Remarks :
As Japan was the winner of this category in 2008 as well, this would mean two consecutive years - certain to be a great boon to Japanese cinema and its popularity overseas. Last year's winner, "Okuribito" (Departures), received not only an Oscar, but also rave reviews internationally.
This year's contender, "Dare Mo Mamotte Kurenai" (Nobody to Watch Over Me) was chosen on the 9th of September. DareMamo, as it is popularly known, was released in Japan in January this year. It is directed by Ryoichi Kimizuka, well-known in the West for the horror titles Parasite Eve and Kansen (Infection), as well as Japan's record-breaking box-office film, "Odoru Daisosasen" (Bayside Shakedown). The cast includes Sato Koichi (Infection), Toshiro Yanagiba (Bayside Shakedown), and Shida Mirai (star of the popular drama, 14 Year Old Mother), and Yuriko Ishida (popular drama actress and also the voice of San in Princess Mononoke). Dare mo Mamotte Kurenai has already won an award at last year's Montreal World Film Festival.
A shocking crime brings together a frightened girl and a battle-hardened cop in this drama from writer and director Ryoichi Kimizuka. When two children are found murdered, an eighteen-year-old high school student becomes the prime suspect, and the case quickly becomes a media sensation. As both the press and an angry public descend on the home of the accused, his family finds themselves at the mercy of strangers unconcerned with their welfare. Takumi Katsuyoshi (Koichi Sato) is a veteran police detective who is assigned to look after Saori (Mirai Shida), the fifteen-year-old sister of the accused; while he initially regards the assignment as frivolous, it isn't long before he sees what kind of toll the attention has taken on the family, and he becomes all the more concerned when he witnesses the reckless behavior of the paparazzi. Katsuyoshi feels Saori is no longer safe in Tokyo, and takes her to a small town in the countryside where they can wait out the uproar, but they soon discover the news has followed them to every corner of Japan, and nowhere is safe from the prying eyes of the tabloid press and the people who read it. Dare Mo Mamotte Kurenai (aka Nobody To Watch Over Me) received the Best Screenplay award at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival, sharing the prize with Welcome To Farewell-Gutmann.
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