Godzilla Minus One is nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Critics Choice Awards
Godzilla Minus One is nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Critics Choice Awards – The film has also been a success at the box office and is expected to continue its success in the coming weeks.
By Megan Sauer
The King of the Monsters continues to conquer the box office almost seven decades after its creation, and is currently Godzilla: Minus One the film that is sweeping critics and audiences.
With more than US$50 million grossed worldwide (on a budget of US$15 million), it is already a huge success for Toho, and has also been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Critics Choice Awards.
The Critics Choice Movie Awards, formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, are presented annually by the American-Canadian Film Critics Association (CCA) to highlight outstanding film achievements.
Nominees are chosen through write-in votes during a week of nominations and announced in December. Winners are revealed at the annual ceremony in January.
Additionally, special prizes are awarded at the discretion of the BFCA Board of Directors. The ceremony has changed locations and broadcast networks over the years, and since 2017 it has aired on The CW. These awards are highly respected in the film and television industry.
For the most recent edition of these awards, Godzilla Minus One competes alongside films like Anatomy of a Fall, Perfect Days, The Snow Society, The Passion of Dodin Bouffant and The Zone of Interest. The Critics Choice Awards will take place on January 14.
Godzilla: Minus One poster
The film premiered on the red carpet of the Shinjuku Toho Building on October 18, 2023, as the closing film of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival. Toho released it theatrically in Japan on November 3, the same date as the release of the first Godzilla film in 1954, to celebrate the franchise’s 70th anniversary.
The film has grossed US$53 million on a budget of less than US$15 million and has received critical acclaim. American critics praised Godzilla: Minus One for its visual effects, direction, story, characters, soundtrack, and social commentary.
The film’s plot is set in post-war Japan, between 1945 and 1947, and follows Kōichi Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who confronts Godzilla on Odo Island in 1945.
After the war, Shikishima struggles with the guilt of surviving. and becomes a minesweeper who takes care of a woman named Noriko Ōishi and her adopted daughter, Akiko.
When Godzilla is mutated and enlarged by US nuclear testing in 1946, he threatens Japan, and Shikishima joins a group of people trying to stop the monster using a risky strategy.
The film is inspired by the original 1954 Godzilla film, as well as other influences such as Steven Spielberg ‘s Jaws and the films of Hayao Miyazaki.
Yamazaki, the director, wanted to make this version of Godzilla the scariest to date and worked on his design to achieve this. The film’s budget was relatively low, but it managed to create an impressive spectacle.
As for music, Naoki Satō composed the soundtrack for the film, which was released on CD in Japan in October 2023.
Godzilla: Minus One has been praised by American critics for its visual quality, direction, story, characters, soundtrack and social commentary.
