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

Winners of the Osaka Cinema Festival 2018

Individual Awards
Best Leading Actor: Suda Masaki (Hibana / Aa, Kouya / Teiichi no Kuni) / Kiritani Kenta (Hibana / Vigilante)

Best Leading Actress: Aoi Yu (Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi)

Best Supporting Actor: Yusuke Santa Maria (Aa, Kouya)

Best Supporting Actress: Tanaka Rena (Osanako warera ni umare)

Best Male Newcomer: Kitamura Takumi (Kimi no suizou wo tabetai)

Best Female Newcomer: Ishibashi Shizuka (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da)

The Best 10 & Worst 10 Japanese movies in 2017 as chosen by movie magazine "Eiga Geijutsu"

Best 10 Japanese movies in 2017
1) Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da
2) Osanako warera ni umare
3) Bangkok Nites
4) Kanojo no jinsei wa machigai janai / Aa, Kouya
6) Zen to Hone
7) Okuda Tamio ni naritai Boy to deau otoko subete kuruwaseru Girl / Yochou Sanposuru Shinryakusha Gekijouban / Ernesto
10) Tsuki to Kaminari

Worst 10 Japanese movies in 2017
1) Sandome no Satsuji
2) Sekigahara / Aa, Kouya
4) Kanojo no jinsei wa machigai janai
5) Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi
6) Ernesto / Utsukushii Hoshi
8) Poncho ni yoake no kaze haramasete / Tsuioku
10) Vigilante

Source: Natalie

Winners of the 72nd Mainichi Film Awards (2017)

Grand Prix Award - Japanese Movies:  HANAGTAMI

Excellence Award - Japanese Movies: Aa, Kouya

Best Foreign Movie: I, Daniel Blake

Best Leading Actor: Suda Masaki (Aa, Kouya)

Best Leading Actress: Nagasawa Masami (Sanposuru Shinryakusha)

Best Supporting Actor: Yakusho Koji (Sandome no Satsujin)

Best Supporting Actress: Tanaka Rena (Osanako warera ni umare)

Sponichi Grand Prix Male Newcomer: Takasugi Mahiro (Sanposuru Shinryakusha)

Sponichi Grand Prix Female Newcomer: Itou Aoi (Shimajima Kaisha)

Winners of the 91st Kinema Junpo Best Ten & Individual Awards (2017)

Top 10 Japanese movies
1) Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da
2) HANAGATAMI
3) Aa, Kouya Parts 1 & 2
4) Osanako warera ni umare
5) Sanposuru Shinryakusha
6) Bangkok Nites
7) Kanojo no jinsei wa machigai janai
8) Sandome no Satsujin
9) Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi
10) Karera ga honki de amu toki wa

Top 10 foreign movies
1) I, Daniel Blake
2) Paterson
3) Manchester By The Sea
4) Dunkirk
5) The Woman Who Left
6) Silence
7) The Other Side of Hope
8) Hidden Figures
9) Moonlight
10) La La Land

Best Leading Actor: Suda Masaki (Aa, Kouya / Hibana / Teiichi no Kuni / Kiseki - Ano hi no sobito)

Best Leading Actress: Aoi Yu (Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi)

Best Supporting Actor: Yang Ik-Joon (Aa, Kouya)

Best Supporting Actress: Tanaka Rena (Osanako warera ni umare)

Best Male Newcomer: Yamada Ryosuke (Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki / Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi)

Best Female Newcomer: Ishibashi Shizuka (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da / PARKS / Misshi to bannin)

Best Director: Obayashi Nobuhiko (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da)

Best Scriptwriter: Ishii Yuuya (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da)

Best Foreign Director: Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)

Source: Kinema Junpo

Winners of the 42nd Hochi Movie Awards (2017)

Best Movie: Aa, Kouya

Best Director: Mishima Yukiko (Osanako warera ni umare)

Best Leading Actor: Suda Masaki (Kiseki Ano hi no sobito / Teiichi no Kuni / Aa, Kouya / Hibana)

Best Leading Actress: Aoi Yu (Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi)

