ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

ScreenFish Staff

Monster Mondays: Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) [aka Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster]

by Leave a Comment

By Ben Dower

Ryota Kane (Toru Watanabe) is desperate to search for his brother Yata Kane (Toru Ibuki), who has disappeared while at sea.  He tries to join a dance contest to win a boat, but is too late.  He goes with two men who lost the dance contest to the harbour, where they sneak onto a boat.  Inside the boat they find bank robber Yoshimura (Akira Takarada) hiding, but decide to spend the night on board.

The next morning, they awake to find Ryota has stolen the boat and is searching for his brother.  They get caught in a powerful storm, which washes them to Letchi Island.  As they near the island, the boat is attacked and destroyed by a giant lobster named Ebirah, but they all make it ashore safely.

On the island, they find a secret terrorist organization called Red Bamboo that is producing nuclear weapons.  Red Bamboo is enslaving people from Infant Island and using them to make a yellow liquid that keeps Ebirah away from their ships.  

A woman from Infant Island named Daiyo (Kumi Mizuno) manages to escape her Red Bamboo captors and joins with Ryota and his friends.  They find Godzilla sleeping on the island and awaken him.  Godzilla confronts Ebirah, and after a quick skirmish the two monsters go their separate ways.

Yata is found and the friends come up with a plan to sabatoge Red Bamboo, free the captured Infant Islanders, and escape Letchi Island.  The enslaved Infant Islanders create a fake yellow juice that won’t repel Ebirah.  Godzilla rampages through Red Bamboo’s base, activiating a nuclear self-destruct sequence.  As Red Bamboo flees the island, Ebirah attacks and sinks their boat, the fake yellow liquid doing nothing to stop him.

Godzilla fights Ebirah once more, ripping the giant crustacean’s claws off, and Mothra arrives in time to fly the film’s heros and Infant Islanders to safety.  Godzilla also manages to escape the island just before it is destroyed by Red Bamboo’s nuclear bomb. 

After the interplanetary special effects tour-de-force that was Invasion of Astro-Monster, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep feels a lot more low key.  The film is set primarily on tropical island locations and has a much simpler plot than the two Ghidorah movies.  There are no scenes of major urban destruction, and both battles between Godzilla and Ebirah take place primarily in the water, something entirely new for the Godzilla series.

Part of the reason for the simplified special effects scenes is due to budget restraints.  In January 1966, a new monster television show began airing called Ultra Q.  Ultra Q was followed up in July 1966 by Ultraman, the first in a series of TV programs featuring a transforming giant alien that fights giant monsters.  With televisions now common in Japanese households and giant monsters regularly on TV, people had less of a need to go to the theatre to see giant monsters on the screen.  Add to that the fact Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was not a partially American funded co-production like Invasion of Astro-Monster, and it’s easy to understand why Toho was cutting budgets on their Godzilla pictures.

That’s not to say Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is a bad movie, because it isn’t.  What Ebirah, Horror of the Deep lacks in big budget monster action, it makes up for in human action.  The film has a real James Bond feel to it, with the over-the-top terrorist organization Red Bamboo pursuing our main characters all over Letchi Island.  The whole movie is just a lot of fun, from the dance contest at the beginning to the nuclear explosive climax.

Interestingly, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was initially planned to be a King Kong movie.  The film was intended to be a co-production with Rankin/Bass Productions as a tie-in with their King Kong cartoon series.  Rankin/Bass, however, apparently rejected the script, so Toho just replaced King Kong with Godzilla and produced the film themselves.  Clues that this was intended to be a King Kong movie still remain in the finished film, such as the scene where Godzilla becomes fixated on Daiyo at one point.  Toho would eventually produce King Kong Escapes with Rankin/Bass the following year.

While the whole film is pretty fast-paced and light-hearted, there is still some social commentary present.  The “Red” in Red Bamboo is clearly an allusion to communism and bamboo is a plant most commonly associated with pandas and China.  Red Bamboo’s Captain Yamoto (Akihiko Hirata) also wears an eye patch with a dragon on it.  In the mid-1960s, China became a nuclear-armed state.  Red Bamboo is clearly meant as a commentary on China’s nuclear weapons development.

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep was released directly to television in the United States in 1967 as Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster by Walter Reade Organization.  It was edited slightly and given an English dub by Titra Studios in the United States.  This version was the only version distributed in North America for decades. 

