Godzilla Minus One (2023)

It seems that Godzilla Minus One is slaying it's competition at the box office since it was released in December.  But unlike other films this film has been gaining steam and not losing its momentum.  Toho Company the studio that released the film and also the licensee for all things Godzilla has announced a release of Godzilla Minus One in black & white on January 26th for a week.  The studio is releasing it to the fans and saying thank-you to its audiences for making the film a success.  Audiences are slowly coming around and watching the movie, which is breaking various box office records for a foreign film. 

The film is a powerful film about regret, war, and guilt as well as a monster movie.  What the original film in 1954 was about was a warning about nuclear proliferation & what we as humans are doing to the earth.  It rings true in 1954 and in 2024.  With global warming becoming more, and more evident the film has found it's audience both domestic & worldwide.  I am not going into the plot because I really want more people to see it and appreciate it.  I never find sub-titled films a problem, but there are some who do.  I in fact believe that seeing the film a second time you'll get more out of it since you can focus on the dialogue.  At first viewing the film I felt I was bombarded by so many fantastic images that rival any Hollywood feature, and because of this I did find it a bit of a challenge to read all the dialogue, but it in no way detracted me from enjoying the film.  

I was taken back by the main characters story.  I strongly felt for the Japanese people in the film which is unlike any other Godzilla film.  We feel their defeat and their guilt at such atrocities they committed for their beloved emperor.  They are a people who have lost their way to blind allegiance & nationalism like Germany in the 30's & 40's.  The film even replicates what is happening in our own national politics, but does not harp on it, and as it shouldn't because after all this is a monster movie and that monster is Godzilla.  The films success is because of just this.  The film finds us really relating to the characters and their plight.  Many people take a lot  from the film.  There is a lot in it to love.  It's focus on the character Shikishima as he returns home to find his parents were killed in the bombing of Tokyo, and he is Plagued by survivor's guilt, as he works on a minesweeper and begins supporting a woman, Noriko Ōishi, whose parents also died in the bombing, and an orphaned baby, Akiko, whom Noriko rescued*.   It is this strange but loving family unit that makes the film.  You try and root for them, and want them to do well.  There is a part in the film where I literal gasped as something happened to one of them.  That's how invested I was of the characters, and that is due to the great direction of Takashi Yamazaki  who should also be nominated for best film for the academy awards, but Hollywood loves to pat itself on its back and not nominate others, so I doubt it will be nominated for best film.  Maybe best foreign film, but still it deserves a best director nomination.

The film lends itself to a sequel even, and it's not that we don't expect it.  After all this is Godzilla, king of the monsters.  He'll always be back, and we'll always be there waiting.  I really think Toho does it better then Hollywood, and that's just because they are the keepers of the rights to Godzilla, and they love their product.  So if you want a see a smart engaging monster film run to the theater and see what a really good film really is.  I guarantee you won't be disappointed.  


* Taken from Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_Minus_One