The word on the street was that Godzilla Minus One was a good movie. I was sceptical because Drive My Car had won lots of awards and was crap and Shin Gojira was watchable but seemed to be praised more than it should. Finally decided to sit down for this 2 hour movie and I will start with the conclusion, Gojira 1.0 is very effing good.
Why is it that damn good? It is because Gojira 1.0 is a very good human movie with Gojira in it. Kamiki Ryunosuke is Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who abandons his mission and is blamed for the deaths of a group of mechanics when Shikishima doesn't fire on Gojira.
Shikishima is a man who has failed in his duty, is haunted by the deaths of the mechanics and is seeking a reason to live when he comes across Noriko (Hamabe Minami) caring for this baby Akiko and they both end up living with him like a fake family.
To feed Noriko and Akiko, Shikishima finds work on a wooden boat to destroy mines that foreign forces have planted around Japanese waters. There he meets the other members of the mine destroying crew who become his friends.
What makes Gojira 1.0 so good is that Shikishima is the heat of the movie. He is a protagonist who is still haunted by the war, and the war has taken everything away from Shikishima and Noriko and they both have their fake family with is threatened by the arrival of Gojira. The movie makes it easy to empathise with Shikishima who is haunted by guilt and fear but makes up his mind to protect what is important to him.
The second reason Gojira 1.0 is so good is that the action scenes are done very well and are very suspenseful. The first Gojira is water attack reminds me of Jaws and the suspense created felt so raw. I thought to myself this is the first Gojira movie I have seen where the danger actually felt real and our main crew of 4 people could actually die.
The Ginza attack was beautiful and emotionally brutal. I have not watched the western Gojira movies besides the dinosaur one but I doubt they would have as much emotional impact as the one in this movie. The final action scene is very good. You know how it is going to go but it hits all the right beats for a very good climax.
Amazing directing from Yamazaki Takashi who also directed the Always Sunset on Third Street movies as well as Parasyte and Returner. Looking at his filmography, all his movies prepared him to do Gojira 1.0. The only bad movie in his resume is the Kimutaku Yamoto.
Lastly I want to praise the writing and pacing. Everything is economical, dialogue gives us enough information and acting carries the rest. Everything is about Shikishima's war not being over and I think the movie is really about Japan trying to rise up from the ashes after the war. Must watch. The perfect Gojira. I don't think they can top this one but I want to see Yamazaki Takashi try!
8 comments:
I don't care for actions or kaiju stuff and watched Minus One in theater 3x. Granted I wanted to support Japanese movies when they're showing here (US) but still, that's how good I felt it was. A very relatable human theme.
Interestingly, your first 2 images with Hamabe Minami and Ando Sakura are surprisingly fitting - these are the 2 characters who linger in my mind.
Hamabe Minami is almost the perfect Kishōtenketsu arc. That moment in Ginza (as 'ten') makes your mind instantly rewind every moment she was on screen and reveal in a wave that what you were watching was a heroic life. From a character standpoint, her hospital scene was the films only real misstep for me (although I get why they did it). The movie showed the aftermath and flesh is too fragile but it also downplayed her decision and how her drive to live no matter what, manifest in bigger ways than just herself. (Even Obi-Wan Kenobi(1997) pales in comparison - he calculated it, hers was instinctive and instantaneous)
Hamabe Minami played it perfectly, never making the darkness front and centre, but once you realise what has occurred, you can’t un-see it in her performance.
Ando Sakura's was such an interesting role, angry, devastated and yet gives everything (even her meager food) to wrap a child in care. I won’t say forgiveness, but never white-anting a future. Her’s is probably the great redemption arc of the film - but not one I was expecting.
For me, the other standout is the vision of Godzilla - one that took on the shear physicality that comes with such massiveness. It felt like that clear understanding allowed the visual team to focus on it and all else followed. Even Godzilla’s destruction of human things is nothing more than what happens when gargantuan things even just rolls over and fart. Its impact (as I wouldn't call it attacks) were akin to what swatting a mosquito is for a human.
As a P.S.
About half way though I got the feeling that the pacing/staging was reminiscent of “I am a Hero”, but it characterisation was little more in the Kenshin camp. “I am a Hero” is brilliant at controlling what is a very small film and giving you the feeling it is played on a bigger stage with its epic set pieces.
As much as I like Yamada Yuki as an actor, here his age worked against him. The character needed that innocence (and over estimation) of a teenager that would also allow the dark undercurrents to be played. However, it felt like if he did go there- it would have immediatly undermined his playing so young. A younger more naive character would have also allowed the lines about the honour of never seeing war action to land much harder. But also the naivety of that idea, as two women showed, not being in the front line doesn’t immune you from the darkness of war when its visited full force on your home.
Aoki Munetaka - again so good on screen. Every time I see him I always wish he had more lead roles.
Sorry, That Obi-Wan Kenobi reference should be 1977 not 1997
lol, i was about to suggest this movie to you mike, after it came out on netflix. it was a good movie, i enjoyed it very much. with how small the budget is, it puts hollywood to shame.
@Anon: I think the first images will be one of the enduring images of Japanese cinema.
@Akiramike
If you get a chance, the B&W (Godzilla -1/-c) is so worth a viewing.
Many of the performances are more visceral - Ando Sakura in particular.
Yes you can see how a number of shots would have been composed differently if it was conceived as a B&W move to start with, and a number of modern cheats for lighting/staging show up but your eye quickly adapts and it rolls over you.
My only wish is they had been more bold and cut it for 4:3 (drawing on that Ozu-esqu style) and colour graded it for a more Japanese B&W (that very inky b&w vs the more softer UK/USA b&w).
TIP - if you are willing to go there :D
if you have a TV or screen that can change aspect ratio (crop not squish/stretch) then you will be blown away. Even in the big set pieces the cropping doesn't diminish - actually it intensifies the action. Things wash over screen with no warning with such impact you almost can't catch you breath.
I know to most this is a big no-no- actually a massive NO. However, very few B&W films were true wide screen ("The Apartment" is a famous example but is composed and staged to handle the vast expanse of edge) where as G-1/-c does suffer at points as your eye tries to cope with the contrasts on the fringes of the screen. Our eyes read B&W differently to colour and what works for colour doesn't always translate to B&W.
@Anon: I will definitely rewatch 1.0 and black and white sounds like an interesting way to do it!
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