Saturday 2 July 2011

This is the survival mentality that drives the monster

Big man Japan (2007)
Chosen by me as it was offered free online


An odd, melancholy movie. This did the internet rounds a few years back for it's bizarre CGI fight sequences and baffling obtuse monsters (a head on a leg bounces around for some reason).
Shot for the most part in docu style and not immediately obvious as to what it is about (we hear the lead talk a lot about liking things that grow big on command before seeing his power).
It may stretch it's point of the main character being a sad pathetic loner a little too much but is an affecting and interesting take on Godzilla tropes.
It's ending (after the 'hero' kills his Grandad whilst running away from a bizarre Demon thing) is utterly mind boggling. Switching from CGI to trad. man in suit trashing cardboard city shenanigans it may have a political point to score (something about North Korea and the USA maybe?) but fucked if I know. It plays out  strange Ultraman pastiche that highlights the casual brutality of a lot of children's entertainment (they really lay into the poor monster/man in suit) that is clever and both funny and horrifying at the same time.
There's not much else out there quite like it - that's for sure.

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