GODZILLA MINUS ONE

A Rumble in Tokyo’s Postwar Rubble

Venue: Toho Cinemas Hibiya (Toho Cinemas Chante), 109 Cinemas Premium Shinjuku, Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills, Toho Cinemas Namba
Nov. 23 (Thu), 2023- : Chech the each theater
Official website: godzilla-movie2023.toho.co.jp/
Theater website: hlo.tohotheater.jp/net/schedule/081/TNPI2000J01.do
Theater website: 109cinemas.net/premiumshinjuku/
Theater website: hlo.tohotheater.jp/net/schedule/009/TNPI2000J01.do
Trailer: https://bit.ly/3G0IkP5
Tariff:  Please check on the theater sites.
Advance tickets: Please check on the theater sites.
Talk event: Please check on the theater sites.

Title: ゴジラ−1.0 (GODZILLA−1.0)
Director: Takashi Yamazaki (山崎貴)
Duration: 125 min

Some of you may have been lucky enough to snag tickets to the Tokyo International Film Festival’s Closing Night screening, or even to attend the Hollywood premiere in early November, but for most of you, this will be your first chance to view the 70th anniversary film Godzilla Minus One with English subtitles, across Tokyo and a full week ahead of the North American opening on December 1. Screen International noted, “This confident crowd-pleaser throttles the recent Hollywood remakes,” and indeed, with VFX wizard Takashi Yamazaki on board as director and special effects maestro, the king of monsters is not only truly terrifying, it really throttles all previous iterations.

Kamiki and Yamazaki at the North American premiere of Godzilla Minus One
©Yahoo Japan

The first Japanese-produced Godzilla film since 2016’s Shin Godzilla and the 37th installment of the legendary kaiju franchise, it pays tribute to the series’ roots in the 1950s, spanning a period from just as the war ends through the ensuing years of postwar devastation and despair. Godzilla Minus One refers to a time when Japan feels like it has to rebuild from zero. When the monster arrives, it plunges the nation into a less-than-zero state.

Our first glimpse of the titular kaiju arrives in the opening moments, when an understandably timid kamikaze pilot, Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), has just feigned engine trouble and landed on an island in the Pacific for repairs. With the first attack of the prehistoric beast, he once again runs from responsibility, and winds up one of only a few who survive. (Another is an aircraft mechanic played impressively by Munetaka Aoki, of Rurouni Kenshin fame.)

Koichi later arrives in a decimated Tokyo, where he’s lost everyone and everything. A former neighbor helps him restart his life, and he gets a job with a team of weapons scientists who are defusing sea mines left over from the war. Although he continues to be tortured by his inaction during wartime, he is soon living platonically with Noriko (Minami Hamabe, currently Kamiki’s costar on the hit NHK series Ranman), who is also orphaned and alone. Together, they begin raising an abandoned baby with the help of Sumiko (Sakura Ando), as Tokyo begins to rebuild around them.

But then, the melodrama subsides and the titular beast returns. As he begins wreaking fearsome havoc and appears unstoppable, Koichi steps up to the plate and bravely works to defeat the seemingly invincible foe.

The final 30 minutes are absolutely exhilarating.

Toho Cinemas Hibuya (Hibiya Chante)

109 Cinemas Premium Shinjuku

Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills

Toho Cinemas Namba