Vampires, Assassins, and Romantic Angst by the Seaside: Takoma Reviews

aAbsolutely love this insight, and why it's so important to think about historical context when watching these films.

Varan, 1958

Two scientists venture into a remote region of Japan to study rare butterflies, but are killed by a strange earthquake. Yuriko (Ayumi Sonoda) is a reporter and also the sister of one of the scientists, and she goes to investigate what really happened, along with scientist Kenji (Kozo Nomura). Disregarding the warnings from locals, the group goes into the mountainside and discovers a prehistoric creature called Varan. The military must scramble to contain and defeat the monster.

A cool monster design and likable protagonists can’t lift this above feeling like Godzilla-lite.

I’ll start by saying that the Criterion Channel lists this as Varan the Unbelievable, but I believe that the version I watched is just Varan, the original Honda film and not the Americanized film that poached footage.

While I’m glad I didn’t watch the (apparently unwatchable) remixed version, this original film is something of a let-down. The problem isn’t just that it borrows its overall structure from Godzilla, but that it doesn’t deliver on the elements that made that film so great.

The first third of this one was very promising. The mysterious earthquake is a great inciting moment, introducing the very likable Yuriko and Kenji and adding personal stakes to the film. Then you get the reclusive village that worships a strange mountain god. A sequence where a young boy chases a runaway dog into the forest is a strong bit of suspense.

I will also never tire of the slow motion, roiling water slowly parting to reveal a monster, in this case the lizard-like Varan. I quite like the design of the creature, with spikes down its back and a more hunched posture.

But once the film hits that point of “oh, it’s a monster, how do we kill it?”, things get a bit bland. Like Godzilla before him, Varan emerges because of human activity damaging the environment, but there’s not the same sense of scientists weighing or reflecting on the impact that the military and industry are having on the natural world. Likewise, the sequences of destruction feel lifted from the earlier film, but don’t do anything different enough to distinguish themselves.

This was enjoyable enough to watch, but not distinct enough to make a real lasting impression.

Wow, I've never even heard of this one.

Varan was decent, but sure felt like something made for TV (it was intended for the small screen and was later reformatted for theaters after the American co-production company folded, and the TV deal went up in a puff of smoke). The Ifukube score is one of his best, a lot of later works originated with Varan.

I bought a bunch of Honda's kaiju films on disc years ago, and this one had a commentary track. I don't know if Criterion offers that as a bonus.

I gave it the same 3-stars.

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Completed Extant Filmographies: Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Satyajit Ray, Fritz Lang, Andrei Tarkovsky, Buster Keaton, Yasujirō Ozu - (for favorite directors who have passed or retired, 10 minimum)

Worth a look. Especially the first third.

I can't honestly say I was tuned into the score (it's one of the elements of a film I don't tend to notice unless it's intrusive), but that's interesting to hear.

I also really liked a sequence in the film where some unfortunate fisherman are out on the water when Varan makes an appearance.

Yeah, when that guy told them girls "The Mysterians want to marry our women. You two are on their first list. Mysterians have pictures of you. It's true." I thought "I don't approve of their methods, but I cannot blame Mysterians all the same!".

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San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.

I’ve seen the American version of Varan. It’s retitled as Varan The Unbelievable. I didn’t care for it.

It wasn't even that unbelievable. Unlikely, maybe, but hardly unbelievable.

Varan the Mildly Improbable just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Atragon, 1963

An undersea empire called the Mu emerges from the depths of the ocean to declare war on the land. The best hope for the people on the surface is a long-lost Japanese naval captain named Jinguji (Jun Tazaki) who is rumored to be developing the ultimate submarine, the Atragon. Photographer Susumu (Tadao Takashima) and Jinguji’s estranged daughter Makoto (Yoko Fujiyama) set off on a mission to find the captain and convince him to help defend Japan and the rest of the world.

Winning special effects get bogged down by a slog of a story.

There is a promise of something exceptionally weird and interesting in the beginning of this movie, as well as glimpses of that wonderful weirdness throughout. In the bizarre opening sequence, Susumu is doing a nighttime photo shoot when a car plummets into the water. Later in the movie, characters emerge eerily from the water.

The look of everything is really great. The underwater world of the Mu civilization is this interesting mish-mash of ancient cultures and new technology. There are also some really spectacular effects sequences when the Mu decide to flex their power and destroy major cities all over the globe. In the last act, we meet a sea dragon called Manda, a beautifully rendered creature that wisely appears in all of the promotional material for the film. The much-desired Atragon submarine has a charming retro-futuristic vibe to it, doing improbable things like flying in the air.

But the movie gets mightily bogged down in the middle as Susumu and Makoto arrive at the secluded island where Jinguji is hiding out and assembling his beloved submarine. When it comes to finally meeting his long lost daughter . . . Jinguji simply doesn’t care. And the film doesn’t manage to make this heartbreak an effective dynamic. And when it comes to using the submarine, Jinguji is determined that it will only be used to restore the empire of Japan. But, my man, the Mu are destroying Japan as we speak! What empire are you going to restore if the island is crumbled to dust? The conflicts in this middle third are frustrating and tedious.

