Winners of the 27th Nihon Eiga Professional Taisho (2017)

This award is decided by a panel of judges made up of movie directors, scriptwriters, producers, PR personnel and critics where they vote for the best works and actors for the year. This year's prize giving ceremony will be held at Theatre Shinjuku on 26 April 2018:

Best 10 Movies
1) Katte ni furuetero
2) Osanako warera ni umare
3) Kanojo no jinsei wa machigai janai
4) Gukoroku
5) Vigilante
6) Bangkok Nites
7) Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi
8) MUKOKU
9) Hikari
10) Kabocha to Mayonnaise

Best Movie: Katte ni furuetero

Best Leading Actress: Matsuoka Mayu - Katte ni furuetero

Best Leading Actor: Asano Tadanobu - Osanako warera ni umare

Best Director: Hiroki Ryuuichi - Kanojo no jinsei wa machigai janai

Best Newcomer Director: Ishikawa Kei

Best Female Newcomer: Takiuchi Kumi - Kanojo no jinsei wa machigai janai

Best Male Newcomer: Murakami Nijirou - MUKOKU

Audience's Award: Aa, Kouya

Source: Natalie

First-day-screening event of new movie "Kabocha to Mayonnaise"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Kabocha to Mayonnaise" was held at Shinjuku Musashinokan on 11 November which was attended by the director Tominaga Masanori and cast members Usuda Asami, Taiga and Odagiri Jo. The story which is based on the manga by Nananan Kiriko, features Usuda as the lead character Tsuchida who works at a cabaret in order to support her live-in boyfriend Seiichi (Taiga) who aspires to be a musician. As a result, Seiichi resolves to change himself and starts working. Just then, Tsuchida reunites with her ex-boyfriend Hagio (Odagiri) who she has yet to forget as she grapples with her old and current feelings for the two men in her life.

Completion screening event of new movie "Kabocha to Mayonnaise"

The completion screening event of new movie "Kabocha to Mayonnaise" was held at Shinjuku Musashinokan on 10 october which was attended by the director Tominaga Masanori and cast members Usuda Asami, Taiga and Odagiri Jo. The movie will be screened in cinemas from 11 November.

Usuda Asami to star in new movie "Kabocha to Mayonnaise"

Usuda Asami will be starring in the new movie "Kabocha to Mayonnaise" (Pumpkin and Mayonnaise) which is based on the manga by Nananan Kiriko and directed by Tominaga Masanori. The movie will be shown in cinemas from November this year.

Usuda plays the lead character Tsuchida who works at a cabaret in order to support her live-in boyfriend Seiichi (Taiga) who aspires to be a musician. As a result, Seiichi resolves to change himself and starts working. Just then, Tsuchida reunites with her ex-boyfriend Hagio (Odagiri Jo) who she has yet to forget as she grapples with her old and current feelings for the two men in her life.

Usuda revealed that when she first read the original, she had been hoping that she will get to play Tsuchida one day so she was very happy when she got the role. This will be her first leading role in a movie in 5 years. As for Taiga, he hopes that his performance will satisfy both the original manga's fans and the movie's viewers and called upon everyone to support the film. Meanwhile. it had been 11 years since Odagiri's appearance in a Tominaga film when he last acted in the latter's commercial debut movie "The Pavillion Salamandre". With regard to his character, although Hagio is a carefree womaniser, it will be hard to dislike him for some reason.

Co-stars also include Shimizu Kurimi who plays Tsuchida's colleague at the cabaret, Mitsuishi Ken who plays Yasuhara, a married man who engages Tsuchida to be his mistress as she is in need of money as well as Asaka Koudai, Wakaba Ryuya, Otomo Ritsu and Okada Saori who play Seiichi's bandmates.

Filming was done mainly in Shimo Kitazawa between 1 October 2016 and 26 October 2016.

Sources: Oricon / Eiga.com