can't Buy Me Love" which I'm sure will get decent ratings. His performance in "A Fistful of Stances" was likeable but also very witty - I consider him the main lead for this series as I believe he had more screen time than Kevin Cheng, he definitely handled his first major lead very well (Of course he has been a lead actor before but this series I consider to be his biggest role ever). Hopefully he'll be recognised this year as a Top 5 nominee for Best Actor.

Best Actress

Tavia Yeung

I listed her under Best Actress because I believe she played a major role in the story. Yes she may have only played the younger years of Kenneth's mother but I think that there are scenes in that section as important as the current time. I do think Tavia was one of the best actors in this series so she definitely deserves this nomination.

Selena Li

Ok I may be a bit biased on this one because I love Selena but I still think she performed really well. Yes there were times when she wasn't too strong but the overall performance was strong imo. I also liked her portrayal a lot, maybe she was elevated by Kenneth Ma's performance but I found her chemistry with Kenneth really shined in this series.

Best Supporting Actor

Dominic Lam

To be honest I think Dominic wasn't very strong when portraying his earlier years but I think he did a decent job as a villain. There were definitely some emotional scenes where he could have been a bit more into it but I think he had a strong performance.

Ram Tseung

I'm nominating him mainly because I felt that his "see fu" role was very believable, the other parts could have been stronger but I genuinely thought he was a skilful martial artist in some of those scenes.

Best Supporting Actress

Natalie Tong

Whilst I think Natalie could have done better I think she handled the big emotional scenes very well, with a lot of emotion and passion. However it was the normal day to day scenes which I think let her down a bit but overall this is definitely one of her breakthrough performances - hopefully she'll be considered more for future series.

Kara Hui

Kara has been a favourite of mine since a long time ago. I love how her roles in TVB have gradually become more interesting as before she always played the one dimensional "kung fu por". The scenes where she went insane were definitely very emotional - I felt so sad for her. I loved how her character struggled between doing good or evil.

Nancy Wu

Whilst I think Nancy's character was utterly pointless I think the few scenes she was in she played fantastically. Nancy has never ceased to amaze me with her performances, she plays these alternative characters very well - it's a shame she hasn't been rising in popularity since her win.

Angela Tong

I think Angela is becoming very good at "ancient dramas". She just seems perfect for these roles and I'm beginning to fall in love. I think she did really well in this role and would love to see her in similar but more diverse roles.

Best Couple

Selena Li and Kenneth Ma

I loved their scenes - Kenneth manages to act the sweet scenes much better than Kevin does, there was a genuine connection I felt between their coupling but with Kevin and Natalie I felt it was all too dramatic. I loved how the last scene was dedicated to them two as to me they were definitely the main leads in this drama.

Most Improved Actor

Alex Lam

I want Alex to be recognised in this drama but I don't think he did well enough for me to nominate as best supporting either so he's now Most Improved, well actually I do think he has improved because he was much more interesting to watch in this portrayal.

Favourite Male Character

Kenneth Ma

How can you not love the guy who manages to always solve every problem and talk his way out of everything. His character was very interesting as there were many different faces of his character which were portrayed e.g. his strong protective manner contrasting with his asthmatic attacks and his love for Selena despite his hatred of his dad. Things like these made his character very likeable and genuine.

Favourite Female Character

Selena Li

I don't know whether it was Kenneth's pairing with her character which made me like her character so much or if it was her gradual acceptance and discovery of her dad's evil deeds, but at the moment her character is one of my favourites.

Most Annoying Character

Dominic Lam

I really wanted to hit him when he was portraying his younger self!

Recognition Award

Eileen Yeow

I actually quite think her portrayal was great but I decided to nominate her in this award instead.

Chung King Fai

I actually found him kind of annoying at times but when he was nice and when he helped his students to no end I really got to like his character.

Shirley Yeung

I don't think this portrayal was strong enough for an award but I like how Shirley is participating in more and different types of roles nowadays.