Aka - Mosura tai Gojira
Geez, how embarrassing for Godzilla. To be vanquished by two moth larva that
just hatched. Hide your head in shame. With all the Godzilla buzz in the
air I thought I would watch an old one. Almost picked at random except I
had noticed two of the actors from The Big Boss (1959) were in this as well.
I know nothing about the Godzilla or the whole Kaiju Eiga genre. This is
as far as I can recollect only the second pre-2000 Godzilla film I have seen
(I did see two of the Gamera films of the 1990s). The original which I saw
a few years back at Film Forum which was wonderful - much more powerful than
I had expected - and then some of the post-2000 Godzillas where I concluded
that the Japanese ones were decent and the American ones were very clunky.
They just don't get it. Which makes me hesitate to see this new one. Though
I would love to see a film in a theater. The only one I have in the past
year was Wonder Woman 1984 and afterwards I wondered why I bothered.
This was fun. I understand that there was a previous Mothra film so I may
have to see that. To have important context of course. I hope the two twin
fairies are in it, They stole the film right under Godzilla's big snout.
By 1964 the Japanese populace had encountered Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra
and two tiny fairies that sing. So when after a huge storm an egg the size
of a house rolls ashore no one seems all that surprised or perturbed, It
barely gets a mention in the media. The govt can't be bothered. The egg is
put on display in an entertainment park. No one seems curious what might
come out of that egg. It is a giant frigging egg. That probably came from
a radioactive Island where they tested a nuke. Larry King would have tried
to interview it but not in Japan.
The only people mildly curious are a newspaper man (Akira Takarada, the younger
brother in The Big Boss), his cute photographer (Yuriko Hoshi, the witness
in the Big Boss) and a scientist. The twin Shobijins looking like they just
flew in from Siberia in their white fur vest and cap appear before them and
ask them to save the egg and get it back to Infant Island. Which is where
Mothra lives as well as a tribe of colorful dancing natives who look like
they escaped from a Maria Montez movie. But they can't cut through the red
tape. "It will take years in the court system". Sounds like us. Then Godzilla
shows up and plods around like a drunk sailor. I wonder if they sell Godzilla
Home Insurance? Only Mothra can save them.
I have never quite understood Godzilla's motivation. Isn't he the good guy
sometimes? Aren't we suppose to cheer for him? Sure he destroys cities (think
of it as urban re-development) but he has a good heart. Not so much here.
He stomps on things because why not. The part I really enjoyed was mainly
just watching how they do the special effects. It took real imagination back
then. With special effects today, who cares. But these old ones have a real
artistry to them - the miniaturizations, the back screen, the guy in a lizard
costume, Mothra flying about is really bad but I loved it, the larva spraying
moth juice. And it just looks wonderful in color and widescreen. Criminal
that America took these films and edited and dubbed them. So nice that the
Japanese versions are available and in perfect condition. Again, I know nothing
about the Godzilla films. I know there are Eras which I am not and hopefully
never will be geeky enough to understand or care. I know there are folks
out there who ask questions like if Godzilla did that in this movie, why
did he do such in this movie. Hopefully that won't be me. Hopefully. A friend
let me rip that whole Kaiju box set so you never know.