In 2005, TriStar released Toho’s international version of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep on DVD.  This version had the onscreen titles changed to English, and viewers could choose to watch it with the original Japanese audio or Toho’s own English dub, which was produced at Frontier Enterprises in Japan.  The international version with the same two audio options was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kraken Releasing in 2014.  Both the TriStar and Kraken releases are out of print.  Only the original Japanese version of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep is currently available, and it is as part of The Criterion Collection’s Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 Blu-ray set featuring the first 15 Godzilla movies.

SF Kids: The Wolf & The Lion

by Leave a Comment

By Anders (age 11)

The Wolf & The Lion is about a woman named Alma (Molly Kunz) who adopts a wolf and lion cub. When the mother of the wolf cub goes missing, Alma has to take care of them. When they grow up, the lion gets taken to the circus and the wolf goes to a habitat after Alma falls and hurts herself. After the wolf escapes and helps the lion escape, they try to find their way back to Alma.

What I liked about the movie was the beginning when the animals are growing up with Alma. I also liked when the wolf and lion escaped. Those were my favourite parts. I liked that they used real animals. I think it was probably really hard to do everything with the animals because its harder to communicate with them. But they did a really good job making the movie.

In the end, The Wolf & The Lion is a good movie because it gave an important message about animal cruelty. I think the movie was trying to say that animals should not be held captive and should be able to be in the wild, where they want to be. I hope that, after watching the movie, it helps people see how important that is so that they can stop mistreating animals.

To hear my interview with Molly Kunz, click here.

The Wolf & The Lion is available in theatres now.

Monster Mondays: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster (1964)

by Leave a Comment

By Ben Dower

Naoko Shindo (Yuriko Hoshi) is at a UFO club meeting for her TV program.  Though no UFOs are seen, they observe a meteor shower over the skies of Japan.  One large meteor crashes into Kurobe Valley.  

Detective Shindo (Yosuke Natsuki), Naoko’s brother, is assigned to protect Princess Salno (Akiko Wakabayashi) from the country of Selgina.  She is at risk of being assassinated, and so has had to flee to Japan.  On her way to Japan, though, her plane explodes.

A woman appears in Japan claiming to be from Venus and she prophesies that all sorts of disasters are about to happen.  Naoko Shindo is interested in speaking to her for her TV program, while Detective Shindo is interested in speaking to her because she bears an incredible resemblance to Princess Salno.

Sure enough, the woman’s prophesies start coming true.  Rodan first emerges out of Mount Aso, and then Godzilla comes out of Yokohama harbour.  The two monsters begin to fight, smashing their way across Japan.  Also, the meteor that crashed into Kurobe Valley bursts open and releases King Ghidorah.

Detective Shindo takes the prophetess to Dr. Tsukamoto (Takashi Shimura).  She reveals that Venus used to have an advanced civiliation on it, but Ghidorah arrived and devastated the planet.  A remnant of that old Venus civilation now live on Earth, including her.

Japan asks the Shobijin (Emi Ito and Yumi Ito) if Mothra would be able to fight off Ghidorah.  The Shobijin say that Mothra is just a caterpillar and won’t be able to.  Instead, they suggest trying to convince Godzilla and Rodan to team up with Mothra.

The assassins targeting Princess Salno attack the prophetess at Dr. Tsukamoto’s lab, but are successfully thwarted.  With Godzilla and Rodan approaching and the threat from the assassins, the lab is evacuated.  During the evacuation, the Shobijin say Mothra has arrived.

Mothra has a lengthy conversation with Godzilla and Rodan, but fails to convince them.  In the end, she goes alone to fight Ghidorah.  Seeing Mothra bravely standing up against Ghidorah eventually convinces Godzilla and Rodan to join the fight.

As the battle rages, another assassination attempt is made on the prophetess.  A bullet grazes her head, snapping her out of her prophetess amnesia and confirming she is Princess Salno.  The assassin is killed in the monster fight.  After a viscious battle, Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra manage to force Ghidorah to leave Earth.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster hit Japanese theatres on December 20, 1964, making 1964 the only year two live action Godzilla movies were released.  While the previous movie brought Mothra into the Godzilla series, this movie brings Rodan into it, essentially creating a cinematic universe of sorts.  This movie also introduced Godzilla’s arch-enemy, the golden three-headed dragon King Ghidorah!

