The Academy Awards, but...

Well... though I wrote The Academy Awards for today's title, I don't think I'm going to go in so much. It's just that the Japanese entertainment industry is getting a bit excited about the nomination of Japanese actress Kikuchi Rinko for best supporting actress. She played the role of a deaf and mute high school student in the film Babel and is nominated for the role. IF she receives the award, then she would be the second Japanese actress to get an Award for the first time in 49 years since the first winner Nancy Umeki in the film Sayonara.
Since the film isn't released yet in Japan I haven't seen the work yet and can't comment on it, but I do hope that she wins it. We need happy news.

Then, I hear that the film Letters from Iwo Jima is also nominated under four (?) categories as an American film. Well, since it is an American-made film it is not a surprise, but the fact that most of the film being made in Japanese language and still being recognized not as a foreign film but an American film is quite something. In any case, we are proud.

Speaking of films, a number of Japanese films seem to be striking the world's film market recently. Today I am going to update information about the film DORORO which is based on the manga (comic) by Tezuka Osamu. I've seen the trailer in theater and it was very exciting that I am thinking of go seeing it right away. It's a grand piece of work for a Japanese film for it was shot not in Japan but almost entirely in New Zealand, featuring good actors and welcoming one of the best action directors in the world. The last time I picked up a Japanese film it was Sakuran and it's only going to be released in Japan, but this one is going to hit the screens in 20 countries around the world. See here for more information.

As I was skimming through the news topics just now, I also found out that MUSHISHI, a film based on the manga by Urushibara Yuki is also receiving passionate distribution offers from more than ten countries around the world including US and Australia. Since it's most likely going to be shown in other countries, maybe I should try to see if I can officially feature MUSHISHI as part of Japanese film entertainment on my website.

All right, that's all for today.