THREE GIANT GUESTS! The Greatest Evening on Earth!

Eiichi Asada, Takeshi Miyanishi, and Takashi Naganuma. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier tonight (Sunday, February 5), I spent the evening with a trio of Toho legends: Eiichi Asada, Takeshi Miyanishi, and Takashi Naganuma. I've blogged extensively about Asada-san and Naganuma-san in the past, but Miyanishi-san is someone I'd only met once before, so I was particularly interested in visiting with him again.

Eiichi Asada, Takeshi Miyanishi, and Takashi Naganuma. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I got a couple of autographs for a friend of mine in the U.S. and had all three sign a postcard from the Godzilla Store with a Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) theme. All three gentlemen worked on the film, as luck would have it.

Naganuma-san was his usual self, telling a lot of jokes and doing a lot of wordplay with both English and Japanese words. He always seemed to gravitate toward me, wanting to share his sense of humor with me. It's hard to match the level of Naganuma-san's wordplay, but I certainly tried my best!

Takeshi Miyanishi. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Miyanishi-san was born in 1942, and his career in movies began on the Toho production Gorath (1962) as an assistant cameraman. He continued in that capacity until 1968 with Destroy All Monsters. Following that, he moved up to optical photography and visual effects, doing matte shots and other such SFX work. His first onscreen credit for optical photography was Godzilla vs. Megalon, and his final credited film was Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991).

 

After taking the above photo, Miyanishi-san took out his phone and took a picture of me. It's always cool when the guests want a picture of you! As the oldest guest of the event, Miyanishi-san was a bit more reserved than the others but no less polite. I certainly enjoyed being in his company tonight.

While I didn't get to spend that much time with Asada-san, I did manage to ask him about director Kon Ichikawa. He said that Ichikawa was usually friendly but that he could get angry. I guess I always envisioned Ichikawa as a temperamental director, so it's refreshing to hear that he was mostly easy to work with.

And that's a wrap! See you next time!

Catching 'Zardoz' in 4K in Ikebukuro!

Zardoz at the Shin Bungeiza theater in Ikebukuro. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Tonight, I caught a special screening of the 4K digital remaster of John Boorman's Zardoz (1974), a movie with a rather mixed reputation. Most folks seem to dislike it, but it does have a bit of a cult following among those who appreciate its artistic weirdness.

I remember seeing a still from the flick in Phil Hardy's The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies back in the day and being completely mesmerized by the image of that enormous stone head with the seemingly microscopic people standing around it. What kind of a movie could that possibly be?

Well, I had to wait until I was in my early twenties in 2003 or 2004 to see the film on DVD. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. The stone head that had so fascinated me is basically an afterthought and is largely absent from the movie after the first few minutes. The rest of the film was basically incomprehensible to me, so I put the thing away after watching it once and didn't spend much time thinking about it after that.

In the years since, however, I started to become more intrigued by the pre-Star Wars sci-fi movies of the '70s. Those flicks tended to be more thoughtful and at least tried to explore important themes, as opposed to depicting space dogfights and cutesy robots beeping at each other. So, when I saw that Zardoz was being screened at the Shin Bungeiza theater in Ikebukuro, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to revisit the film.

And my opinion of the movie has improved -- though not by a whole lot. While I was a lot more receptive to the themes of the movie this time around, I still found large chunks of it boring and pretentious. The themes also don't get explored in very meaningful ways, and the comedic satire seems out of place in a film that otherwise seems to take itself way too seriously. 

But, man, the effects for the flying head hold up really well. Too bad it takes up so little screen time and is almost immediately given the Scooby-Doo treatment (i.e., the audience is shown that it isn't at all what it appears to be). 

Overall, I'm glad I saw it again, but I can easily see why I was disappointed the first time. But I hope I can see more offbeat titles like this on the big screen in the coming weeks. Let's see what else is playing!

An Incredible Day with the King of the Monsters!

Mizuho Yoshida. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today (Wednesday, February 1), I had the distinct privilege of spending the afternoon with suit actor Mizuho Yoshida. It was a great opportunity to chat with him at length about his legendary career bringing monsters to life on the screen.

Mizuho Yoshida. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Yoshida-san portrays Zeiram in both Zeiram (1991) and Zeiram 2 (1994), Legion in Gamera 2 (1996), Death Ghidorah (a.k.a. Desghidorah) in Rebirth of Mothra (1996), Dagahra in Rebirth of Mothra 2 (1997), Godzilla in GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), and Zedus in Gamera the Brave (2006), among other suit-acting roles. 

The chat went a lot longer than I expected, which of course is a good thing! But Yoshida-san couldn't have been any more hospitable. If only more people could be as friendly as he is!

Godzilla may be a monster on the screen, but he's a heck of a nice guy in real life. Many thanks to Yoshida-san for making my afternoon something special!

SPECTREMAN: Coming to the Rescue at a Train Station Near You!

A Spectreman toy dispenser in Shibuya Station. Photo by Brett Homenick.

