タグ: 配給会社：東宝

Godzilla Minus One　75/100
November 3rd, 2023　Watched at Movix Amagasaki
Casts: Ryunosuke Kamiki   Minami Hamabe
Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Director Takashi Yamazaki, who angered many movie fans with ‘Dragon Quest: Your Story’ somewhat redeemed himself with ‘Lupin the 3rd: The First.’ I bought a ticket a little concerned, but I got my money’s worth/

Introduction

As the end of the war drew near, pilot Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), assighned the mission of launching a kamikaze attack on the enemy, had to make an emergency landing on Odo-shima Island due to aircraft trouble. However, that night, Godzilla attacked the island, and the detachment was wiped out. The only survivors were Shikishima and the chief mechanic. Later, when Shikishima returned to Tokyo, he learned of his parents’ death. However, he got into a strange relationship with Noriko (Minami Hamabe), and a child to whom she was not the biological mother …

Some major spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.

Positives

The story began with Odo-shima Island, which put a smile on my face. And Godzilla’s appearance within the first 5 minutes also put a smile on my face. “Shin Godzilla”, the last Japanese Godilla film, had an early appearance of Godzilla, too, but this film immediately shows us the full body of Godzilla, which Shin Godzilla didn’t do.

Once Godzilla got his feet dry, Tokyo turned into a wasteland just like that. Unlike the first Godzilla that was in black and white, this one felt very realistic. In the first film, where all the characters (except Dr. Yamane) were full of sadness and despair. On the other hand, in this film, various characters’ emotions crisscrossed. Despite being a special kamikaze attack team member, Shikishima, the protagonist played by Ryunosuke Kamiki, refused to die and survived. A young girl who some other woman entrusted her baby to somehow got to know him. The next door widow, played by Sakura Andoh, intervened and helped this young strange couple. Even though the story was set in 1945, it was still very easy to sympathize with these characters because the emotions they were going through were universal.

Godzilla, powered up and enlarged by the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests, soon reappeared and destroyed the heck out of the Ginza district, which was a direct homage to the original. I couldn’t help but raising my fist into the air at the appearance of the tank unit because that was what happened in the original movie. Godzilla’s atomic breath was, in a sense, more destructive than Shin Godzilla’s. The rising mushroom cloud evoked memories of GMK (my favorite Godzilla movie!). What an overwhelming sense of despair and loss!

“Shin Godzilla” was about a national effort to stave off and terminate Godzilla, but this film was about a civilian operation against Godzilla, given the pre-Cold War situation at the time and the fact that Japan had been demilitarized by GHQ. It had only been a few years since the end of the war, so there were still quite a few military survivors. When they revealed the tactic, a gadget appeared and it immediately put a smile on your face because it reminded us of the Oxygen Destroyer from the original. The operation involved targeting Godzilla’s weakness as a living creature, and it was reasonably and logically convincing because that was basically what  Mechagodzilla from “Godzilla vs. Kong,” tried to do to Godzilla. The Godzilla theme that played as warships surrounded Godzilla just before this attack was truly an homage to the original because in the first movie, this music came on not when Godzilla destroyed Tokyo, but when the tank unit arrived and opened fire against Godzilla. That unique Akira Ifukube’s Godzilla theme song was originally the BGM when the Self-Defense Forces appeared. In this film, it was used as the theme song for civilian forces, not for Godzilla. Finally, there’s a kamikaze attack on Godzilla’s mouth, just like the anti-nuclear bacteria missile in “Godzilla vs. Mothra.” A heavily wounded Godzilla sinking to the bottom of the ocean was clearly an homage to GMK, which again did put a smile on my face.

Writer/director Takashi Yamazaki successfully made a name for himself for creating a new Godilla movie out of the traditional Godzilla movies.

Negatives

The human drama part was weak. To be more precise, it was hard to see the focus of the dramas. It wasn’t clear whether the film wanted to focus on the process of Shikishima, Noriko, and Akiko turning from a pseudo-family into an authentic one or if it wanted to focus on Shikishima and the other survivors overcoming their war traumas. It should have concentrated on on big subplot, not two.

A few of the actors’ performances stood out like a sore thumb. Shikishima, the main character, was completely overshadowed by Yoshioka Hidetaka and Kuranosuke Sasaki. The acting, or rather the directing, often missed the mark. In the final scene, Shikishima dropped the coat he was wearing onto the ground, but wasn’t the timing a bit off? That kind of scene happened throughout the film. It felt like Shikishima’s acting or the director’s direction didn’t quite fit in with the main character.

