37th Japanese Academy Awards - Winners

The winners of the 37th Japanese Academy Awards were announced on Friday night. I gave a run through of the movies that were up for the major awards back in January, you can read that here. But now on to the winners.

The Great Passage (舟を編む)
Best Picture
Best Director - Yuya Ishi (石井裕也)
Best Actor - Ryuhei Matsuda (松田龍平)
Best Screenplay - Kensaku Watanabe (渡辺謙作)
Best Sound Recording - Hirokazu Kato (加藤大和)
Best Film Editing - Shinichi Fushima (普嶋信一)

The Wind Rises (風立ちぬ)
Best Animation
Best Music - Joe Hisaishi (久石譲)

Like Father, Like Son (そして父になる)
Best Supporting Actor - Lily Franky (リリー・フランキー)
Best Supporting Actress - Yoko Maki (真木よう子)

Sayonara Keikoku (さよなら渓谷)
Best Actress - Yoko Maki (真木よう子)

The Unforgiven (許されざる者)
Best Cinematography - Koichi Watanabe (渡邊孝一)

Ask this of Rikyu (利休にたずねよ)
Best Art Direction - Takashi Yoshida (吉田孝)

Boys on the Run

One of my favourite series at the moment is Kengo Hanazawa's (花沢健吾) I Am A Hero. And since I'm waiting for issue 12 to be released in the next month or two, I thought I'd check out some of Hanazawa's earlier work.

Boys on the Run tells the story of average guy Toshiyuki Tanishi, and his quest for the love of the new office girl, Chiharu Uemura. Tanishi's rather awkward sexual advances, leads him on mission to win the love of Chiharu by promising to physically beat a more sophisticated rival, Takahiro Aoyama.

The manga also found a movie adaption in 2010, directed by Daisuke Miura (三浦大輔). The movie stars Kazunobu Mineta (峯田和伸) as Tanishi who fills the role perfectly as he has adapted to the niche role of a young guy who overcomes his nerdiness to reach popularity. He played a similar role in 2009's Shikizoku Generation (色即せねれいしょん). Chiharu is played by Mei Kurogawa (黒川芽以). The ever mysterious Ryuhei Matsuda (松田隆平) also perfectly captures the arrogant and self confident Aoyama.

The movie also features music by lead actor Kazunobu Mineta's band, Ginnan BOYZ (銀杏BOYZ).

A TV drama of the series was also released in 2012, but it's heavy reliance on more fashionable actors, pop stars, and models in the main roles, would possibly detract from the charm provided by the actors of the movie.

Nagisa Oshima

It's several weeks late but I wanted to point everyone over an article about Nagisa Oshima written over on Slate by Dana Stevens.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2013/01/nagisa_oshima_s_in_the_realm_of_the_senses_sex_violence_and_beauty.html

Oshima who died several weeks ago should be mentioned along with Akira Kurasawa whenever you are talking about Japanese cinema. Specifically, Japanese New Wave (ヌーベルバーグ from the french nouvelle vague) or the difficult to define Pink Film genre.

In Realm of Senses, as discussed by Dana Stevens at Slate, was intentionally made to push the boundaries of Japanese censorship at the time, and several sections of the film had to be physically developed in France to avoid prosecution. Just a warning that this clip is NSFW.

But one of my first recollections of Japanese cinema was of David Bowie and Takeshi Kitano in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence. I was possibly very young when I first glimpsed  as it seems to have entered my conscience at a young age. Although it wasn't until much later that I sat down and watch it.

Another film of Oshima's that I want to mention is 1999s Taboo staring Ryuhei Matsuda. It was Oshima's final film and deal with homo-eroticism of the very mail dominated world of the samurai. Brokeback Bushido?

These three films represent the later half of Oshima's career, a fearless director who wasn't afraid to push the boundaries, or more correctly, a director who intentionally push the boundaries of cinema.