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster marks the beginning of Godzilla’s transition from destructive god to friendly Earth defender.  Unlike Mothra vs. Godzilla, which played the monster action straight, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster brings the comedic moments from King Kong vs. Godzilla back to the monster action, and ups them in intensity.  Rodan laughs at Godzilla at one point, and Ghidorah blasts Godzilla in the butt with its ray weapon.  

Perhaps the moment that anthropormorphizes the monsters the most is the monster conversation.  Mothra, Godzilla, and Rodan literally have a chat about whether or not they should team up against Ghidorah.  While they only speak in roars, chirps, and growls, the Shobijin translate the conversation, with Godzilla and Rodan expressing great bitterness towards humans.

Thematically, this movie is much lighter than the previous Godzilla movies, another trend that was taking shape as the 1960s progressed.  By the mid-1960s, Japan’s economic miracle was firing on all cylinders, and this is clearly evident on screen.  Like Mothra vs. Godzilla earlier that year, the film depicts a Japan that is wealthy.  The Shindos own a colour television and watch comedy programs on TV, while the cities Ghidorah attacks are full of stores and entertainment.

Though much of the war-themed doom and gloom from the 1950s films are gone, there is one scene that hearkens back to the war very effectively, and that is Ghidorah’s attack on Matsumoto.  The scene starts with an emergency vehicle racing down the street, a speaker on its roof broadcasting that Ghidorah is coming.  An air raid siren blares and people run through the streets in panic, while others board up their store fronts.  Some point to the sky at something flying toward the city in the distance.  Finally Ghidorah swoops over Matsumoto Castle, blasting it with his slipstream.

If there is one other thing that can be taken from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, it’s that sometimes monsters (and people) may need to put their differences aside to deal with a bigger threat.  Godzilla and Rodan don’t like humans or each other at the start of the film.  They have to learn to get over those disagreements and team up with Mothra to save their planet from destruction.  Indeed, we humans have to learn to put our differences aside to save the planet, and ourselves, both from climate change and nuclear annihilation.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was released theatrically in North America by Continental Distributing in September 1965.  The film was dubbed into English and had undergone some editing, with scenes and shots moved around or deleted outright.  Ghidorah’s name was also changed to Ghidrah.

As with previous films in the series, the edited U.S. version was the only version released in North America for decades.  The original Japanese version was finally released on DVD in North America in 2007 by Classic Media on a single disk with the U.S. edit.  The original Japanese version of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster is currently available from The Criterion Collection as part of their Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 Blu-ray set featuring the first 15 Godzilla movies.

Monster Mondays: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

by Leave a Comment

By Ben Dower

In Mothra vs. Godzilla, a giant egg washes ashore during a typhoon.  Reporter Ichiro Sakai (Akira Takarada) and his assistant Junko Nakanishi (Yuriko Hoshi) head down to the beach where they meet Professor Shunsuke Miura (Hiroshi Koizumi), who has come to study the egg.  They are interrupted by Kumayama (Yoshifumi Tajima), who claims his company, Happy Enterprises, has purchased the egg.

Happy Enterprises plans to build a giant incubator and put the egg on display.  The head of Happy Enterprises is Jiro Torahata (Kenji Sahara).  Torahata and Kumayama are visited by the Shobijin (Emi Ito and Yumi Ito) who ask them to return the egg to its rightful owner, Mothra.  Instead, the two men try to capture the Shobijin. The Shobijin escape and meet with Sakai, Nakanishi, and Miura, but unfortunately they have no authority to return the egg.  In the end, the Shobjin return to Infant Island without the egg, leaving a warning that when the egg hatches, the Mothra larva will likely cause a lot of damage.

Godzilla appears and goes on a rampage through Nagoya, destroying Nagoya Castle.  The JSDF attempts to stop Godzilla, but the monster is too strong.  Sakai, Nakanishi, and Miura head to Infant Island and beg for the adult Mothra to come fight Godzilla, but the natives of Infant Island are reluctant seeing as Japan failed to return Mothra’s egg when asked.  Finally, an emotional plea by Sakai and Nakanishi convinces the Shobjin to send Mothra, but they say Mothra is very old and near the end of her life.

With Godzilla approaching the egg and Happy Enterprises’ construction site, Torahata and Kumayama turn on each other.  Torahata shoots Kumayama and tries to make off with the remaining money, but Godzilla smashes the hotel they were staying in, killing Torahata.  

Just as Godzilla is about to crush the egg, Mothra arrives.  After a quick battle, Godzilla manages to strike the giant moth with his atomic breath.  Mothra flutters over to her egg, puts her wing over it, and breaths her last.

