Negadon – Monster from Mars
Dir Jun Awazu’s film is being promoted by its US distributor - Central Park Media (www.centralparkmedia.com), as the first completely CGI “Kaiju Eiga” film – and it was this fact that caught my attention along with a visit to the official site (www.negadonattacks.com) and viewing of some tantalising stills and a very small trailer clip.
Designed to look like the films from the Golden Age of Godzilla monster movies, the film has also made use of bespoke software to achieve the required retro look of an old film, reminding you of recent similar ventures into this territory, most notably, “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” – but on viewing of the whole film, supplied by CPM on a screener disc, it becomes apparent that Awazu has gone further than simply a transliteration of the classic “man in a rubber suit” film in another medium – CGI, and produced a film which is actually an elaboration of the source material and to some extent takes it a stage further.
I have a confession to make here – while I’m a fan of Godzilla films and Kaiju Eiga in general, I’ve never really been able to watch one through without getting bored, or worse, falling asleep, despite some choice US overdubs like “Double crossing Alien Fink!” – the reason being that they tend to suffer from turgid parallel story-lines involving the non-latex characters – with long pauses between the sections true fans want to see, the titanic punch ups between the monsters.
It’s possible that Awazu sees Negadon as a trailer for a much longer film, but I doubt it and I’d suggest that the reason it works so well is that it has been made with a great deal of economy, which is lacking in the original films. The pace and momentum of the narrative cuts out all the pre-amble in a way which seems to derive as much from film making techniques found in Anime as it does from static Manga.
There are a few shots in the film which illustrate this economy well, like a shot of the mars exploration ship which looks like static painted artwork, or slow drifts of the camera on a character, which might be a still.
The other notable aspect of the film is that Awazu has opted to take the potentially booby trapped route of not using real actors for the human characters, but CGI – however, again these shots succeed due to the economy of means and we see close-ups of a characters mouth or details of the face just long enough to convince, and anyway, just how much does someone actually move when speaking? – Answer, not very much – there is a tendency to exaggerate when animating realistic CGI characters and Awazu has managed to avoid the usual pitfalls by careful montage and design of shots.
Overall, the success of the film is due to the fact that it’s like a typical Kaiju Eiga film where all the boring bits have been edited out – the film certainly delivers when it comes to the climax which is everything you might expect.
On a technical level, the film throws open the debate about what an independent with a small team can achieve outside of the support of the studio / distribution system – in this respect it is similar to “Sky Captain” – but then having seen what, for example, a single student with one computer can do, I’m convinced that certain types of film or story are no longer limited to the capabilities of just large well financed studios.
In fact there is a rather tongue in cheek reference to this in the story line, as the chief protagonist is basically a lone scientist who just happens to build a giant robot in his (large) garage which he then uses to clobber the films titular bio-mechanical menace.
It’s obvious from certain scenes how much care and attention has been lavished on the film in terms of capturing the flavour of those early films, and it’s remarkable how the hardware sequences have that unmistakable “tabletop” look – where the film makers have gone further has been to avoid the limitations of wire work, for example, and use the freedom of CGI to actually improve on certain iconic moments, eg the monster being attacked by fighter planes.
It’s debatable that those early films succeeded due to their clunky charm – they work because we, as viewers, make them work – would CGI, being hyper realistic, actually detract from this charm factor? – well, no, I was pleasantly surprised that these sequences work very well, when viewed in the context of everything that has been seen since, from visual effects in films, to video games – this again is an example of how Awazu has managed to actually improve on the original.
“Sky Captain” worked on the basis of the film maker asking a question: “What if..?”, as in what if Frank Capra had wanted to make a sci-fi film, and had access to the technology at film makers disposal today. Negadon appears to suggest a similar question but answers it by saying that they might have done things differently if they had the chance, fusing a very contemporary storytelling style influenced in part by Manga and Anime, but dressing it up in a very evocative retro ambience which is a nod in the direction of the rare qualities of those Golden Age films.
Recommended reading for anyone interested in how Godzilla films and Kaiju Eiga in general have become part of American popular culture is William TsuTsui’s absorbing and comprehensive book: “Godzilla on My Mind” (pub: Palgrave Macmillan)
Watch out for this article at : www.fpsmagazine.com
Ravi Swami 2006
www.raviswami.com
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