Japanese Academy Awards: 'Drive My Car' up for 9 prizes

by Nathaniel R

March is promising to be a big month for Japanese Best Picture nominee Drive My Car. It just became the second release from Janus Films to make more than one million at the US box office (their biggest hit remains Italy's Oscar winning  The Great Beauty) and despite its steady box office performance, it's moving to streaming on March 2nd on HBOMax. Then, two weeks before the Oscars on March 11th, it is competing at the 45th annual Japan Academy Awards. The nominees for that ceremony are after the jump including a description of the five films up for the big prizes...

Click to read more ...

Japan and the Oscars - a History

by Timothy Lyons

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and actress Reika Kirishima at Cannes this past summer with "Drive My Car"

One of the more pleasant surprises of this year’s Academy Award nominations announcement was the shortlisting of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s subtly masterful Drive My Car in Best Picture. In addition to this mention, Hamaguchi himself was nominated for Director and Adapted Screenplay (along with co-writer Takamasa Oe) and the film received an easily predicted nod in International Feature. While there seemed to be enough of a groundswell of support for the film to break into the general field, its inclusion in the top race remains a largely unexpected and refreshingly left-of-center occurrence. Despite now being the very first Japanese film nominated for Best Picture, Drive My Car is not the first to be recognised overall. It is also not the first to find favor beyond the usually ghettoized International Feature category.

Japan’s history with Oscar began in earnest during the 1950s...

Click to read more ...

Sundance: Falling asleep (and in love) with 'Blood'

by Cláudio Alves

Bradley Rust Gray's Blood nearly put me to sleep. I mean it in a positive way, despite the negative readings such statements usually entail. At times, it felt like watching a 111-minute ASMR video crossed with a stubbornly understated character study. Even the casting appears designed to induce visceral relaxation, from Carla Juri's whispery intonations to Issey Ogata's unmistakable voice. Gray has devised a film of hypnotic qualities, extrapolating its protagonist's search for inner serenity to the audience's experience of movie-watching. At times, like when a gentle song unfurls with lyrics about dozing off, it almost seems as if Blood is winking at the semi-conscious spectator, sharing a joke, giving permission to dream… 

Click to read more ...

FYC: "Drive My Car" for Best Adapted Screenplay

by Cláudio Alves

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car, now in select theaters, is one of 2021's best films. Still, the Japanese Oscar submission is unlikely to feature much in the awards season beyond the International Film category. Or, at least, it seemed that would be the case. In a surprising turn of events, considering its fellow victors, Drive My Car won the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Film. Whether this victory signals a shift in its fortunes is unclear. Though, if there was any justice in the world, Drive My Car would be one of the season's biggest contenders.

At the very least, it deserves strong consideration for its screenplay, an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's homonymous short story. From little more than 20 pages, Hamaguchi unspooled a majestic three-hour epic…

Click to read more ...

Farewell, Emi Wada (1937-2021)

by Cláudio Alves

In 1986, at the 58th Academy Awards, Best Costume Design was the fourth category to be presented. The honor befell on Audrey Hepburn, who received a standing ovation upon her appearance. The shortlisted artists made up a prestigious lineup that included Oscar winners from years past, like Albert Wolsky and Milena Canonero. Considering Out of Africa's dominance over the night, one might have supposed its period fashions had the win in the bag. However, the Academy's long love affair with Japanese costuming bore fruit for a second time. Akira Kurosawa's last great epic, Ran, won its first and only Oscar, a merited recognition of Emi Wada's efforts. The designer had spent three years creating the thousands of pieces required by the bellicose narrative, using historically accurate techniques and custom textiles to produce a painterly masterpiece of color, motion, and striking silhouettes. 

As we remember Wada's much-deserved triumph, we do so in mourning. Her family announced that the 84-year-old costume designer died earlier this month, leaving behind a legendary career in Asian film, theater, and TV…

Click to read more ...