Mothra’s egg hatches and two caterpillars emerge.  They follow Godzilla to Iwa Island, where a teacher and some students are trapped.  While the teacher and students are rescued, the Mothra larvae wrap Godzilla in a silk coccoon.  The encased Godzilla falls into the sea, and the Mothra caterpillars carry the Shobijin back to Infant Island.

Mothra vs. Godzilla is generally considered by fans to be one the best Godzilla movies.  While the light-hearted tone and colourful imagery of Mothra is carried over, the comedic antics of the monsters that were prevelent in King Kong vs. Godzilla are not.  In fact, this would be the last truly serious portrayal of Godzilla as an angry destroyer until The Return of Godzilla in 1984.

Though its easy to think a giant moth is a ridiculous opponent for a creature like Godzilla, in many ways the two monsters are the perfect contrast out of which all great rivalries are born.  Godzilla is a nearly invincible nuclear reptile, dark, angry, and deliberately destructive.  Mothra, on the other hand, is a fragile insect, colourful, benevolent, and not willfully destructive.  When they clash, there is an inherent conflict of their natures unlying the action and it just works.

The country of Rolisica is not mentioned in Mothra vs. Godzilla, but a handful of the political themes from Mothra remain.  Infant Island is still a contaminated nuclear wasteland, the natives that reside there the victims of nuclear testing.  In keeping with these anti-nuclear themes, Godzilla is detected before he is seen, radioativity providing the first clues that he is about to make his return to Japan.

Also carried over from Mothra and King Kong vs. Godzilla are the themes surrounding greed and exploitation. Mothra’s egg has barely touched land before a greedy corporation has swept in and bought it up, looking to make a hefty profit.  Happy Enterprises then stalls on making payments to the fishermen that had initially claimed the egg.  When the Shobijin appear in the hotel room to ask Torahata and Kumayama to return the egg to its real owner, Mothra, the two men instead attempt to capture them!  While giant eggs and fairies may be fantasy, this disgusting level of corporate greed and exploitation is anything but, and its easy to see equally atrocious parallels in the real world.

While King Kong vs. Godzilla forgot to show Mr. Tako receiving any kind of comeuppance for his greed, Torahata and Kumayama are eventually done in by theirs.  With Godzilla approaching their hotel and on a path to destroy their construction site, the two men turn on each other.  They fight over the money that remains, with Torahata finally shooting Kumayama in the head.  Torahata, delayed by the fight and scramble for the money, doesn’t make it out of the hotel in time and Godzilla brings the building down on top of him.

Mothra vs. Godzilla was released in Japan on April 29th, 1964 and AIP released the movie in the United States on August 26th, 1964 as Godzilla vs. The Thing.  For its North American release, the movie was dubbed into English and had only minor cuts made to it.  A scene was also added of the U.S. Navy attacking Godzilla from offshore.  This scene was shot by Toho, but not included in the Japanese version due to the sensitivity around showing the America military firing onto Japanese soil.

The dubbed U.S. edit of Mothra vs. Godzilla was the only version available in North America for decades.  In 2006, Classic Media released both the U.S. version and original Japanese version of Mothra vs. Godzilla on DVD in North America on a single disk.  Only the original Japanese version of Mothra vs. Godzilla is currently available, and it is as part of The Criterion Collection’s Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 Blu-ray set featuring the first 15 Godzilla movies.

Ted K.: The Darkness Within

by Leave a Comment

Directed by Tony Stone, Ted K gives the viewer a look inside the life of Ted Kaczynski (Sharlto Copley), aka the infamous Unabomber. Once a genius mathematician, Ted now lives in insolation in the Montana mountains. Far from civilization, Ted grows an increasing contempt for women, technology, and modern society. Within the film, the viewer gets to see his declining mental state, and his life leading to his infamous killing spree. One of the most terrifying terrorist/serial killers to elude American authorities, Kaczynski kills with no remorse.

Beginning in the actual Montana land Ted was living in, the film explores Ted’s life and its affect on his psyche. A poor man with nobody besides his mother in his life, Ted has fallen to a low place. Once a math prodigy praised for his genius who became a young professor, Kaczynski now finds himself eating dirt, hitchhiking to payphones, and asking to borrow money from his mother. Over time, he slowly becomes more out of touch with reality, blaming it on technology. To him, technology is destroying nature and ruining the world. However, to the rest of the world, he sounds insane which sets him on a course to his infamous bombings and mind games with the police.

