Something that you will find out about me very soon, if you get to know me, is that I am a big fan of Japanese films. In fact, some of the main films that sparked my passionate interest in film (such as, Battle Royale, Love Exposure, Memories of Matsuko, Audition, Ichi The Killer and Studio Ghibli Animes like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Princess Mononoke, etc, etc) are Japanese films. Since then my taste in films has gotten more diverse, but Japan still seems to be a culture with many more treats to be discovered in the world of cinema and therefore Japanese films are something that I repeatedly revisit.

When many people think of Japanese cinema they tend to think of one of a few types of movies: Extreme films featuring scenes of disembowelment, bright and cheery Anime movies, scary horror movies or a combination of all three. Limiting your understanding of Japanese cinema to just these categories of films however, does Japanese cinema (and possibly Japanese culture as a whole) a huge disservice, as there is much more to Japanese films than that.

Take for instance the films of Yasujiro Ozu, a director who managed to explore many of the political and social issues of pre and post war Japan whilst also creating heartwarming and beautiful characters in a realistic setting.

(The picture is taken from wikipedia)

The subjects of this blog however are unfortunately a more cliched group of Japanese films. I have just been watching trailers of old monster movies on youtube and I have compiled a short list of films which I have not seen yet, but would like to.

• Godzilla (1954) - This is the original Godzilla film and seems like one which I should probably have seen, but unfortunately haven't.
•        
• Madame White Snake (aka The Legend of the White Serpent) (1956) - This is a film based on an old Chinese folk tale and is a co-production between the Japanese Toho studios and Hong Kong's famous Shaw Brothers Studio. The trailer looks as though it has the same bright and colourful studio sets that we are used to seeing in the Hong Kong made Shaw Brothers films like Come Drink With Me, but with a Japanese twist.
• The Mysterians (1957) - This film looks like it has some fantastic old style special effects, which I am a big fan of. It looks like it may possibly end up being one of those kinds of films which is very visually interesting, but does not much in the way of story line. This however does not put me off seeing it, as I have gotten joy from watching other Sci Fi movies which are very thin on story line. For example, the Soviet Sci Fi movies In The Dust Of The Stars (1976) and Eolomea (1972) had very confusing plots, that didn't seem to make any sense, but were still very enjoyable to watch because of their creative low budget special effects and hilarious robots that look like walking toasters.
•   

(All of the pictures for this section were taken from wikipedia)

Another thing which I have been thinking about, when thinking of Japanese monster movies, are the films of Shinya Tsukamoto. I am lucky enough to own a copy of the Third Window Films Blu ray release of Tetsuo parts 1 and 2 (Tetsuo: The Iron Man and Tetsuo II: Body Hammer) which features one of Tsukamoto's early films, the 45 minute long Super 8 film, The Adventures of Electric Rod Boy as a special feature. 

The Adventures of Electric Rod Boy is a fantastic film. It does however look extremely cheap and amateurish, but this actually helps the film rather than hindering it. I think the thing which makes the film good is the wonderfully creative amateur special effects and the fact that it is so visually interesting. This film is very inspiring for someone such as myself, who is just starting out trying to make films, because it proves that the main thing which makes a film good is the creativity and effort that goes into it and not how professional or Hollywood it looks.

 

    (Picture grabbed from DVD release)