Finally I got back to the movies and boy did I enjoy returning.
Today’s film was a Japanese version of the country’s own original monster movie from 1954
A retelling of the Godzilla story from the perspective of the post war Japanese people.
It’s an interesting movie and strange as it would seem, a very emotional one as we follow the story of a thrown together nuclear ( literally) family of Shikishima ( Ryunosuke Kamiki) a kamiski pilot who refused to crash his plane, and Noriko ( Minami Hamabe) a young woman who saved a baby (Sae Nagatani) during the firestorm on Tokyo
One pissed off Dinosaur
This chaste family Unit try to forge an existence in post war Japan where most of the population are haunted by ghosts of the war, living in squalor ,fear of the H bomb threat , and coping with the internalised anger at their own Government for dragging them through a war which degraded them.
Indeed the whole message from Godzilla minus one ,is about redemption and one of saving face.
Director Takashi Yamazaki interestingly has the general public, the old soldiers and sailors from the war to fight a rather bad tempered and nasty Godzilla and the destruction set pieces have a wonderfully vintage and slightly old fashioned feel to them, almost as if we were back in the man-in -a-suit 1954 original.
yamazaki also makes his protagonists incredibly real and somewhat vulnerable , and when Noriko is cornered by Godzilla as she travels in a train in the city of Ginza ( a total homage to the L train destruction scene in the original King Kong) It is real hand to the mouth stuff , as Shikishima turns up to save her.
You care about this nuclear family, and you care about the real people devastated by a war most of them never wanted. Godzilla Minus One has lots to say about the horrors of war and less to say about a bad tempered dinosaur , which makes it such a better film than those recent American remakes who resemble the olympics in 1980 Los Angeles …..when too much thrown at them
Why is the film called "Godzilla Minus One"?
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure I’m presuming it’s the first prequel
DeleteMy lonely early years were always filled by Hollywood
ReplyDeleteBy Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Mash, and Films like Harold and Maude, Nashville, and Airport
They fill a gap don’t they John
They are friends you needed
And loves you didn’t have
Keith
Xx
I can appreciate airport as mine was Poseidon Adventure Towering Inferno etc
DeleteThis film would probably not be on my list, but your articulate review moves it right up there. Nice work, John!
ReplyDeleteBonnie in Minneapolis
It’s worth it bonnie
DeleteI am a huge Godzilla fan and I have seen the movies swing from one side to the other. Many years ago when son was
ReplyDeleteliving in Japan my family name was and still is Mumazilla.
I think you would love the modern Japanese slant
DeleteNot one for me, but I can tell it's a John Gray film! xx
ReplyDeleteBig emotion = john gray
DeleteI don't like anything that involves being chased and don't know why but it's true for me. Chased by that dinosaure? No thanks! I'm glad you loved it.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
John Gray. I’m sending you your “Christmas card” in February. Love this blog
ReplyDeleteSome thirty years ago, Marvel Comics did a limited series that had various superhero stories--the Submariner flooding Manhattan, the coming of Galactus, the death of Gwen Stacy--from the point of view of an ordinary newspaper reporter who has to cover those stories. This new Godzilla movie sounds like something along those lines.
ReplyDeleteThis has been getting a lot of positive press. Will have to see it.
ReplyDeleteIt was spoiled for me by the inept special effects. Made me think of King Kong in it's glory days.
ReplyDeleteWith just the title I couldn't imagine the fil at all but this review brings it to life and makes it very tempting to watch. I really am into my comfort films at the moment though, the old favourites that wash over you while you consume far too many coffees and pop far too many of the early Christmas sweets into your mouth. So perhaps it will have to wait a few weeks when hopefully I will be back in action mode.
ReplyDeleteObviously that should have been 'film' not 'fil' ... hey ho. ;-)
DeleteThis sounds just my sort of thing and I will definitely watch it when it comes round.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds better than the recent "Monarch" TV show on Netflix, which also mines the old Godzilla movies for inspiration. I didn't love the show, but this movie sounds good. It seems promising that they gave it greater depth than just a simple monster flick.
ReplyDelete