What makes Ted K unique is that it explores though his human side, beyond the bombings. Usually with films exploring serial killers and terrorists you empathize with them and see that they were just a product of society tearing them down. (After all, maybe if the world weren’t so cruel, they wouldn’t have lashed out against it.)

Well, that’s not the case for Ted.

Instead, Kaczynski is portrayed as an arrogant fool who believes himself to be better than everyone else. He treated women with disrespect. He talked down to his own family, as if he was the second coming of Jesus sent to save them from technology. While the film may show his human side, it also believes that he had no redeeming qualities at all.

In the end, Ted K is an interesting look at what motivates a man to commit the most unthinkable. Here, Kaczynski is detestable in every way, but that’s a testament to some solid work by Copley in the process. As such, Ted K shows what happens when someone succumbs to the darkness within and unleashes it upon the world.

Ted K is available in theatres on Friday, February 18th, 2022.

Monster Mondays: Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

by Leave a Comment

By Ben Dower

With the success of Godzilla, Toho immediately began production on a sequel.  Rather than Tokyo, this time it would be Osaka that would face the wrath of the monsters – plural.

In Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) is a pilot who spots tuna for an Osaka-based cannery until he runs into engine trouble.  He manages to safely land at a nearby island where his co-worker and friend, Koji Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki,) comes to rescue him.  While they are there, they spot two giant monsters fighting.  The monsters eventually battle off a cliff and plunge into the ocean.

Dr. Kyohei Yamane (Takashi Shimura, reprising his role from the previous film) identifies one of the monsters as a second Godzilla.  At the end of Godzilla, he had warned the government that continued nuclear testing could bring about another Godzilla.  The other monster, which has a spiky back and is quadruped, is identified as an Anguirus, a dinosaur in the Ankylosaur family that has probably also been awakened through nuclear tests.

The monsters soon make their way to Osaka and continue their battle, devastating the city.  As the monsters square off next to Osaka Castle, Godzilla gains the upper hand.  The two monsters plow through the castle and Godzilla bites down on Anguirus’ neck, killing him.  Godzilla leaves a burning Osaka, the smoke rising up above the city like a mushroom cloud.

With the cannery destroyed, Tsukioka and Kobayashi are transferred to the company’s operation in Hokkaido. While there, they become involved in the hunt for Godzilla.  Godzilla is found at a small, snow-covered island.  Kobayashi’s plane crashes into a mountain on the island, sending an avalanche of ice onto the monster.  The military proceeds to bombard the mountains around Godzilla, burying him in ice.

Godzilla Raids Again was released on April 24, 1955, a little under six months after Godzilla, and the film does feel rushed.  While Godzilla was a deep metaphor for nuclear destruction and Japan’s experience of World War II, Godzilla Raids Again largely jettisons that metaphor in favour of a more upbeat and generic monster film.

That said, there are still hints of the themes of the first film sprinkled throughout, like the long shot of Osaka burning where the smoke resembles a mushroom cloud.  Osaka is an interesting choice for the monster attack.  Like Tokyo, it was heavily bombed during the war.  The last air raid by the United States on Osaka took place on August 14, 1945 as part of a 1,000 plane final raid on Japan, an operation that went ahead despite the fact Japan was moving to surrender.  Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender the following day, August 15, 1945.

Also carried over from the first film is the military feel, with planes flying low over the city and dropping flares to try to lure the monsters away.  Scenes of civilian evacuations also evoke wartime imagery, and shots of a smouldering Osaka the day after the monsters’ attack are reminiscent of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, much like the imagery of a charred Tokyo was in Godzilla.

Like Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again was quickly purchased for U.S. distribution.  There were initially plans to film a whole new American story for the film called The Volcano Monsters.  Toho even shipped Anguirus and Godzilla suits to the United States for the American producers to use to create their own monster scenes.

Ultimately, the plans for The Volcano Monsters fell through and instead the film was dubbed and heavily edited for its North American release.  George Takei, who later found fame portraying Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, lent his voical talents for the English dub.  While the plot of the film is largely the same, sound effects were altered, stock footage inserted, and music changed.  The film was also retitled Gigantis, the Fire Monster. As with Godzilla, this Americanized cut of the film was the only version released in North America for 50 years. In 2006, both edits of the film were released on a single DVD by Classic Media.  

Currently, Godzilla Raids Again (Japanese version only) is available from The Criterion Collection as part of their Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 Blu-ray set featuring the first 15 Godzilla movies.

