Japanese moviegoers spent about 162 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in movie theaters last year, with nearly 80 percent of those tickets sold for films made in Japan. Still, many of the domestically produced films have little chance of finding international audiences, film scholars say, in part because they aren’t very high-quality.
“Many film and television productions in Japan are hampered by very mediocre acting,” said Kerim Yasar, an assistant professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Many movies cast so-called idols who appear on television series, have had little theatrical training, and are more akin to social media “influencers” than serious actors.
In Japan, the reception of Mr. Hamaguchi’s victory was lukewarm. Hirokazu Matsuno, chief of staff to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, congratulated the reporters in a daily briefing. But Kenji Komine, a film and television correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, described the “Drive My Car” award as a “very embarrassing situation” because the film was not supported by mainstream studios and so few had received. financing.
In a brief email exchange, Shigehiko Hasumi, a former president of the University of Tokyo and a mentor of Mr. Hamaguchi, said he had “no interest in the Academy Awards”, writing that “Drive My Car” “barely an excellent work” without further explanation.
Still, Ms. Tsuda, the television producer, said the Oscar success of “Drive My Car” could prompt even more Japanese filmmakers to consider an international audience.
“Especially now, with the existence of streaming, Netflix, Amazon and the like, Japanese movies and TV shows are streamed and accessible all over the world,” said Ms. Tsuda. “So I think people should be aware of a foreign audience and what perceptions they may have.”
For his part, Mr. Hamaguchi said he didn’t think much of a wider audience when he made the film. “I’m a movie watcher myself, so that’s why I have my own standards,” he said in the backstage interview after the Oscars. “So I think about my own personal standards and whether the filmmaking I do lives up to those standards.”
Hikari Hida, Hisako Ueno and Makiko Inoue contributed from Tokyo.