Blue Ribbon Awards Announces Nominations for 66th Edition

Presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, the Blue Ribbon Awards has announced its nominations for the 66th edition honouring films released in 2023. This year’s front runners are Yuya Ishii’s The Moon and Daishi Matsunaga’s Egoist which each pick up five nominations while Ishii also scores four for Masked Hearts.

Best Film

Masked Hearts – raucous comedy from Yuya Ishii in which a struggling film director returns home.
Ichiko – stage play adaptation starring Hana Sugisaki as a mysterious woman who suddenly disappears.
Egoist – a fashion editor reflects on the nature of love after falling for a personal trainer in Daishi Matsunaga’s deeply moving romantic drama.
Monster – latest from Hirokazu Koreeda starring Sakura Ando as a mother who confronts a teacher after noticing changes in her son’s behaviour.
The Dry Spell – a literal drought becomes a metaphor for bureaucratic heartlessness in Masaya Takahashi’s empathetic social drama.
Godzilla Minus One – a kamikaze pilot finds himself haunted by the manifestation of his war trauma in Takashi Yamazaki’s entry into the classic franchise.
Mom, Is That You?! – touching drama from Yoji Yamada starring Sayuri Yoshinaga and Yo Oizumi as mother and son.
(Ab)normal Desire – Yoshiyuki Kishi’s adaptation of the novel by Asai Ryo starring Goro Inagaki and Yui Aragaki which explores the effects of a fetish on the lives of two former classmates.
The Moon – drama from Yuya Ishii starring Rie Miyazawa as a formerly successful writer who begins working at a facility for the severely disabled.
One Last Bloom – boxing drama in which a former contender who lost a match to due to an unfair decision begins training a man who suffered something similar.
Perfect Days – a man in late middle-age quite obviously living in the past begins to wake up to the possibilities of change in Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama.
Bad Lands – fast paced crime thriller from Masato Harada starring Sakura Ando as a conwoman in over her head.
September 2023 – drama depicting the pogroms against Koreans which took place after the 1923 Kanto earthquake.
Do Unto Others – mystery thriller directed by Tetsu Maeda in which a caregiver becomes prime suspect in a series of unexplained deaths.
As Long as We Both Shall Live – a young woman with chronically low self-esteem learns to love herself after bonding with a taciturn nobleman in Ayuko Tsukahara’s adaptation of the light novel series.

Best Director

Yuya Ishii (The Moon, Masked Hearts)
Hirokazu Koreeda (Monster)
Daishi Matsunaga (Egoist)
Takashi Yamazaki (Godzilla Minus One)
Yoji Yamada (Mom, Is That You?!)

Best Actor

Goro Inagaki ((Ab)normal Desire)
Ryunosuke Kamiki (Godzilla Minus One, We’re Broke, My Lord!)
Ryohei Suzuki (Egoist, Tokyo MER: Mobile Emergency Room)
Masahiro Higashide (Winny, The Flower in the Sky, Trapped Balloon)
Kenichi Matsuyama (Do Unto Others)
Koji Yakusho (Perfect Days, Father of the Milky Way Railroad, Familia)
Ryusei Yokohama (One Last Bloom, The Village)

Best Actress

Haruka Ayase (Revolver Lily)
Sakura Ando (Bad Lands)
Mayu Matsuoka (Masked Hearts)
Rie Miyazawa (The Moon)
Sayuri Yoshinaga (Mom, Is That You?!)

Best Supporting Actor

Hayato Isomura (The Moon, The Dry Spell, Ripples, Hard Days)
Yo Oizumi (Mom, Is That You?!)
Jo Odagiri (The Moon, Yoko)
Masataka Kubota (One Last Bloom, Yudo: The Way of the Bath)
Koichi Sato (Masked Hearts, Okiku and the World, We’re Broke, My Lord!, Familia, etc)
Hio Miyazawa (Egoist, The Legend & Butterfly)

Best Supporting Actress

Sawako Agawa (Egoist)
Haru Kuroki (Ichikei’s Crow: The Movie, The Village, Okiku and the World, Fly On, Kyrie)
Yuko Tanaka (Monster)
Fumi Nikaido (The Moon)
Kanna Hashimoto (One Last Bloom)
Minami Hamabe (Godzilla Minus One, Shin Kamen Rider)
Haru (Analog)
Suzu Hirose (Kyrie)