Monster Mondays: Godzilla (1954)

by Leave a Comment

Note from the Editor: A longtime friend to SF Radio, Ben Dower knows a thing or two about monster movies. Starting this week, Ben will be penning a weekly review of classic monster mayhem and their historical importance.

By Ben Dower

As World War II approached its end, Japanese cities were heavily bombed by the United States.  In one night in March 1945, Tokyo was devastated in a brutal firebombing raid that killed over 90,000 people, mostly civilians.  On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped the first nuclear bomb used in warfare on the city of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the second on Nagasaki.  

During the Occupation of Japan in the years following the war, occupation forces exorcised heavy censorship of the media to prevent criticism of the Allies.  When the Occupation of Japan ended in 1952, there was much more freedom for the media to begin discussing the topics that had been off-limits, including the atomic bombings.

In March 1954, the United States conducted the Castle Bravo H-bomb test on Bikini Atoll.  The test caused highly radioactive fallout to rain down on nearby inhabited islands, as well as the Japanese fishing vessel Daigo Fukuryū Maru.

It is from these events that Godzilla was born.  

While most American giant monster movies featured a beast that goes on a rampage before it’s eventually killed (ie.  King Kong or The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms), Godzilla took this formula and infused it with metaphor. The film starts with a fishing vessel plowing along the ocean, its crew relaxing on the deck in the sun.  Suddenly there is a flash of light, a roar, and the ship bursts into flames.  This is an obvious reference to the Daigo Fukuryū Maru, an event that had occurred just months prior and was fresh in the minds of the audience.

The film builds slowly, revealing first Godzilla’s leg as he tramples a village on Odo Island.  Paleontologist Dr. Kyohei Yamane (played by Takashi Shimura, an Akira Kurosawa staple) heads to Odo Island and it is discovered Godzilla’s footprints are radioactive with material consistent with a hydrogen bomb.  During the expedition to Odo Island, Godzilla appears on land again, his head rising over a hill and roaring menacingly at our protagonists in an incredible composite shot.

The Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF), which had only been founded in July of that year, drops depth charges on Godzilla and it is thought the monster is defeated.  As people celebrate Godzilla’s demise, the monster surfaces very much alive inside Tokyo Bay.

Godzilla soon comes ashore in Tokyo, trampling through a train station and picking up a train car in his mouth.  This sequence is the big reveal, featuring the first full shots of the monster.  It is an amazing special effects sequence, with the man-in-suit Godzilla composited behind real shots of Tokyo, the black-and-white film helping to conceal any imperfections.  The result is truly haunting as Godzilla moves like a spectre through the city, looming over the buildings and people below.  After a short rampage, Godzilla heads back into Tokyo Bay and disappears under the water.

The government quickly mobilizes the JSDF and constructs a barrier of high-tension wires along the shore to prevent Godzilla from entering the city again.  Civilians are evacuated, with scenes of soldiers loading children onto trucks and people carrying everything they can as they flee.  These scenes are very reminiscent of the war.

Sure enough, Godzilla rises from the sea again and heads to Tokyo.  He easily tears through the electrified barrier, clawing through the wires and melting the towers with his atomic breath.  Godzilla proceeds to blast away the JSDF and much of Tokyo, moving through the city silhouetted against the flames like a demon in hell.

It is in this rampage through Tokyo that we get our clearest wartime imagery.  The flames towering over Tokyo’s landmarks are no doubt meant to evoke the firebombing of March 1945.  Godzilla’s atomic breath, which is portrayed like a cloud fired out of his mouth, is an effort to visualize radiation on screen, vaporizing people like the atomic bombs did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and leaving others in the vicinity with radiation sickness.  Added to this are the planes, tanks, cannons, and rescue forces, all of which would remind viewers of the war.

Watching the devastation on his TV at home is the young scientist Dr. Serizawa (played by Akihiko Hirata).  Dr. Serizawa has been conducting research on oxygen and has discovered a way to create a new super weapon, which he calls the Oxygen Destroyer.  Dr. Serizawa ultimately must make a horrible decision: reveal the weapon to kill Godzilla and risk the nations of the world adding it to their arsenals, or keep his weapon a secret and let Godzilla continue his reign of death.

