Blue Ribbon Awards Announces Nominations for 65th Edition

Presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, the Blue Ribbon Awards has announced its nominations for the 65th edition honouring films released in 2022. This year’s favourite is Kei Ishikawa’s A Man which picks up six nominations, while there is also a strong showing for Ryuichi Hiroki’s Motherhood and mystery drama Missing. Like last year, the physical awards ceremony has been canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic though the winners are expected to be announced in late February.

Best Film

A Man – latest drama from Kei Ishikawa starring Satoshi Tsumabuki as a lawyer who is drawn into a mystery while investigating a former client’s deceased husband.
Kingdom 2: To Distant Lands – sequel to the popular blockbuster set in Warring States-era China.
Small, Slow But Steady – An aspiring boxer begins to lose the will to fight in Sho Miyake’s empathetic character study. Review.
Missing – a young woman finds herself in the crosshairs of a serial killer while looking for her missing father in Shinzo Katayama’s dark mystery drama. Review.
Silent Parade – long-awaited latest instalment in the Galileo franchise starring Masaharu Fukuyama.
Dr. Coto’s Clinic – sequel to the TV drama from the 2000s revolving around a doctor on a small island.
Plan 75 – an elderly woman finds herself pushed towards voluntary euthanasia by a society driven only by productivity in Chie Hayakawa’s dark dystopian drama. Review.
Motherhood – drama from Ryuichi Hiroki revolving around the suicide of a teenage girl.
Fragments of the Last Will – wartime drama from Takahisa Zeze in which a soldier longs to return home to his wife.
Wandering – drama from Lee Sang-il in which a student takes in a neglected little girl only to be accused of kidnapping.

Best Director

Kei Ishikawa (A Man)
Shinzo Katayama (Missing)
Takahisa Zeze (Tombi: Father and Son, Fragments of the Last Will)
Chie Hayakawa (Plan 75)
Ryuichi Hiroki (2 Women, Motherhood, Phases of the Moon)

Best Actor

Sadao Abe (Lesson in Murder, I am Makimoto)
Jiro Sato (Missing)
Satoshi Tsumabuki (A Man)
Kazunari Ninomiya (Tang, Fragments of the Last Will)
Masaharu Fukuyama (Silent Parade)

Best Actress

Kasumi Arimura (Prior Convictions)
Yukino Kishii (One Day, You Will Reach the Sea; Small, Slow But Steady)
Nana Komatsu (The Last Ten Years)
Erika Toda (Motherhood)
Chieko Baisho (Plan 75)
Suzu Hirose (Wandering)

Best Supporting Actor

Kazuki Iio (Silent Parade)
Hayato Isomura (Prior Convictions, Plan 75, Offbeat Cops , The Fish Tale)
Masataka Kubota (My Broken Mariko, A Man)
Ayumu Nakajima (The Nighthawk’s First Love, Fragments of the Last Will)
Ryusei Yokohama (Wandering)

Best Supporting Actress

Sakura Ando (A Man, Korosuna)
Machiko Ono (Anime Supremacy!, Soul At Twenty, Sabakan, Thousand and One Nights)
Nana Seino (Kingdom 2: To Distant Lands, Offbeat Cops, A Man)
Atsuko Takahata (Motherhood)
Ryoko Hirosue (The Hound of the Baskervilles: Sherlock the Movie, 2 Women)