2013 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge (Book 3) Killer Kaiju Monsters

The previous two texts for this wonderful Classic Film Book Challenge have been decidedly academic, focusing on theoretical readings of a historical and cultural nature.  Admittedly this is my ideal point of film reading, but since it is the summer and I needed a bit of a breather, I decided to chase down a copy of Killer Kaiju Monsters, which may not seem to fit within the parameters of the Classic Film Book guidelines, but considering that much of the classic kaiju works exist within the years 1956-1968 it does indeed suffice, and the book focuses precisely on these years, while also looking at the extensive cultural influences of the unique genre.  For those of you who are uncertain about what exactly a kaiju is, might have caught the name in this summer's big blockbuster Pacific Rim and now associate it with huge sea monsters.  To a considerable degree this is precisely what they are, although they include the likes of Godzilla and his various frenemies.  In essence a kaiju is any sort of large monster that has its eyes set on destroying things, although in recent years it has evolved to be post-genre and highly revisionist.  Nonetheless, it still proves to be one of the more adored genres for many cinephiles, who either love the works in all their nonsensical glory, or simply, like myself, have a major nostalgia for the works.  The kaiju film is distinct, bizarre and in some cases quite trippy, so it should be no surprise that what one finds in Ivan Vartanian's Killer Kaiju Monsters is nothing short of unusual.  The film is split into various sections some introducing new readers to the genre, while others focus on the various creatures that occupy the screens of the still lively genre, but Vartanian also incorporates posters and screenshots as a means to push the visual elements of the genre as well.  In fact, one could almost argue that Killer Kaiju Monsters is far more a coffee table book than a piece of academic writing, but  the same argument could be made working in the opposite direction, because somebody just expecting to look at cool pictures and sketches, will come away with a great understanding of the cinematic history of kaiju and a whole new compendium of monsters with which to impress their nerdy friends.  Also, if all of these elements fail to draw out your curiosity, the text also includes a cutout to make your very own kaiju paper doll, which is one of many cool asides in this highly engaging text.

I know that this is a highly specialized read and one that is not wholly academic, but being somebody who has read, or is either currently working through the other texts available on this topic, I can attest to  the simplicity of Killer Kaiju Monsters as being its selling point.  Indeed, it will be somewhat impossible to learn the minutia of production or the nuclear warfare implications latent within the films, particularly the first Godzilla film, but it is not also preachy and absurdly personalized like say Godzilla on My Mind, which to date is my biggest disappointment in film based reading.  Other kaiju texts, make foolish assumptions that since they are working within a distinct field that their personal opinion suffices for academic grounding.  Between the humorous images of cartoon Godzilla offspring and full page spreads of Mothra shooting beams upon Tokyo, one has a better time coming to watch the evolution of kaiju cinema through Vartanian's work than any other text availabe on the subject.  Again, I will admit that some of my adoration for this particular book comes from its quirkiness, but that is not intended to dismiss its value.  Considering that many of the major kaiju films have yet to make their American release in any format, some of the research done for this text is the first of its kind, yet avoids all the pretense of more high-minded approaches to the same subject.  Yet, I still feel it necessary to remind readers that this work is anything but distancing, Vartanian wants both the newcomers to kaiju as well as the diehard fanatics to take something away from his book, which perhaps helps explain its decidedly post-modern structure, wherein a fully academic text would be derailed by a drawn-out description of Gidorah's special powers and theoretical weight versus that of Rodan, it is well at home in Killer Kaiju Monsters.  Similarly, if this text were solely a coffee table book the extensive looks at political themes in the films would be off-putting to the casual reader.  Much like the kaiju films themselves, Killer Kaiju Monsters exists in a perfect space between low culture schlock and high theory cinema.

Best Film Discovery of the Book: While it lists all of the films in the genre, it decides to give some discussion to more than others, particularly when they relate to Godzilla.  One such film was Godzilla vs. Megalon, which also featured the first onscreen presence of Jet Jaguar, whose theme song is enough to make the entire movie worth viewing.  I suggest it as a discovery, because I had avoided it under the misguidance of it being a lesser kaiju work, indeed it is one of my favorites, now third only to the original Godzilla movie and the psychedelic Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster.  For what this book offers, it is insanely cheap.  If you find yourself in the market for something to flip through or have as a conversation piece, I would suggest looking no further than this wonderful text.

