Tonight's Movie: Godzilla Minus One (2023)

The most unexpected theatrical viewing pleasure of 2023 for me will probably end up being GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023).

I'd never even heard of the film until a few weeks ago, and when the title initially crossed my radar screen I had no intention of seeing it, given that I've never seen a single Godzilla film.

My husband and daughter each saw the film separately and were quite enthused, suggesting that I just might find it to be my kind of movie after all, given my love for Japanese cinema and the absence of graphic violence. And it turned out they were right!

GOZILLA MINUS ONE is a gripping story of an atomic-powered monster in postwar Japan. The title has been interpreted various places online as referring to the fact that Japan was already seemingly at its nadir after the atomic bombs, but the advent of Godzilla knocks the country down to the level of "minus one."

In the years immediately after the war Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) carries enormous guilt. He had abandoned a kamikaze mission near the end of the war, instead landing on a small island which was promptly attacked by the monster Godzilla.

Shikishima was asked by the island's head mechanic, Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki), to shoot the monster with the machine gun in his plane but he froze, after which everyone but Tachibana was killed by the monster.

Back home Shikishima finds his parents dead, but he unexpectedly finds companionship when he takes in an orphaned young woman, Noriko (Minami Hamabe), and the orphaned baby girl she's caring for, Akiko (Sae Nagatani).

Time passes and the couple build a family of sorts, with Shikishima working on a mine-clearing team to support Noriko and the baby, but he's unable to commit to marrying Noriko due to his survivor's guilt.

And then Godzilla returns to attack Japan...and Shikishima and his coworkers find themselves in the thick of a desperate civilian effort to save the country.

I really enjoyed this film, which was written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki. It might have stood shaving off a couple of its 124 minutes for a slightly leaner running time, but that's my only complaint. It plays like the best of '50s sci-fi films, and the postwar setting adds to that feeling.

The film is well-written and performed, with the story developing logically -- if a monster film can do that -- and the characters engaging our sympathy; at times it's deeply affecting. It's a film which I believe will stand up to repeat viewings, allowing the viewer to dig deeper into its themes and symbolism.

The movie resonates in the best way with connections to other films, old and new; it most reminded me of what's perhaps my favorite sci-fi movie, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953), which featured a similarly rampaging beast. In that film it's up to sharpshooter Lee Van Cleef to shoot the monster with a radioactive isotope; here it will be up to Shikishima to finally take out the very radioactive Godzilla. But will his nerve hold this time?

A sequence when a group meets to plan how to deal with Godzilla, sharing ideas, reminded me a bit of the police report sequence in Kurosawa's HIGH AND LOW (1963). And is it possible Noriko's name is a tribute to Setsuko Hara's character name in a trio of classic postwar Ozu films, or is it simply a nice coincidence?

A train scene reminded me of this summer's excellent MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (2023). There's also a crowd-pleasing moment which calls to mind World War II's Dunkirk evacuation, an event which has appeared in multiple films.

This is a good point to mention that the film has a bracingly libertarian bent, with people trusting one another as individuals, rather than looking to their government for aid.

GODZILLA MINUS ONE was filmed by Kozo Shibasaki.

Parental Advisory: This film is rated PG-13; children a couple years younger might be okay with it, depending on the individual. One of my children would have loved it at age 10, but another of my children would have had nightmares for weeks!

The movie is very violent but not graphic. Positives include characters putting others above self, in both micro and macro situations, and working cooperatively to deal with a life-threatening problem.

Anyone who loves '50s sci-fi and/or Japanese cinema should find GODZILLA MINUS ONE a very enjoyable experience.

Recommended.

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