Best Supporting Actor: Yakusho Koji (Sekigahara / Sandome no Satsujin)

Best Supporting Actress: Tanaka Rena (Osanako warera ni umare)

Best Newcomer: Kitamura Takumi & Hamabe Minami (Kimi no suizou wo tabetai)

Best Foreign Movie: Beauty & The Beast

Best Anime Movie: SING

Special Award: The "Outrage" trilogy (Kitano Takeshi) & Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA (Stephen Nomura Schible)

Source: Yomiuri Hochi

Winners of the 9th TAMA Movie Awards (2017)

Best Movie
- Sanposuru Shinryakusha
- Eiga Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da

Special Award
- Director Yuasa Masaaki & the staff of the movies "Yoru wa mijikashi arukeyo otome" & "Yoake tsugeru ruu no uta"
- Director Tomita Katsuya & the staff of the movie "Bangkok Nites"

First-day-screening event of new movie "Osanako warera ni umare"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Osanako warera ni umare" was held at Theatre Shinjuku on 26 August which was attended by the director Mishima Yukiko and cast members Asano Tadanobu, Tanaka Rena, Kudo Kankuro, Minami Sara, Kamata Raiju and Arai Miu. The movie which is based on the 1996 same-titled novel by Shigematsu Kiyoshi, features Asano as the 40-year-old once-divorced lead character Tanaka Shin who remarries Nae (Tanaka), also a divorcee. Together with her two children from a previous marriage, Shin tries to forge a bond with them but is met with especially strong resistance from Nae's elder daughter Kaoru who keeps wanting to meet her birth father i.e. Nae's ex-husband Sawada (Kudo) despite the fact that the latter was physically abusive towards Nae and didn't take care of his family. On the other hand, Shin has a daughter Saori from his previous marriage to Yuka (Terajima Shinobu) who later remarried an university professor and moved to the US. Despite being physically apart from Saori, Shin tries to show his love for Saori by meeting her regularly which makes Nae feel uncomfortable. When Nae finds out that she is pregnant with Shin's child, the couple have to grapple with the difficulties that come with forming a new family unit and their conflicting feelings towards each other's previous spouses and their children from the previous marriages.

As Kudo plays a husband who was violent to his ex-wife, he said with a wryly smile that this is a movie he can't show his daughter and he can't identify with his character at all. However, there are indeed such people in this world so he had to show this side of his character through his acting. Tanaka also chipped in to say that it had been a very stimulating and exciting experience during the filming but the scene when she got beaten up by Kudo would have to be on top of the list. It left an even deeper impression on her because that was filmed on her birthday last year and she had just received a cake from the staff moments before she was to be "strangled" by Kudo.

Asano revealed that the reason why he decided to participate in this movie was the script. As most of his characters to date tend to have such unique traits, he had always wanted to act as someone who doesn't cause anything in the story and just goes with the flow of developments. As such, he could finally tap on his experience and pour everything into this character.

Minami who is making her acting debut in this movie, said that she was very unsure about what to do but received advice from the director to react accordingly to her co-stars' acting so this helped her to overcome her fear. Tanaka also praised Minami who plays her daughter for being very direct in her acting and gave her a lot of inspiration as a result. Kamata and Arai also had good words for Asano who plays their father and said that they had a lot of fun during the filming thanks to him being like a true father to them.

Sources: Nikkansports / Yomiuri Hochi / Sanspo / Sponichi / Eiga.com

Completion screening event of new movie "Osanako warera ni umare"

The completion screening event of new movie "Osanako warera ni umare" was held on 2 August which was attended by the director Mishima Yukiko and cast members Asano Tadanobu, Tanaka Rena, Kudo Kankuro, Minami Sara, Kamata Raiju and Arai Miu. The movie will be released in cinemas from 26 August.

