GODZILLA MINUS ONE Wins Best Picture and 7 Other Awards at the Japanese Academy Awards

Godzilla Minus One continues to enjoy its success at the Japanese Academy Awards where it won a total of eight awards including Best Picture. It was nominated in 12 categories. This was easily one of the best films of the year, so it’s not surprising that it won.

The full list of wins for Godzilla Minus One includes:

• Best Picture – Godzilla Minus One

• Best Screenplay – Takashi Yamazaki

• Best Supporting Actress – Sakura Ando

• Best Cinematography – Kozo Shibasaki

• Best Lighting – Nariyuki Ueda

• Best Art Direction – Anri Jojo

• Best Sound – Hisafumi Takeuchi

• Best Editing – Ryuji Miyajima

The movie only got one nomination at Hollywood’s upcoming Academy Awards, and that was for the visual effects work that was created for the movie. I think it deserved more recognition ,but it’s hard for Hollywood to see what a great movie looks like these days.

Set in the days after the end of World War II, Japan is reeling from the devastation left behind after the war. The emotional toll has brought the country to its lowest point.

The story follows the failed kamikaze pilot Kiochi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and Noriko (Minami Hamabe), a woman pushed into homelessness, taking care of an abandoned child. During this low point Godzilla marches ashore, pulling Japan even deeper into chaos and devastation.

Written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki, “Godzilla Minus One taps into the grief, hope, trauma, and guilt felt in the world after the tragedies of World War II and the 2019 Covid pandemic, during which the majority of the script was written.”

Yamazaki said: “Postwar Japan has lost everything. The film depicts an existence that gives unprecedented despair. The title Godzilla Minus One was created with this in mind. In order to depict this, the staff and I have worked together to create a setting where Godzilla looks as if 'fear' itself is walking toward us, and where despair is piled on top of despair.”