It Probably Came From A Smelly Planet Far Far Away: Godzilla Vs The Smog Monster (1971)

While the Godzilla franchise, beginning with the poetically tragic original, has never cowered away from an on the nose metaphor, particularly concerning a nuclear weapons armistice, perhaps it has never become so blatant as in the seventies offering Godzilla vs Hedorah aka The Smog Monster.  This particular film within the movie film franchise is quite psychedelic and indicative of so many of the films being released in Japan during the decade, including some of my personal favorites, House and Jigoku.  As has been the case with so many of my hard to find Japanese films, dubbing proves inavoidable, and it is rarely decently executed.  With this particular dubbing it is hard to tell if the kid is being dubbed by an actual child or a woman doing her best young boy voice, not to mention the greatest trait about dubbing Godzilla movies in particular, the fact that the speakers will use their normal    voices for every word except Godzilla, in which they try their best to sound Asian, a task that always fails.  Of course, this is a post-production issue that should not lead me to judge the film harshly and I certainly will not, especially since it is easily my favorite film in the franchise next to the original, which will always be untouchable in my book.  The mixture of ant-beatnik malaise, experimental psychedelic costuming and setting and the somewhat unsuspecting incorporation of animation allow for a film that is both extremely watchable and equally unusual.  Godzilla vs The Smog Monster has a considerable amount of educational documentary style moments throughout, which pair interestingly with the chaos of the fight scenes between Godzilla and Hedora, so much so that if it were not for the incredibly adult scenes of promiscuity in the night clubs it would be easy to claim this as a children's film.  I know that Godzilla has become a thing of obscurity to many American filmgoers, particularly considering the less than stellar American version from 1998, however, it is the brilliance of these occasional masterpieces such as Godzilla vs The Smog Monster that remind me of the possibilities for the franchise in the future, hell look at what Daniel Craig did for James Bond...we can only hope similar things happen with The King of All Monsters.

This particular incarnation of a Gojira offering, situates itself in Japan in the early seventies, one that is noticeably industrialized and crowded.  A young boy is shown, living on the coastline of Tokyo, along with his marine biologist dad, of course, their relationship noticeably strained as the young boy is seeks solace in his action figures of Godzilla and other monsters.  It is not until the marine life around their ocean house begins to deteriorate that they come in contact with some mysterious sludge overtaking the ocean.  It is revealed that the sludge consumes Earth's pollution as a means to grow, quickly expanding to insurmountable proportions, slithering and consuming everything in its path, including the drug-fueled hippy kids dancing in clubs. Of course the great and now well-loved Godzilla appears to aid the people of Tokyo, however, even his strength and poise proves lacking at the seemingly unstoppable Hedorah, causing him to flee from their initial bout.  Initially befuddled as to how to challenge this nearly unbeatable monster, the doctor considers the effects trying out the monster would have, particularly considering that it appears to thrive off of being somewhat sludgelike, and while the technology initially fails due to the eruptive nature of Godzilla and Hedorah's battle, Godzilla eventually uses his ray gun powers to engergize the beam thus drying out Hedorah and making it easier to defeat.  After succesfully destroying The Smog Monster, Godzilla uses some sort of bowel induce rocket fire to fly off into the distance, of course we are left to wonder if humanity has learned from yet another of their erroneous mistakes...considering the sequels it appears as though they have yet to learn.

One of the major components and personal loves I have for the Godzilla franchise is the director's and writer's willingness to make a social/environmental commentary that is obnoxiously on the nose.  When it is embrace I have no problem with this, especially in relation to such an consistent franchise.  However, when this fails it is nearly unbearable, refer to Birdemic if you do not believe.  However, what is more brilliant about the Godzilla franchise is the concern for human suffering and unification.  Often taking a backseat to the battles and explosions of these action heavy films, rarely are the tragedies of human life ignored.  The narratives filling the gaps between building crumbling are always excellent microcosms of the human existence, made literal by their relative diminutiveness compared to the monsters of the title.  This is certainly true within Godzilla vs The Smog Monster as we are given an incredibly earnest and heartfelt study of a man attempting to salvage a relationship with his son, one who is able to see the tragedy of human destruction and demands the initial acknowledgement of Hedorah, despite the dismissive voices of his father, and other parental figures.  The closing scenes of the son and father uniting in celebration of the defeat of Hedorah provide a sweet climax to what seems like a nearly impossible rekindling of past tragedies.  No longer do we expect the child to take refuge in his toys and slides, but that given the grander scale of human destruction witnessed the two will cherish their time together.  Also, the film seems really anti-hippy/youth culture, but that is an entirely different critique altogether.

Key Scene:  The moment when Godzilla ray blasts himself into the sky is too bad ass not to take revelry in, it is an awesome moment within a philosophically and emotionally heavy movie.

I would say buy this movie immediately, but its ticket price is a bit hefty, hopefully, a impending Godzilla movie will help many of these long overlooked classics to reemerge.  Until then find a copy in any way you may...even if it means watching it online.