And while there is visual greatness all throughout the film, the big action of the last act doesn’t hit very hard. The showdown between the Atragon and Manda should be epic, but instead is pretty mild and anti-climactic.

Definitely worth a look, but beware that it squanders a wacky premise and some great effects.

Where did you find this streaming?

They are all on Criterion Channel. They have a Honda collection with like 15 movies.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, 1964

Princess Salno (Akiko Wababayashi) is nearly assassinated en route to a conference about UFOs. She emerges later in disguise as a mysterious psychic who predicts great destruction on the horizon. Reporter Naoko (Yuriko Hoshi) and her detective brother (Yosuke Natsuki) become involved in the situation, trying to keep the mysterious woman from being assassinated by the diabolical Malmess (Hisaya Ito). But assassins are small change compared to the danger of the alien dragon creature Ghidorah who soon arrives on Earth.

Excellent monster action and an endearingly bonkers storyline make this a delightful film.

Sometimes movies that have a thousand and one plot elements can feel scattershot, confusing, and grating to watch. But this movie is an example of an avalanche of characters and set pieces working through force of its own momentum.

I really loved the world-building in this film. I haven’t seen all of the big monster movies, so I’m not sure how much of what I was seeing was just confirming established dynamics and how much was actually new. This was my first time seeing the characters of the Shobijin (twins Yumi and Emi Ito), tiny women (fairies?) who come from Infant Island, home to Mothra. I loved the idea of this strange woman, who might be human or might also be an alien?, just wandering around and making ominous predictions.

But the real magic in this film is the monsters, and specifically Mothra. Mothra, where have you been all my life?!!??! I cannot overstate how completely smitten, delighted, and just enchanted I was with this benevolent larva/moth goddess monster. While I generally appreciate the fact that several monster movies don’t cast the monsters as evil, it was so fun seeing just a straight-up good and kind monster. For me, peek adorability came in a scene where Mothra basically did a therapy session with Godzilla and Rodan to get them to help defeat Ghidorah. When the two of them refuse, she bravely sets out on her own to fight a foe much too powerful for her. Because Mothra is dope, and Mothra gets things done. (Naturally, the whole dialogue is done in monster talk, with the Shobijin translating).

Now, does the film get a little silly at times? Yes. At one point one of the monsters is struck on the head and his eyes roll around in different directions like an actual cartoon character. But even the occasional missteps in tone didn’t really ding the film for me.

This is the kind of movie that I could easily see rewatching over and over. The monster fights look really good. The whole look of the film is interesting and strange in the right ways. This is probably a close second to the original Godzilla film in terms of how much I enjoyed it.

Mothra vs Godzilla, 1964

After a huge storm, a mysterious egg is found floating in the ocean. A wealthy businessman buys the egg and begins building a convention center around it as a spectacle. But reporters Ichiro (Akira Takarada), photographers Junko (Yuriko Hoshi), and professor Miura (Hiroshi Koizumi) come to learn that the egg belongs to Mothra. Despite their efforts the egg continues to be held prisoner. But when Godzilla emerges from the ground and begins wreaking havoc, humankind asks for Mothra’s help to defeat the lizard monster.

Exciting monster action and a compelling human side plot make for an engaging story.

A handful of thrilling setpieces can really carry a movie in the big monster genre, but the best ones are those where the plot around the slugfests make an impact. In the case of this film, the surrounding plot hits on some very strong themes, including corporate greed, the exploitation of natural resources, and the legacy of atomic-era testing.

Kumayama (Yoshifumi Tajima), the sleazy businessman, is someone who exists in pretty much every modern society: a natural resource is out there and technically unclaimed, and so he leaps at the chance to exploit it for his own financial gain. And this is made all the more serious when we get a look at Infant Island, a land that has been ravaged by the effects of nuclear testing. Mothra is an integral part of protecting this place and its inhabitants, but all of that falls on deaf ears.

All that said, the film is hopeful. A constant message throughout is the notion that people will see the mistakes of the past and work toward a more peaceful, gentle future. And this theme of hope is represented beautifully in the way that Mothra’s story is framed. When the humans go to beg for Mothra’s help, they learn that she is dying. And yet despite being weak, despite the fact that human have literally stolen her child, Mothra comes to their rescue. This is probably the only monster movie to make me cry, but when a dying Mothra used some of her last moments of life to be close to her egg, I couldn’t help it.

The monster fight scenes are all solid, with the later addition of larval Mothra babies a particular delight. Mothra, in all her incarnations, really is the best.

If you're on kaiju mode, let me recommend Pulgasari; more for its historical/cultural importance and the circumstances behind its production than for its merits, but still an interesting watch.

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Not currently streaming on my services, but I added it to my watchlist, thank you!

It's free on Cultpix, but you can also find it on YouTube.

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Fab, thanks!