Nihon Chinbotsu Review

I finally got the chance to catch this movie so quickly in Singapore despite it being shown in Japan just this summer. As the official screening will only be next Thursday i.e. 26 Oct, the sneak previews are held this weekend thus explaining why I got to watch this today. Due to the fact that Kusanagi Tsuyoshi's face is not shown on the chirashi uploaded online (i.e. the Johnny's Jimusho ruling that their artistes' faces cannot be used on websites), I took a picture of the poster at the cinema. As the place was rather dim, the lights happened to be near the poster and I used a camera phone, that explains why the resolution is not that satisfactory. There were 3 other versions of the posters pasted on the same pillar but those did not have pictures of the cast so I decided against shooting them. Be warned that there will be plenty of spoilers in the following content so do not proceed if you want everything to be kept in suspense until you watch the movie.

From the way I see it, Kusanagi being featured against a blue blackground while Shibasaki Kou shown in front a fiery red blackground has a lot to do with their occupations. Kusanagi's role Onodera Toshio is a submarine pilot which means that he works in the sea while Shibasaki works as a resuce team member constantly faced with disasters or fires so that explains the contrast.

One thing I'm not too pleased about is the direct translation of the movie title which sounds really crude in a sense. I'm just being picky here...

As compared to what I observed today versus Death Note which I watched last Saturday, there were some significant differences. First of all, although it was rather late at night, there were many youngsters watching Death Note while for Nihon Chinbotsu which was an afternoon session, there were many families consisting of the elderly and the children. It seems to suggest that the composition of viewers both movies attract don't really overlap. I noticed that promotional efforts for Nihon Chinbotsu weren't as intensive as Death Note which could also explain why the first 4 rows of the cinema were empty as compared to a full house for Death Note.

Coming to my views of the movie, I must say that I enjoyed this to a certain extent but I do have some grouses about some aspects.

With regards to the CG disaster scenes, the impact was strong and very impressive. It will no doubt leave a deep impression on you. However, the story leaves much to be desired because it seems to have paid too much attention to catch the viewer's attention with the visuals. Here are the points which I don't feel too good about:

-The relationship between Onodera Toshio (Kusanagi) and Abe Reiko (Shibasaki Kou)
There should have been more screentime allocated to them. I just don't comprehend how they developed such a strong relationship when the movie only showed them meeting for the first time as Reiko saved Onodera during an explosion after an earthquake. The next time we see them together, Reiko mends Onodera's jacket and goes to his workplace specially to return it to him. And then, we see Onodera going to Reiko's place to visit Misaki (Fukada Mayuko) whom Reiko also saved at the same time. Nothing really points to the fact that they started dating and yet we suddenly see Onodera asking Reiko to go with him to England when everyone is evacuating overseas?! Especially when you see how they parted ways when Onodera had to go on a mission of no-return, it suggests that they have very deep feelings for each other. I really would have wanted to see some happy scenes for Onodera and Reiko rather than them being subjected to the pain of parting just when they finally reveal to each other how they really feel. I think this was also one of the grouses from Japanese viewers who wanted to see more romance in the movie.

- The hurried pace of the story
Frankly speaking, the movie seemed to be rushing from the start. In less than 20 minutes, so many earthquakes and explosions had taken place that I was looking at my watch and wondering what content would be left for the movie to explore if they showed the CG scenes at one shot at the beginning. And true to what I expected, the ending was extremely unsatisfactory, at least to me. If Tadokoro (Toyokawa Etsushi) had thought of a way to solve the problem long ago, I don't see why the story had to drag it till the very end before he provided his suggestion to Takamori (Oji Mao). And it felt as if a simple solution was all it needed to resolve the tough situation. So why did all these people die if rectifications could be done much earlier? And it seems like the movie was more interested in dishing out visual shock to the viewers in terms of the CG disaster scenes rather than focus more on human relationships in the face of danger or spend more time to explore how they solved the problem.