Godzilla was released in Japan on November 3, 1954 and was an immediate hit.  The North American distribution rights were sold in 1955 and the film was heavily re-edited, toning down some of the more explicit anti-nuclear themes and inserting scenes of Raymond Burr as an American reporter witnessing the events as they unfold.  While generally considered inferior to the original version, the editing to insert Raymond Burr into the action is incredibly well done.  This version was released to North American theatres in 1956 as Godzilla, King of the Monsters! and was the only way the first Godzilla film was distributed in North America for 50 years.  In 2004, the original Japanese version got a limited theatrical release in North America by Rialto Pictures.  

Godzilla and Godzilla, King of the Monsters! are currently available from The Criterion Collection, both as a stand alone DVD or Blu-ray and as part of their Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 Blu-ray set featuring the first 15 Godzilla movies.

Encanto: Cracks in the Foundation

by Leave a Comment

By Seun Olowo-Ake

Encanto is the story of the magical Madrigal family, their sentient casita and the people in their community that they have taken it upon themselves to protect. Written by Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith and featuring music by Lin-Manuel Miranda the Great (Incidentally, that’s how I shall be referring to him henceforth), Walt Disney Animation’s 60th film brings us magic, familial love, bright colours and Miranda’s conversational music style.

As the only person in the family Madrigal that was not blessed with a magical gift, Maribel (Stephanie Beatriz) compensates by helping her family out in any way she can. However, she soon discovers that, rather than aiding it, her efforts put her in the way of the family’s efficiency. This doesn’t deter her though, as when she discovers her family’s magic is in trouble, she decides that she will be the one to save it. Cue awkward dinners, ‘bigger on the inside’ adventures and making amends.

I really love my family and the idea of family in general so, even though it shocked me, I was not surprised to find myself teary eyed by the end of the movie. Seeing the Madrigals siblings, cousins, parents, tias and tios–all led by the graceful Abuela (Maria Cecilia Botero)–helping each other out made my heart very happy.

Encanto conveys different themes: from the importance of family (where the true magic lies) to the weight that comes with having to be perfect/having nothing go wrong with you to finding and understanding your gift when everyone around you seems more exceptional than you are, as seen in Maribel who is determined to prove her worth to the rest of her family.

However, by the end of the movie, I found myself asking an important question: what is good leadership?

Abuela and the Madrigals are the centrepiece of the community, and it is their magic that keeps it running. But when that magic starts to fade, the problem is not just that their family is losing their magic. It is that they are leaving their community vulnerable. Abuela understands this and tries to sell the illusion that the magic is okay for as long as possible. To me, she exemplifies the type of leader that feels they must always project strength, even when that strength is lacking. This need to show strength has been passed on to the rest of her family who eventually crack under the weight of that pressure, forcing them all to reckon with the fact that though they are the “strongest”/“most gifted”, they need their community. The film tells us by the end that good leader doesn’t just do everything in their power to take care of those in they lead. They also empower those under their influence to become leaders themselves.

A good leader understands they can’t do everything alone, and a good leader is not afraid to ask for help when they need it.

Now, I’m going to listen to the soundtrack on repeat because, believe it or not, this fast-talking rap music lover could not fully understand what was going on in some of the songs. Personally, I blame that on the fact that I watch everything with subtitles. (Or maybe I’m getting up there in age. Lol)

Encanto is premieres in theatres on November 24th, 2021.

The Last Duel: Pain from Another Perspective

by Leave a Comment

By Seun Olowo-Ake

Directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, The Last Duel is set in the 12th Century and is based on the true story of Marguerite de Carrouge (Jodie Comer), Jean de Carrouge (Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) and the accusation that put all their lives at risk.

Knowing nothing about the movie before I went in, I admit that I didn’t think that I would enjoy Last Duel. However, the more the story unfolded, the more interested I became. I liked how the film decided to tell the story from the three different perspectives and found it fun seeing how all three people saw the exact same situations in such different ways. I also really enjoyed the performances. Damon captured the hot-headedness of Jean; Driver exemplified the charming, eloquent womanizer that was Jacques; Affleck brought so much humour with his portrayal of the more secondary Lord Pierre; and Comer did an exceptional job portraying the devoted, meek wife, the subtle flirt, and the striving-but-not-quite-good-enough wife that Jean, Jacques and her narratives respectively show her to be.

The film begins by showing us the deterioration of Jean and Jacques’ relationship as fortune continues to smile on Jacque, often at the expense of Jean. The resentment that builds in the already brash Jean reaches its tipping point when his wife, Marguerite, accuses Jacques of rape. Jacques insists that he is innocent, and Jean insists that he is ready to fight to the death to prove that he is guilty. This leads us to the duel itself, which was the last one permitted by the Parliament of Paris. (I just discovered that. The title of the movie makes sense now.)