The movie which is based on the 1996 same-titled novel by Shigematsu Kiyoshi, features Asano as the 40-year-old once-divorced lead character Tanaka Shin who remarries Nae (Tanaka), also a divorcee. Together with her two children from a previous marriage, Shin tries to forge a bond with them but is met with especially strong resistance from Nae's elder daughter Kaoru who keeps wanting to meet her birth father i.e. Nae's ex-husband Sawada (Kudo Kankuro) despite the fact that the latter was physically abusive towards Nae and didn't take care of his family. On the other hand, Shin has a daughter Saori from his previous marriage to Yuka (Terajima Shinobu) who later remarried an university professor and moved to the US. Despite being physically apart from Saori, Shin tries to show his love for Saori by meeting her regularly which makes Nae feel uncomfortable. When Nae finds out that she is pregnant with Shin's child, the couple have to grapple with the difficulties that come with forming a new family unit and their conflicting feelings towards each other's previous spouses and their children from the previous marriages.

Asano commented that it was a meaningful experience to participate in this movie where he got to be so absorbed in his role and clash with the director with his unyielding attitude about his acting. Especially since this was a difficult character since Shin couldn't devote himself fully to his past or current family, it was a refreshing challenge for him. Mishima revealed that they did not force the cast to stick to the script or prescribed actions but rather made adjustments on the set and tried to complete the scenes in one take so as to make the characters come to life. Tanaka also said that she was surprised by how different she appeared in this movie and credited Mishima for bringing out this new self of hers.

Kudo who plays an abusive husband, commented that his character is a rather terrible man so he's concerned that the viewers will come to hate him and called upon them not to do that. Although he doesn't identify with his character, Kudo said that it was fun to say things which had never crossed his mind.

Source: Eiga.com

Asano Tadanobu & Tanaka Rena to star in new movie "Osanako warera ni umare"

Asano Tadanobu and Tanaka Rena will be starring in the new movie "Osanako warera ni umare" (A young child is born to us) which is based on the 1996 same-titled novel by Shigematsu Kiyoshi and directed by Mishima Yukiko. Back when the novel was published, Shigematsu and scriptwriter Arai Haruhiko had already agreed to make it into a movie but it took another 20 years before this plan finally materialised. With the increase in divorce rates and new families formed by divorcees, the theme of the movie is especially fitting in the modern era even the novel was published a long time ago. The movie will be shown in cinemas from 26 August 2017.

Asano plays the 40-year-old once-divorced lead character Tanaka Shin who remarries Nae (Tanaka), also a divorcee. Together with her two children from a previous marriage, Shin tries to forge a bond with them but is met with especially strong resistance from Nae's elder daughter Kaoru who keeps wanting to meet her birth father cum Nae's ex-husband Sawada (Kudo Kankuro) despite the fact that the latter was physically abusive towards Nae and didn't take care of his family. On the other hand, Shin has a daughter Saori from his previous marriage to Yuka (Terajima Shinobu) who later remarried an university professor and moved to the US. Despite being physically apart from Saori, Shin tries to show his love for Saori by meeting her regularly which makes Nae feel uncomfortable. When Nae finds out that she is pregnant with Shin's child, the couple have to grapple with the difficulties that come with forming a new family unit and their conflicting feelings towards each other's previous spouses and their children from the previous marriages.

Tanaka commented that her character is a very difficult one to play as she is caught between her daughter's reluctance to accept her remarriage and her insecurity over her new husband's love for his daughter from his previous marriage. However, she felt that it is meaningful to take on such a role and that she would enjoy the filming and put in her best effort for this movie. On the other hand, Asano said that this is a role which he felt that he could take on now that he's already in his 40s and he's thankful to be able to come across such a good script and play this character.

Meanwhile, Kudo described his character as a man who would justify his bad deeds in the best way possible so as to live without a guilt so he tried his best to show the detestable side of this man. What made it tougher for him was that he had to scold and beat Tanaka in the movie even though he is a big fan of hers so he tried to forget what he had done to her once the filming was over. As for Terajima, she revealed that Yuka didn't lead a good life and was having a lot of regrets after remarrying so she tried to imagine how she would feel in Yuka's shoes even though the movie did not mention much about Shin's current relationship with Yuka.

Co-stars include Ikeda Narushi, Kamata Raiju, Arai Miu and Mizusawa Shingo.

Sources: Eiga.com 1 / Eiga.com 2