While messaging a friend of mine in the U.S., he told me about the Spectreman (1971-72) toy dispensers that are currently making the rounds in Japan. I hadn't seen one but was intrigued. My buddy, with whom I'm doing a trade, asked for one of the toys from one if I could one.

Well, as luck would have it, I had to pass through Shibuya Station today, and, as I was about to get on the Yamanote Line, I noticed a whole row of toy dispensers. So I took a quick look-see, and I instantly found one of the Spectreman dispensers.

Naturally, I got one for my friend, but he'll have to open it and tell me what it was. I didn't get one for myself, as cool as these things look, because, well, I'm really trying to cut down on clutter. Besides, I only had enough change in my pocket for one. Ah, well. At least I have these photos to look back on!

Attending a Screening of Toho's 'The H-Man' in 35mm!

Signage for tonight's screening of The H-Man at the Laputa Asagaya. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Not only did I see An American Werewolf in London (1981) earlier today (Sunday, January 29), but I capped off the evening with a screening of Toho's The H-Man (1958) in 35mm. It was part of the Laputa Asagaya's Science Fiction Film Festival, and I was quite eager to see it. I'm much more familiar with this movie than the previous three I've seen as part of this program, and tonight's film features many of my favorite Toho performers.

Publicity materials for The H-Man inside the theater lobby. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The film looked gorgeous in 35mm. As always, there were a few flaws, but very few jumps that would have proved too distracting. Yumi Shirakawa was absolutely radiant here -- just an unbelievably beautiful woman. Masaru Sato's score is excellent, and the effects are impressive, too, though they would get even better over time.

It's interesting to think that Daiei's The Invisible Man vs. the Human Fly (1957) came out the previous year when the two films look like they were made decades apart. This was made just after Toho hit its stride with its SFX flicks, and, unlike a few of the studio's previous releases, it actually looks like a movie made in the year it came out. 

Oh, and there was a small earthquake that happened during the screening. It wasn't too disruptive or anything, but it was kind of interesting. Just thought I'd include that little tidbit.

That's all for tonight. Now to get some sleep!

Seeing 'An American Werewolf in London' in 35mm in Tokyo!

The National Film Archive of Japan. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The National Film Archive of Japan hosted a screening of the horror classic An American Werewolf in London (1981) as part of its program highlighting Academy Award-winning films (Film Treasures from the Academy Film Archive). Suffice it to say, American Werewolf was one of the few horror movies featured -- in fact, it was probably the only one. (I guess I should have checked to see if it was!)

A 35mm film print was screened, and I was a bit surprised to find that it was a film print from the time it screened in Japan back in the day. The actual movie is preceded by the movie's Japanese title card (with the katakana spelling of "American" in Old Glory-style red, white, and blue with stars, almost making it seem like a straight-up comedy). This version also blurs out David Naughton's naughty bits, although the female nudity was left largely intact.

Despite the print's age, it was in good shape. There were scratches and splotches all over the place, but few jumps or other flaws that would have been too distracting. 

The theater was almost sold out, and the audience laughed heartily at the movie's humor. They also laughed in a couple of inappropriate places during which the film was clearly going in a scarier direction. Not sure if they figured the whole flick was supposed to be a joke, or if they found Rick Baker's makeup effects a bit too dated, but it did surprise me, especially for a Japanese audience.

This is my favorite werewolf movie of all time, though I have to say that I don't dig a whole lot of other ones, even the Lon Chaney, Jr., ones from Universal Pictures. I do think The Howling (1981) has superior werewolf transformations and designs -- seriously, Rob Bottin was the best at what he did -- but American Werewolf simply works much better as an overall film. 

I actually watched American Werewolf about a year and a half ago on DVD -- yes, I said DVD, not Blu-ray -- but, had I known I'd get to see John Landis' horror classic on the big screen in 35mm in the near future, I would have just waited for today's screening. It was still a lot of fun to see, as it was my first time to see it this way. 

January continues to be a heck of a busy month for film screenings. And there's still one more to go!

A Dramatic Reading for a Cold Evening in Tokyo!

Masanori Machida. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier tonight, Sunday, January 29, I met Masanori Machida again for the first time this year. I arrived to his performance later than usual, due to my having to squeeze it in between two film screenings. (The agony of having so many things to do at the same time!)

Masanori Machida. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I arrived after Machida-san gave his dramatic reading, and only got to see the last half or so of the performance of another actor. After he finished, the entire cast came out to thank the audience and to promote whatever they had to promote. One performer came out dressed as a telephone (!), so I probably missed something quite amusing in that performance.

When Machida-san wasn't busy chatting with other attendees, I asked him to sign a Gappa bromide card, which he graciously did. Gappa is a favorite kaiju flick of mine, and it still amazes me that Nikkatsu's sole kaiju outing turned out as entertaining as it did.

We posed for the obligatory photos afterward, and it was Machida-san's idea to do the pose in the above photo. Hey, it's the perfect time to get into the kaiju spirit!