Keiko Kitagawa Shows Off Her Exquisite “Beautiful Back” and Wins Best Actress Award at ELLE Cinema Awards “I Want to Sparkle Next Year

A smile that sparkles more than her dress

Actress Keiko Kitagawa, 39, is holding a glittering trophy with a big smile on her face.

The “ELLE Cinema Awards 2025,” sponsored by Hearst Fujingaho, was held at Hulic Hall Tokyo in Yurakucho, Tokyo, on December 10. Kitagawa received the “ELLE Best Actress Award” for her performance in the movie “Night Flower,” in which she starred. When her name was called, Kitagawa took the stage in a bright red dress that boldly showed off her back.

In “Night Flower,” Kitagawa played the role of Natsuki Nagashima, a single mother who lives as a drug dealer for the sake of her beloved children. She wore almost no makeup for the entire film. She was so gripping in her performance that the audience was astonished by her spirited delivery, as she spoke in a Kansai dialect and ran around the neon streets at night as fast as she could.

Kitagawa greeted the audience on stage with a smile. On the occasion of playing the role, she said, “It’s been 22 years since I debuted,

It’s been 22 years since I debuted, but this is the first time I’ve won an award for a leading role in a movie, and I’m really, really happy. （I’m really, really happy.) (omission) I feel that I have to play this role with a great deal of determination. I did it with the feeling that I wanted to put my whole heart and soul into this work, ignoring everything I have done so far, including my experience and the abilities I was confident in.

Kitagawa continued. Kitagawa continued,

When I was younger, I had many roles in which I was perfectly capable of doing the work, but I struggled to take on a wide variety of roles, and after having a child, I began to receive a variety of roles. ……”

I’ve been getting a variety of roles since I had my child, and I’ve been getting a lot of heavy roles,” he said.

Indeed, in the April season drama “The Day I Took Your Life” (Kansai TV/Fuji TV), in which she starred, she plays the role of Hiromi Nakagoshi, who loses her child in a food accident and kidnaps the daughter of the man who is responsible for the accident. In the NHK television series “Bakebake” currently airing, she plays the role of Tae Ushimizu, a woman from a prominent samurai family who falls into begging.

When asked about her goals for 2014, she laughed.

I’m actually thinking of playing a happy role soon. I’ve always wanted to change my sparkling image, but sometimes I think I’d like to be sparkling, and I’d like to try my hand at happy or fun roles.

As she left the venue, Kitagawa showed off her “beautiful back. Her appearance at the award ceremony shone brighter than the glittering trophies and bright red dresses.