One less Godzilla is the best film yet in the long and storied franchise of kaiju films. The writer/director, Takashi Yamazaki, has made a monster attack movie that transcends the genre with its emotional power. A psychologically scarred survivor comes back to a ravaged Japan after World War II’s nightmare. In ruins, survivors try to figure out why their nation did such terrible things. As all these sins of theirs are brought into account, it lets loose an even more horrible new thing born in the atomic era. From nowhere heroes emerge to defy seemingly impossible odds. They realize a reaffirmation of community that points towards hope.
In 1945 kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) lands his plane on Odo Island at an isolated naval station. However, Sōsaku Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki), the head mechanic, cannot find anything wrong with it. A tormented Shikishima confesses to having lost his nerve or rather his own self-life as a weapon against war. As this conversation speaks volumes about Tachibana’s character, there is an odd sight at the beach just then which interrupts them in the middle of their talk: fish come bubbling up from someplace beneath as something ominously swims towards them.
Weeks later forlorn Shikishima steps onto his devastated Tokyo doorstep for homecoming purposes. When he asks about his parents next-door-neighbor Sumiko (Sakura Ando) damningly blames him for being a coward. They are gone along with her kids; she has nothing left but despair inside her heart; he has nothing left but hollowness inside him too. Walking around in sort of daze he encounters a twist of fate resulting from Noriko (Minami Hamabe) handing him a baby while running away from someone. In bewildered stupor Shikishima takes to his heels holding the infant girl for hours on end until Noriko comes forward to take back her child. She had been watching all along after all. Why then did he not abandon the child?
A year later, however, Shikishima, Akiko and Noriko have stayed together since they were forced by circumstances into a fledgling family unit. At night Noriko wonders why Shikishima screams out loud. What is the burden that he carries? But he will not admit this shame or the monster that created it. That’s when he offers to go through with a dangerous job without telling anyone else why because if not his daughter will die of malnutrition and it doesn’t matter what happens at the end because he has nothing to lose with.
The Shinsei Maru is contracted for clearing hundreds of ocean mines; wooden ones are not attracted by magnetic bombs. Captain Yōji Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka) who used to be a weapon specialist, and eager Shirō Mizushima (Yuki Yamada) are happy to finally get an ace pilot among them. It does not take long before Shikishima proves his mettle as a gunner aboard the ship though his hopes for some resolution are crushed by deep water fish appearing around their boat.
Godzilla Minus One retains the classic origin story while taking its narrative in totally unexpected directions. Portrayed brilliantly by Kamiki in a heart-wrenching performance, Shikishima is debilitated by post-traumatic stress disorder. “When will your war end?” asked Noriko who cannot move on from his tormented past but inadvertently raises others with acts of kindness she gives away free presents every day — as she refers to him that way – everyone he meets can see something good inside him. Time and again Captain Akitsu and Noda try to motivate their dear friend; he has been blessed with a good woman and a beautiful child, but those demons clinging to his soul have to be destroyed. If Shikishima does not find any worth in himself, the flame of happiness will extinguish completely. Yet another tragedy is imminent when he finally realizes this incredible value as well.
The right context for Godzilla Minus One is established by Yamazaki, a celebrated filmmaker who has been nominated for numerous Japanese Academy Awards. The film has scenes of hungry, battered people walking around an obliterated Tokyo with wide eyes that reflect somber truths. The country’s flawed ambitions and Americans’ atom bombs have come at an awful price. In a searing monologue, Noda curses those who led them to their doom. Their lives are not worthless; they will no longer be sent to the slaughter. This struggle against Godzilla requires a unity of purpose that goes beyond ideology and nationalism. There will need to be a new culture that cherishes peace.
The monster element must be absolutely terrifying—nothing less can mean anything for this superb dramatic arc in the film. Being ass-kicking hurricane of epic destruction is what Godzilla is about. Snarling and chomping at the heels of hapless fleeing victims before flinging their severed bodies high into the air, then there are crushed crowds as buildings crumble beneath unstoppable wrathful feet while its nuclear-fueled heat ray created a mushroom cloud blast incinerating and literally blowing away everything else still standing in a stupefying shockwave. There’s really no denying that Godzilla has never been more frightening or ferocious as he is now than ever before now. Fans are going to lose their minds over this one.
Expectations are blown away by Godzilla Minus One which is nothing campy, frivolous or contrived here You feel genuine concern for these individuals as they face annihilation from something that kills randomly but indiscriminately. A riveting cinematic experience filled with cheers and tears everywhere you look. Take note Hollywood! Yamazaki teaches blockbuster filmmaking like no other person on earth.
Toho Studios produced Godzilla Minus One in collaboration with Robot Communications Inc., while Japan Society organized its special presentation in New York where it was screened at recently; and starting from the first day of December, this film will be released in theaters across Canada and US by Toho Studios. You may check the trailer below.
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