Overall Summary

Defining Godzilla is difficult, but it’s easy to recognize what is not Godzilla. In that sense, there is no room for doubt that the creature in this film is Godzilla, and this film is a Godzilla movie. Showa Godzilla was all about Godzilla destroying Japan, yet Japan always underwent a rehab in a booming economy. Reiwa Godzilla, on the other hand, is portrayed as an ominous force that could come back any time if Japan continues to economically dwindle and politically become right wing. The highly able and competent Japanese government depicted in ‘Shin Godzilla’ was fiction. It seems we’ve entered an era where we, as civilians, must make sure that Godzilla is not real and that he belongs in fiction and entertainment.

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君たちはどう生きるか　７０点
2023年7月15日　MOVIXあまがさきにて鑑賞
出演：山時聡真
監督：宮崎駿

『 風立ちぬ 』以来の宮崎駿の監督作品。これは一種の遺言だと思われる。本作は前情報が全くない状態で公開され、世間のレビュワー諸賢もネタバレにならないように慎重に本作を評している。なのでJovianもネタバレを割けてレビューをしたい。

あらすじ

眞人（山時聡真）は病院火災で最愛の母を亡くした。失意の父と共に田舎に疎開することになった眞人は、そこで不思議なアオサギに出会う。アオサギは眞人に「母親はまだ生きている」と告げてくる。眞人はアオサギを追って、離れにある不思議な塔に足を踏み入れて・・・

ポジティブ・サイド

ジブリ映画の集大成。といっても『 となりのトトロ 』や『 魔女の宅急便 』ではなく、『 千と千尋の神隠し 』や『 ハウルの動く城 』、『 崖の上のポニョ 』的な世界観が強く打ち出されている。思慕と別離の世界だ。

眞人が迷い込む世界は時の流れを超越した世界。そこでは過去と未来、生と死が混在している。二重らせんならぬ一重らせんはなかなかユニーク。コウノトリならぬペリカンがそれを食べる。なんというカオス。

その世界の深奥に鎮座ましますのは宮崎駿その人。世界はおもちゃ。しかしそれはもう崩壊する。誰かが新しいおもちゃを作らなければ。『 ネバー・エンディング・ストーリー 』的で、虚無が世界を覆う時、誰かが物語ることで世界を再生させなければならないということか。

物語として見ればイマイチかもしれないが、自伝かつ遺書だと思って鑑賞すれば、様々な解釈＝メッセージが受け取れる良作だろう。我々はこの混迷の世界を生き残れるのか。我々はこの世界に真の友を持つことができるのか。我々は後継者を残すことができるのか。メッセージの受け取り方はなんでもいい。何かを感じ取れれば、それだけで充分。

ネガティブ・サイド

これはもうしゃーないのだが、やっぱり本職の声優を使ってくれないと、一発で醒めてしまう時がある。某女性キャラの声は聞いた瞬間に〇〇だなと分かってしまう。もちろんそういう声優もいるが、その場合に思い浮かぶのは声優の名前であって顔ではない。俳優や女優の場合、その人間の顔が思い浮かんでしまう。これはもう宮崎駿作品を観る時の修行というか、心構えだろう。不承不承に受け入れるしかない。

キリコが眞人を救出してくれた、あの石舞台古墳みたいなものは結局何だったのだろうか。

総評

普通に面白い。前情報なしでも楽しめる。ただし純粋なエンタメとして鑑賞するにはメッセージ性が強すぎるとも感じる。ジブリ作品をリアルタイムで追うことができなかった若い世代からすると、老い先短い老人がえらく説教臭い作品を作ったな、ぐらいにしか感じないかもしれない。コロナ禍で『 風の谷のナウシカ 』や『 もののけ姫 』がリバイバル上映されたが、ああいう試みを日本映画界はもっとやっておくべきだった。大学の後期が始まったら、若い世代に本作の感想をちょこっと聞いてみよう。宮崎の問いは40代ではなく10代に向けられているはずだから。

Jovian先生のワンポイント英会話レッスン

heron

サギの意。鳥は非常に数が多いが、人間に馴染みのある動物でもある。少し田舎に行けば、あるいは水田や、それなりの池がある地域なら目にすることが多いだろう。NPBやMLBに将来、The Blue Herons なるチームが誕生するかもしれない。

次に劇場鑑賞したい映画

『 ミッション：インポッシブル デッドレコニング PART ONE 』
『 658km、陽子の旅 』
『 神回 』

 
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