'Confessions' wins for writing and directing, 'Villain' wins for acting.
TOKYO – Akunin (Villain) and Kokuhaku (Confessions) were the big winners at the 34th Japan Academy Prize show, taking nine awards between them on Friday.
Kokuhaku won best film, best screenplay and best director for Tetsuya Nakashima, as well as the award for best editing.
Akunin's two leads, Eri Fukatsu and Satoshi Tsumabaki, won the best actress and actor awards, as did Kiki Kirin and Emoto Akira for best supporting actress and supporting actor. Joe Hisashi also won the best music award for the movie.
Takashi Miike’s samurai epic, Jusannin no Shikaku (13 Assassins) took won in three categories, best cinematography, sound editing and lighting.
Karigurashi no Arietti (The Borrower Arrietty), predictably enough, won the best animation for Studio Ghibli.
Avatar took the best foreign film gong, beating out The Hurt Locker, Inception, Toy Story 3 and Invictus.
Toho’s Genki Kawamura, one of The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation Asia class of 2010, was also a big winner, having acted as planner on Akunin and producer on Kokuhaku, which made it to the last nine of the Best Foreign Language Film for this year’s Oscars.