Dainipponjin aka "Big Man Japan"

[dean]

Dainipponjin, or 'Big Man Japan' is the tale of Masaru Daisatou, played by Hitoshi Matsumoto.  He is "Big Man Japan" a man who, with the aid of our friend Electricity, can become a giant man to help protect mankind from various giant monsters.

Quick description below, taken from the link on the Melbourne International Film Festival site:

"Dainipponjin has to be, hands down, the strangest picture in Cannes this year... [It is] tears-down-the-face funny and a genuine jaw-dropping oddity." - Variety

Stand-up comedian and actor Hitoshi Matsumoto adds 'director' to his list of cred-entials with this absurd mockumentary about a mild-mannered man who turns into a mega-sized superhero whenever danger descends on Japan. Played by Matsumoto himself, this man is anything but super on a daily basis - his alter ego is buckling under the pressure of having to face-off with foes live on television while his viewer ratings continue to drop.
A guaranteed cult classic, Dainipponjin maintains its comedic freshness - among many head-scratching moments - from start to finish.

"Some films can be best described by the word 'incomparable'." - International Film Festival Rotterdam




The film is a comedy presented in mostly documentary style with various monster fight scenes cut in.

Daisatou is a loser, who is generally fairly hated.  His TV show, which broadcasts his fight, has flagging ratings, and generally he seems like a bit of a crappy hero to protect Japan.  But he's all they've got, so when monster's strike, it's Big Man Japan to the rescue.

This film was boring in parts, pathetic in parts, but boy howdy is it pathetically funny in parts too!

The fight scenes are quite ridiculous, ranging from a 'hug monster' who has a terrible combover, to a monster that throws its eyeball at people, and falls asleep in dark places.  Daisatou is generally a loser who doesn't seem to have any cares in the world, not many friends and most people really don't care about him or like him.  Even his fights scenes 'suck' in people's eyes and most of the monsters he 'defeats' are dispatched in generally pathetic ways.  Really, pathetic does seem to be the word that comes to mind when thinking of this film.


This film is certainly an odd one.  For the most part the monster scenes are done in CGI, something which works quite well actually, considering how lowtech the rest of the film is.  Most monsters actually have human faces, and coupled with the CGI makes for some oddly real yet unreal scenes.

By far the best surprise is the ending, which is a pathetically great pay off for the rest of the film.  I could link to the youtube site of it, but it's much better once you've been put through the rest of the movie.

Overall I'd give it a 4 out of 5, purely based on it's ridiculousness.  It is actually quite slow in parts, but you can't help but hang on for the monster scenes, which always seem to go shorter than you like, but are great fun.  Though because of it's oddball nature this is very much a 'love it or hate it' film.  It doesn't seem to leave a whole lot of room for anyone to fence sit.

TRAILER'D!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTAoxSspBJE&feature=related

[RCMerchant]

I'm flabberghasted. That looks AMAZING!!! I NEED TO SEE THIS MOVIE.
Nay...on the basis of the trailer alone,I can honestly say I NEED to OWN this movie!!! 

[AnubisVonMojo]

A friend of mine dropped this into my lap last week along with a copy of Mutant Chronicles. I'm looking forward to checking them out and reviewing them in the coming week. 

[dean]

Good luck Anubis!  It can be a bit of a slog since it has those painfully quiet moments, but I hope you enjoy it.  Post reviews of both when done!

[CheezeFlixz]

A friend of mine dropped this into my lap last week along with a copy of Mutant Chronicles. I'm looking forward to checking them out and reviewing them in the coming week. 

Where can I get a copy? It's looks really good.

[AnubisVonMojo]

A friend of mine dropped this into my lap last week along with a copy of Mutant Chronicles. I'm looking forward to checking them out and reviewing them in the coming week. 

Where can I get a copy? It's looks really good.

Well, from what I've found the movie's available on DVD overseas, but not with English subtitles. I stopped asking Walt where he gets his stuff, I just take what he gives me. The copy I have is DVD quality, but I think the subs are somebody's homemade translations.

[CheezeFlixz]

Well, from what I've found the movie's available on DVD overseas, but not with English subtitles. I stopped asking Walt where he gets his stuff, I just take what he gives me. The copy I have is DVD quality, but I think the subs are somebody's homemade translations.

I know survival Japanese, generally in movies they talk to fast or mumble to much for me to keep up without sub's.

BTW the title mean "The Great Japanese"

[Allhallowsday]

Or SUPERIORJAPANSPIRITPEOPLE...    Can't wait to see it!!

[AVERY GUERRA]

The film is releasing here in the states in a regional theatrical release from "Magnet  Releasing" a new division of "Magnolia Pictures"[the ones that brought us "The Host". It's to be a part of the"Six-Shooter Film Series" they're releasing:  http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/13293    It's been receiving some fantastic reviews. I'm really looking forward to catching this one in theaters even if I have to travel a bit to see it.      

[inframan]

Big Man Japan came through Austin about 4 months ago, bad timing though I had to miss it in the theater.

[AVERY GUERRA]

^ Well, you should probably get another chance in March or shortly afterwards during it's new regional run. I'd imagine that it will hit all the major cities and probably at least one big city in each state; much like "The Host" did.   

[inframan]

Good to see its getting a wider release. The place where it played gets a lot of stuff that no other theater gets. For example I've been lucky enough to see such 'dircet to video' classics as Idiocracy, Battle Royale and Dagon on the big screen.