Japanese Academy Nominations
Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 10:15AM by Nathaniel R
Two of the nominees this year, a journalism mystery and a trans drama
Anyone have any theories as to why American theaters (pretend there's not a pandemic) so rarely get Japanese movies? Chinese, Indian, and South Korean movies hit the US quite regularly (on the coasts at least) but otherwise Asian movies don't seem to get much play in the US. Streaming sites appear to have the same preferences for Asian cinema (though you can add in Thai cinema to the mix there). We try to cover the Golden Horse Awards each year -- which honors Chinese language cinema -- but we realize we've never covered the Japanese Academy (now in their 44th year). That's surely because we've rarely heard of the movies or the stars. With Chinese cinema the titles and stars are often familiar to cinephiles. Theories?
Anyway, here are the nominees this year for the forthcoming March 19th ceremony in Tokyo. Three names -- two of which have been up for Oscars -- are familiar...