Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2013
Movie fans in Japan will be able to follow the Oscar ceremony on February 24 via satellite TV, or with ABC’s Android and Apple apps, but they will need to wait a bit longer to actually see all the films that have been nominated. Honest Abe biopic Lincoln (up for Best Picture, Best Director for Steven Spielberg, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, as well as Cinematography, Editing, Score and Costume awards) won’t reach theaters here until April 19.
Amour (pictured; nominated for Best Picture, Best Foreign Language Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Michael Haneke and Best Actress for Emmanuelle Riva) will open March 9 at Bunkamura’s Le Cinema (2-24-1 Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku; www.bunkamura.co.jp), Shinjuku Musashinokan (3-27-10 Shinjuku; http://shinjuku.musashino-k.jp). At 85, Riva is the oldest ever nominee for Best Actress. The French star filmed Hiroshima, Mon Amour in Japan back in 1959.
Quentin Tarantino’s controversial Django Unchained (also vying for Best Picture, and nominated for Best Screenplay for QT as well as Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz) will hit screens on March 1.
The thriller Flight, which won Denzel Washington a Best Actor nod, is also out March 1.
Post-war drama The Master (Best Actor nod to Joaquin Phoenix, supporting noms for Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams) is set for a March 22 release.
Wes Anderson’s quirky Moonrise Kingdom (up for Best Original Screenplay) will open February 8 at Cinema Rise (13-17 Utagawacho, Shibuya-ku; www.cinemarise.com).
Best Animated Feature nominees ParaNorman and Wreck-It Ralph will be out in late March… The bad news is no local distributor has picked up Beasts of the Southern Wild, which won nods in the Best Picture, Screenplay and Director categories, as well as a Best Actress nom for Quvenzhané Wallis, who was just six at the time of filming. Ditto for The Sessions, which garnered a Best Supporting Actress nom for Helen Hunt.
The good news is Best Picture nominees Life of Pi and Les Misérables can be seen now. Silver Linings Playbook (tapped for Best Picture, Best Actor for Bradley Cooper, Best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro) will open in Japan just before the Oscars on February 22. And CIA thriller Zero Dark Thirty (nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress for the prolific Jessica Chastain) will be out February 15.