Many people have called this movie a ‘medieval #MeToo film’, and it very obviously has those undertones. From the characters that did not quite believe Marguerite to the women in the film that came forward with their own stories while simultaneously wondering why on earth Marguerite would ‘bring shame to her family in this way’, to the invasive questioning that she endures on the way to her potential death, The Last Duel certainly shows the struggle of women who have suffered to speak out against the toxic men in their lives.

However, another thing that stood out to me is the idea that we are the centre of our stories and that our actions are reactions to what we perceive around us. We see this in all three main characters, but particularly in Jacques who maintains his innocence because of how the world works to him and how he interpreted the behaviour of Marguerite.

I also found it fascinating that the person with the most drastic character change in all three accounts is Marguerite. Both Jean and Jacques were men who had professed in some way to love her, yet they did not truly see her. In fact, the movie constantly shows her struggling to be seen and heard by her husband, by Jacques and by society. It makes me wonder if we as the main characters in our stories view other people the way they truly are, or the way we want them to be. This idea gains more significance when we consider again that our actions are results of how we see the things around us and that we are constantly interacting with other people who are directly or indirectly affected by what we do. The Last Duel (and historical account) gives the more extreme example of assault, but that is something for us all to ponder as we go about our lives.

True love is putting others before ourselves and, in the context of this movie, seeking to truly understand their motivations before reacting- which I’ll admit is really hard, but no one ever said love was easy.

The Last Duel is available in theatres on Friday, October 15th, 2021.

RESPECT: Sing From the Soul

by Leave a Comment

By Seun Olowo-ake

Before writing this, I asked myself “what defines soul music?” and found that I could only come up with concepts to try to explain it. I know what someone means when they say ‘this singer has soul’ but I can’t tell you what having soul is. I was curious though, so I went to the dictionary to find the most succinct way to put it. 

The Merriam Webster dictionary says that soul music “originated in African American gospel singing, is closely related to rhythm and blues, and is characterized by intensity of feeling and vocal embellishments.”

Personally, I would say that soul music comes from and speaks to the human soul. I would also argue that any music that speaks to the soul soothes it in some way, a fact that is no doubt tied to genre’s origins in the African American community who, not even a century prior, were singing negro spirituals of hope in the midst of slavery. Music, especially soul music, is a space for the human soul in all its complexities to be expressed. Everything that makes the human soul rich is in effect what makes soul music so rich.

RESPECT gives us a glimpse at the rich soul of Aretha Franklin (played by Jennifer Hudson). The film takes us through the joy of her childhood and how it eventually caved in (both of those states of mind portrayed so beautifully by Skye Dakota Turner). RESPECT also shows her journey as a young woman trying to find her sound and the silent frustration of having everyone else speak on her behalf. It explores her dealing with tragedy, enduring abuse in secret, being directly involved in the Civil Rights movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and finding a haven in her music.

Jennifer Hudson embodies Aretha Franklin exceptionally well, which was to be expected; Franklin herself handpicked Hudson for the role. In hindsight, Hudson theorises that Franklin picked her, not just because of her talent, but because she saw that she could go to the emotional depths that were needed to tell this story accurately since Hudson had also lost her mother tragically. This emotional depth is obvious through the music and onscreen. Jennifer Hudson brought it. Something that I especially loved was how she portrayed Franklin physically, pressing her lips together when she wasn’t speaking, a motion that she explains as ‘almost biting her words’.

To me, the film is a redemption story. It shows the redemption of her voice because she does eventually learn to use it, especially in moments that feel so earned because of how quiet she had been. (One of these moments earned cheers from the predominantly black and female audience I was with.) It is also an example of redemption of her life through song because, as a lot of songs do, they make good out of her experiences. Finally, RESPECT shows a redemption of her soul as she is lifted up from a place of pain and quite literally into worship through Aretha Franklin’s faith in God.

Ultimately, this film is about using your voice. Aretha’s voice was her music. That’s where her soul was, and it called out loudly through song that ‘This is who I am, and I deserve some R-E-S-P-E-C-T”.

RESPECT is out in theatres on Friday, August 13th, 2021, and its soundtrack featuring the powerhouse that is Jennifer Hudson is available for listening. 

May they both wash over our souls and help them find the strength and dignity they deserve.