1997 Kinema Junpo Best Ten

[Mark Schilling]

I agree with Aaron that the Japan Academy Awards are usually even more
absurd than their American counterpart, with the big prizes being awarded
according to seniority, sentiment, box office numbers and studio clout.
Artistic merit is usually way down on the list. Interestingly, though, this
year's nominees for Best Picture can all be found in the Kinema Jumpo 1997
Best Ten:

Unagi
Tokyo Biyori
Mononoke Hime
Yukai
Rajio no Jikan

Mochizuki Rokuro is not a Best Director nominee, however. Instead the
nominees are mostly familiar faces, with the only newcomer being Radio no
Jikan's Mitani Koki. (Mitani, though, is a veteran scriptwriter with many
TV drama hits and mucho industry clout.)

Imamura Shohei (Unagi)
Ogawara Takao (Yukai)
Takenaka Naoto (Tokyo Biyori)
Mitani Koki (Rajio no Jikan)
Morita Yoshimitsu (Shitsurakuen)   

Kinema Jumpo honoree Koji Yakusho has been nominated for Best Actor, twice
-- once for Unagi and once for Shitsurakuen. Momoi Kaori, KJ's Best
Actress, didn't make the nominee list, but Miyamoto Nobuko did. A sympathy
vote, perhaps?   

Best Actor

Karasawa Toshiaki (Rajio no Jikan)
Takenaka Naoto (Tokyo Biyori)
Nagatsuka Kyozo (Setouchi Munraito Serenade)
Yakusho Koji (Unagi)
Yakusho Koji (Shitsurakuen)
Watari Tetsuya (Yukai)

Best Actress

Kuroki Hitomi (Shitsurakuen)
Shimizu Misa (Unagi)
Suzuki Kyoka (Rajio no Jikan)
Nakayama Miho (Tokyo Biyori)
Miyamoto Nobuko (Marutai no Onna)   

The Blue Ribbon awards, which are given by film writers from seven Tokyo
sports newspapers, were also announced recently. The winners were:

Best Picture: Bounsu koGALS
Best Director: Harada Masato
Best Actor: Yakusho Koji
Best Actress: Momoi Kaori
Best Supporting Actor: Nishimura Masahiko (Rajio no Jikan)
Best Supporting Actress: Baisho Mitsuko (Unagi)
Best Newcomer: Sato Yasue (Bounsu koGALS)
 "           "        : Mitani Koki (Rajio no Jikan)
Best Foreign Film: Titanic
Special Award: Mononoke Hime (for breaking the all-time box office record)

The prize for Baisho has a sympathy element -- she is battling cancer. Most
of the other prize winners are also found on the Kinema Jumpo list. 

Two films on my 1997 Best Ten list weren't on Kinema Jumpo's: Nobuhiro
Suwa's  2/Duo and Aoyama Shinji's Wild Life. Did the critics who voted for
the list getting around to seeing these films? Like Aaron, I have to
wonder.  

Mark Schilling