- The unsatisfactory ending
I don't understand why the hero of such stories have to die ALWAYS at the end. It's almost an unwritten rule that unless you die, you can't be considered as the hero in this type of movies. And surely you don't need me to say who died so I'll leave it for you to find out how he died.

With regards to the cast, here are my comments about some of them:

- Kusanagi Tsuyoshi as Onodera Toshio
Well, he's one of the main reasons why I wanted to watch this. ^__^ Kakkoii! However, his screentime is terribly limited where the disaster scenes appear more than the cast does. Nevertheless, he sure showed his acting skills despite the limitations since Onodera doesn't show too much of his emotions except when he had a showdown with Reiko and wanted to know her feelings for him just before he left for his mission. Too bad there weren't many romance scenes for the leads. Come to think of it, Kusanagi doesn't have that much kissing or intimate scenes even for his dramas...

- Shibasaki Kou as Abe Reiko
This is where you see her with long hair before she snipped it off to a short bob. Her role is a gutsy lass who's not afraid of danger but scared of loving someone and losing him in the process. Like I said, if there were more emotional scenes, it would have probably given her the chance to show her depth as an actress.

- Toyokawa Etsushi as Tadokoro Yuusuke
That hairstyle sure reminds me of Kuzu in "Bengoshi no Kuzu" although the movie was shot much earlier than the drama. And the blend of some frivolous with the seriousness makes the resemblance more striking. He's a charismatic actor but his role seems kind of helpless at times instead of looking the part of a leader in the operations to stop the disaster.

- Fukuda Mayuko as Kuraki Misaki
Being dubbed as one of the tensai koyaku (genius child actors) these days, Fukuda does make her presence felt on screen as a cute girl who looks her age. Some of her past roles usually make her seem like a girl who's much mature than her actual age so it's nice to see the smile on her face. However, there's not much room for her to show her stuff in this movie which is really a pity.

- Oji Mao as Takamori Saori
This tough lady is simply gorgeous for her age. If not the fact that she is the ex-wife of Matsudaira Ken, I would never have paid notice to her name prior to this movie. If I'm not wrong, she's also in her 40s or nearing 50 just like Kuroki Hitomi and she looks almost as good as Kuroki. Maybe it's because she doesn't appear as much on TV like Kuroki so not many people know her. Anyway, I think she has one of the meatier roles in the movie where she appeared more times than the leads did but of course, comparatively, the leads had more screentime despite the limited appearances. Too bad there wasn't any focus on her relationship with Tadokoro after the teaser about them being an item in the past appeared in the movie.

- Oikawa Mitsuhiro as Yuuki Tatsuya
This guy also has limited screentime but he does leave an impression on me. Frankly speaking, I think Micchi is very charming on screen as compared to off-screen where he tends to be a bit too gentle or feminine for my liking. I admit that I'm quite attracted to him or rather his role in this movie. ^__^

- Ishizaka Koji as Yamamoto Naoyuki
Haha, this guy proved to be a surprise for me. I was wondering why he is labeled as a special guest in the cast and after watching the movie, you will understand the rationale. He appears in a rather important role BUT he will fade out in a grand fashion. That's why they got a pretty well-known actor to take up this seemingly insignificant but still important role.

On the whole, I must say that I do feel disappointed with the movie especially with regards to the feeble storyline. However, it's still worth watching it if you fall into the categories:

1) You like the cast members
2) You like disaster films
3) You are prepared to forgive the not-so-impressive storyline for the sake of the "powerful" CG scenes dished out

Last but not least, I have posted the covers of the DVDs to be released on 19 Jan next year. The limited edition (catalog number: GNBD-7381, price 7140 yen) consists of 3 discs, dual-track explanations, making-of footage, replica of the director's script, image boards and illustration cards. There will also be comparison images with the 1973 original movie with this remake in one of the discs. As for the normal press (catalog number: GNBD-7389, price 3990 yen), it features the leads on the cover and consists of the movie only. The special in this edition would be an interchangeable 3D DVD casing jacket.