News and Opinion Archive January 2011

Eiga Geijutsu Best 10 for 2010

I reported on the Kinema junpo Best 10 and on the Mainichi awards, so for an interesting contrast, here are the results of the poll conducted by Eiga geijutsu (Film Art). I used to be one of the selectors, which is enough to tell you the people that vote for their best ten can be an eclectic bunch, including not only film critics, but filmmakers (including some whose films are up for contention!). They sometimes end up picking films of friends or people close to the Eigei (and possibly manipulating results by selecting who votes each year), but there is a genuine dedication to more independent films compared to the KineJun and Mainichi awards. They also pick the worst films, which actually affects the best poll since "worst" votes are subtracted from "best" votes in the best ten poll. 

Here are the results for 2010:

Best:

1. Heaven's Story (Zeze Takahisa)

2. Doman Seman (Shibata Go)

3. Kore de ii no kashira (Okishima Isao)

4. Partners (Shimomura Masaru)

5. Yellow Kid (Mariko Tetsuya)

6. Sawako Decides (Ishii Yuya)

6. Sankaku (Yoshida Keisuke)

8. 13 Assassins (Miike Takashi)

9. Sketches of Kaitan City (Kumakiri Kazuyoshi)

9. Time Traveller (Masaaki Taniguchi)

9. Boys on the Run (Miura Daisuke)

Worst:

1. Confessions

2. Caterpillar

3. About Her Brother

There's more to the worst list, but I decided to be nice to the filmmakers. You can check out the results in English on Wildgrounds.

Mainichi Film Awards 2010

The Mainichi newspaper has announced the results of the 2010 Mainichi Film Awards (aka the Mainichi Concours):

Best Japanese Film: Villain (Lee Sang-il)
Award of Excellence in Japanese Film: Haru's Journey (Kobayashi Masahiro)
Best Foreign Film: Breathless

Best Director: Miike Takashi (13 Assassins)
Best Screenplay: Sato Yuki (Heaven's Story)
Best Actor: Tsutsumi Shin'ichi (A Lone Scalpel)
Best Actress: Terajima Shinobu (Caterpillar)
Best Supporting Actor: Inagaki Goro (13 Assassins)
Best Supporting Actress: Natsukawa Yui (A Lone Scalpel)
Best New Face Award: Endo Kaname (Yellow Kid), Tokunaga Eira (Haru's Journey)
Tanaka Kinuyo Award: 
Enami Kyoko

Best Cinematography: Kondo Ryuto (Sketches of Kaitan City)
Best Art Direction: Kondo Nariyuki (Abacus and Sword)
Best Music: Jim O'Rourke (Sketches of Kaitan City)
Best Sound: Nakamura Jun (13 Assassins)
Best Technical Award: none

Best Documentary: none
Animation Award: Colorful (Hara Keiichi)
Ofuji Noburo Award: none
Fan Award: 
Umizaru 3: The Last Message

Special Award: Takamine Hideko

The Mainichi tends to be fairly conservative, but they are one of the few major awards that also focuses on the technical staff and other genres like documentary and animation. This year, however, they seemed reluctant to give out documentary and anime awards. 

You can compare their results to that of Kinema Junpo.

Kinema Junpo Best Ten 2010

The papers and other sites are reporting the results of the Kinema Junpo poll of critics of the best ten films of 2010.

    1. Villain

    2. Confessions

    3. Heaven's Story

    4. 13 Assassins

    5. Sawako Decides

    6. Caterpillar

    7. Sword of Desperation

    8. The Hero Show

    9. Sketches of Kaitan City

    10. A Night in Nude: Salvation

    11. Abacus and Sword

Here are the individual awards:

Best Director: Lee Sang Il (Villain)
Best Screenplay: Lee Sang Il, Yoshida Shuichi (Villain)
Best Actress: Terajima Shinobu (Caterpillar)
Best Actor: Toyokawa Etsushi (Sword of Desperation, A Good Husband)
Best Supporting Actress: Ando Sakura (A Crowd of Three, etc.)
Best Supporting Actor: Emoto Akira (Villain)
Best New Actress: Sakuraba Nanami (Last Ronin, etc.)
Best New Actor: Ikuta Toma (No Longer Human, etc.)

The KineJun Best Ten list is the oldest and in general the most respected film award in Japan. It tends to be rather middle-of-the-road, however, since it is chosen by established and in general older and more conservative film critics. The Eiga geijutsu Best Ten, which I used to help select, tends to be more radical (note their results for 2010), and the Japan Academy Prize very suspect, since it is structurally biased towards the major studios. This year's KineJun list, however, has some surprises, especially Zeze Takahisa's very long and very independent film Heaven's Story.

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