At least as the title appears on screen.
a.k.a…
Gojira -1
Godzilla: Minus One
Not quite an origin of the monstrous beastie despite a title that goes backwards in numbering. Instead, it’s reported that the ‘minus’ is the state of Japan at the time the story takes place. A Japan that has been devastated by World War II.
The movie opens on the last days of the war where a kamikaze pilot Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) lands on an island base, supposedly with a plane needing some fixing. Godzilla appears there and the island’s crew gets wiped out by the giant. Only the chief mechanic Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki) and Shikishima are left as witness to the destruction, which leaves both men traumatised.
The fact that Shikishima is a kamikaze pilot who has survived the war when his town and family have perished is an issue to him, along with surviving Godzilla’s attack on the island adds to his survivor’s guilt. Over the years, he is plagued by nightmares even as he tries to rebuild a life by helping fellow survivor Noriko (Minami Hamabe) raise an orphaned child. In the meantime, he gets a job helping to clear Tokyo bay of the mines that had been leftover from the war.
Despite how all that reads, the pacing is actually very well done to build up the characters and their circumstances, taking up almost a third of the movie. Because it is a Japanese Godzilla movie, survival is a theme that is carried through, yet seen through the eyes of someone with survivor’s guilt that is compounded several times over as the story progresses. Especially when Godzilla turns up again.
There are other cultural and political themes that emerge as well. This was Japan in post-World War II, so they didn’t really have an army to fight back with, and the Americans, who were supposed to help, were hampered by the politics with neighbouring Russia by that point. All this leads to a finale to somehow deal with with the titular titan, much like with Shin Godzilla (2016).
Writer and director Takashi Yamazako crafts very economical narrative devices bringing out the state of the people in that period in reflection to the threat of Godzilla. Add to that the reportedly minimal effects shots blending seamlessly with the environment to bring some devastating realism to the proceedings. The movie is highly cinematic, and that still feels like an understatement at times. The technical prowess on display is truly impressive.
This is a very different beast from the Westernised version of Godzilla (recently seen in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire), and to be fair, I can’t really compare it to the classical version either as I’ve never seen the original movie; never found the disc. Yet, Godzilla has been part of the cultural consciousness over here. Shin Godzilla was a strange experience as it attempted some kind of origin story, but the overall story felt similar. Titan beast emerges and wreaks havoc, humans have to figure out how to stop it with an all-or-nothing plan.
Ultimately, it’s the human story that varies, and it works extremely well here.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 /5
Directed by Takashi Yamazako
Written by Takashi Yamazako
Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Sakura Andô, Munetaka Aoki, Kisuke Iida
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