Managed to see this for the first time at a Manga Entertainment limited showing last night and a day later i'm still thinking about this.
On face value it is essentially a "what were the people not in the giant robots doing during the first angel attack in Eva" kind of story. 80% of the film is just politicians and scientists in a room talking. But i fucking loved it. It was the first time in a very long time i have seen a film in a mainstream cinema and thought it was good. Not competant. Not 'okay for an advert' but genuinely good. It is a thoughtful, methodical yet unpretentious commentary on the Japanese governments dealings with Fukushima. Its on the nose as far as asian cinema goes, but its not the barebones you would get from a western film. Theres no 'its coming because it got lured by nuclear reactors, truly the worst monster was man' bunkum. The film starts assuming its a volcanic disaster, the only change once Gojira shows up is the sentiment that its a disaster with no precedent, can they mobilise the JSDF or is this breaking the WWII surrender agreements.
Its not a pacific rim style love letter, its taking the base idea of Godzilla as a natural disaster brought on by nuclear catastrophe rather than a heroic sentai style giant monster fighting hero and using it as a completely serious discussion on how japan has so few infrastructures in place for disasters which in real world terms is strange when they are on the most violent fault lines on earth the 'ring of fire' that circles the pacific ocean.
The soundtrack ranges from Godzilla to heavy Evangelion inspiration. The acting ranges from rare but still there 'is this guy trying to be comedic?' japanese acting to solid performances from the older actors in particular but the lead while not excellent is believable as a character rather than an actor going through the motions of the script. Where the film stood out though -and it surprised me- was the cinematography. To sell the movie we were mostly shown trailers using static, wide shots but the majority of the movie uses some genuinely beautiful, subtle techniques that was a sign of a cinematographer in love with his work going far above what he had to do to bring what he wanted to the shots. Lingering tracking shots that use mise-en-scene to create sillouettes and a use of semiotics to add layers of depth and scale to the piece without it looking like typical 'birds for scale' style monster movie techniques.
It has its flaws, japanese cgi remains a good 15 years behind things from groups like Weta and Industrial Light and Magic and there are a few times where the practical suit felt out of place -though in part this is due to the stark design change where this new gojira resembles a corpse burnt out by nuclear fire.
The film ends with an ominous, lingering shot that feels more like an 'end of part one' than a traditional sequel bait teaser. I left extremely entertained and the film has been on my mind all day today.
I genuinely feel sorry for the people that resorted to pirating a camrip when it released almost 2 years ago. This is a beautiful, lovingly crafted movie in a genre that has largely been a joke since before slasher movies became one.
If you enjoyed Neon Genesis Rebuild 1.11 or The Host i absolutely recommend the recent Blu Ray release. I know i am gushing but holy shit it was so refreshing to see a film that didnt meet my expectations but exceed them. I sincerely cannot remember the last time that happened.
anyone else get to a showing?
