Bringing Godzilla Down to Size (2008) Review

Similar films: Gojira, Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster

Director: Norman England Stars: Yasuyuki Inoue, Akira Takarada, Tsutomu Kitagawa, Haruo Nakajima, Kenpachiro Satsuma Genre: Movie Documentary This is the story of people who work extremely hard to create something only to see it be destroyed. They build, with painstaking detail, miniature cities, only to see them crushed by a man in a rubber suit. That's the purpose that their creations serve and when they see their buildings and models get destroyed they surely experience both sadness and happiness all at once. They only hope that the destruction of their models goes well and the director is satisfied and their are no mishaps, or else they'll have to spend days, or even weeks, building them again. This is the story of the crew of special effects makers behind the fantastical Godzilla franchise. This documentary mostly focuses on the special effects department behind the Godzilla films, all the way from the Showa era to the Heisei and Millennium eras. Focus is especially put on Eiji Tsuburaya, who is best remembered as special effects director on the early Godzilla films and as the creator of the Ultraman series, and on Yasuyuki Inoue, who worked under Tsuburaya on many of the early Godzilla productions and had a career that lasted up until the late 80s (he died a few years after this documentary was made, whereas Tsuburaya died in 1970).  While stop-motion animation dominated monster movies that needed more than make-up in the West, Eiji Tsuburaya, noted for his stunning special effects and realistic modelwork,  pioneered a new method of making things look bigger than they are in 1954's Gojira; a method known as suitmation (a kind way of saying man in a rubber suit). To this day suitmation remains a very Japanese method, with few films from other countries utilizing suitmation. So much so that suitmation has become, as this documentary points out, a Japanese tradition and something that is now not only part of their films but their culture as well.  There is a threat to this tradition though: Computer Generated Imagery. Will CGI render suitmation obsolete? Can the tradition of suitmation continue without falling behind in terms of film quality? It's a worry that many Japanese special effects makers have today. There's also the question of what looks better: CGI or suitmation. Is CGI a cheap way of doing something and does it hold any less merit than the detailed models and costume designs or even stop-motion? As one special effects creator in the film suggests, there should be a combination of analog and computer generated effects, each complimenting each other and forming into a unique look that can't be achieved by using either separately. The film also focuses on the men that wear the suits in the Godzilla films; the men whose faces we never see but movements we can't forget. It's definitely interesting to hear these "suit actors'" stories. They definitely deserve more credit for what they do, as we learn in the documentary their jobs are extremely hard and they risk injury and even death far more often than you may think. They also show us that there is a certain art to playing a giant reptile; all three of the Godzilla costume actors have different monster styles and different methods of playing the big G. It's directed by Norman England, who subscribers of the Godzilla fanzine G-Fan may be familiar with from some wonderful articles he's written for the mag over the years (writer Steve Ryfle has done work for the magazine as well, and is also the author of the fabulous book on Godzilla Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G".). The production values are pretty low and the film obviously didn't have much of a budget behind it; many of the post-production effects look very silly and amateurish, but the documentary gets the job done when it comes to interesting information and the people it focuses on, and that's what really matters. This short documentary (just over an hour long) is, in my opinion, required viewing for any Godzilla fan, or even kaiju eiga fans in general. Especially if you're interested in special effects work. It's interesting, insightful, and entertaining. Give it a watch.

Chariots of the Gods (1970) Review

Director: Harold Reinl
Genre: Documentary

Chariots of the Gods is a documentary based on a book of the same name by Erich von Daniken. I really only watched this because I saw the cover art on Netflix and I thought it looked awesome and saw that it was from 1970 so I quickly clicked play. I was slightly disappointed when I realized it was a documentary (yes, I clicked play very fast) but I ended up watching the whole thing.

The documentary, like the book, proposes a theory that aliens set foot on Earth in ancient times thus effecting the course in which our societal evolution took. So, yeah, it's like Ancient Aliens (in fact, Daniken was actually on Ancient Aliens once).

It's interesting to see an ancient astronaut theory from over forty years ago, one of the earliest I suspect. I've never really gotten into the ancient astronaut theory but it's definitely an interesting one. How much of what this documentary says is fact is something I can't comment on, being that I really don't care enough to do the necessary research, but some of the "facts" in here are obviously bullshit yet some are very stimulating. Plus, there's enough actual knowledge to be learned in here aside from that which deals with the theory, so it's won't be a complete waste.

One has to recognize going into this that it is indeed just a theory. Take it for what it is. Theories are great things and can be incredibly fun. They require both creativity and intelligence (most of them anyway) so again, take it for what it is: a theory.

The production values are pretty solid though there is a bit of late '60s aesthetic to it that slightly dates it. The stand-out part for me though is the soundtrack composed by Peter Thomas; it's oddly amazing. Check this out for the music alone if not for anything else.

You'll find some value in this one if you know what you're getting in to and accept it for what it is. Recommended for those interested in the ancient astronaut theory.

Purchase Chariots of the Gods on Amazon: DVD

The Atomic Cafe (1982) Review

Director: Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, Pierce Rafferty
Genre: Documentary

This is very possibly the scariest film I have ever seen.

A compilation of propaganda shorts and instructionals from the "Atomic Age" during the Cold War in the '40s, '50s, and '60s. No commentary or celebrity input is needed for this documentary, the footage truly speaks for itself. 

The beginning of the film in particular is extremely chilling with footage of nuclear bomb victims, both alive and dead. Many people, when thinking of deaths due to bombings, never really understand just how haunting it truly is, no matter how many death counts you give them. But seeing the actual bodies or the forever scarred survivors, it helps put it into perspective just how chilling and disgusting it is. Of course no one can ever truly understand the pain as someone who experienced it, but it does provide some amount of insight.

The Atomic Cafe captures the Cold War paranoia of the time that many Americans were experiencing, if not all. Not only that but it also displays the enormous amount of propaganda from the U.S. government and the vast amount of blind patriotism that followed. It's quite disgusting, for me at least, to see the pure manipulation and murder that occurred and, sadly, still occurs. 

Not only are there the typical clips you'd expect to see from a film like this, e.g., political speeches, propaganda shorts; there's also clips that bring us directly into the lives of Americans at the time, right into their homes. One example would be a simple, very short clip of a woman standing in an air force base staring at the camera and subtly dancing. Or just seeing young kids dressed in gas masks and radiation suits. It adds a suiting, creepy factor. 

The film is accompanied by some great atomic tunes of the time that help set the feel. In each tune we either hear paranoia, or blind patriotism, or communist hate. If there's ever been a soundtrack that fit a film perfectly, it's this one.

Though it may seem a bit cruel to say, this film actually has a fair amount of black comedy present. Aside from the terrifying parts of course. Old-timey cheese is automatically laughable, but there are also some dark humor moments. A line from an Army information film from the Cold War: "When not close enough to be killed, the atomic bomb is one of the most beautiful sights in the world." Sad, horrifying, and funny all at the same time (depending on your sense of humor of course). After all, The Village Voice does deem it as "a comic horror film" as seen on the poster. 

To me, this is a film that should be required viewing for just about everyone. Scary, insightful, thought provoking, funny. 

Some other documentaries dealing with atomic weapons that I have seen and can recommend are The War Game and Radio Bikini.

Purchase The Atomic Cafe on Amazon: DVD - Stream - Or check out the DVD Collector's Edition