Dai-Nihonjin

Big Man Japan is one of the weirder films I've seen from Japan and anyone who's passingly familiar with Japanese cinema knows what a statement that is. Starring, written by, directed by and produced by one man comedy auteur Hitoshi Matusmoto, Big Man Japan tells the tale of Masaru Daisato also known as Big Man Japan, the giant 30 foot tall super hero that defends Japan from invading monsters in a similar vein to Ultraman and other Kaiju films.

The twist being that everything in Masaru's life, including his monster fighting, absolutely sucks and the people of Japan hate him and think he's terrible at his job.

That's a brilliant high concept but it's not really the film that Big Man Japan gives us, and partly that's why the film is so odd. It's not the subject matter, although stuff like a giant starfish/vagina monster that stinks is pretty oddball, but rather the tone. Big Man Japan is deadpan to the point that it seems sometimes to be actively taunting the audience with how unfunny it's being. Long sequences of the film are taken up with Masaru eating at a noodle place, driving his scooter, talking about how he likes umbrellas and doing other mundane tasks all filmed in a documentary style with minimal camera movement and subtle acting. It's actively boring at times but it seems to be intentional because the central gag is presenting the absurd and surreal monster battles in as deadpan and ordinary a way as the mundane aspects of Masaru's life. The long boring segments means the eventual pay off of a giant pair of purple pants seems all the funnier. Not that the documentary segments are without humour, particularly the scene with Masaru's daughter in her bunny hat and pixelated face, but it's a subtler humour than the giant electric nipples or enormous cat eared baby spouting poetry. Tolerance for this level of deadpan is likely to be low though so it's certainly not a film with wide appeal.

People have moaned about the special effects for this feature but frankly on the budget this film had, and especially considering they're using motion capture technology I think they look great and even add to the humour since, again they mix the oddball and the deadpan. Being able to see the actor's facial expressions is much more important than a good looking suit or smooth CGI when you're doing this kind of subtle comedy.

One final note, the last ten minutes of this film are absolutely hysterical. Having built up the threat of this unknown red monster with Masaru running away from it and finally having to face it again at the end we're all primed for a typical redemption story where Masaru overcomes his own incompetence and beats the big bad. I won't spoil the ending but suffice it to say the film undercuts this expected trope in the most ludicrous and hilarious manner possible. Much as individual scenes have a slow, tedious, excruciating, agonisingly, long build up to a gag so the film as a whole is 90 minutes of deadpan and 10 minutes of utter unrestrained insanity that had me laughing like a loon.

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I got a chance to see this at the Toronto International Film Festival, and I found this to be a quite refreshing and one of the more original films I've seen in the past little while.

A brief synopsis, is that a documentary film crew follows a mid-age slacker who basically has nothing going for him in life... but what's odd is he has the power to grow to the size of a building and fight monsters ("baddies").

The comedy during the interviews and daily life of Dai is very subtle. There is no music track and his facial expression are very mute. The monster scenes are hilarious, and the last 10 minutes made me laugh so hard.

If you are very open minded with comedy, this is for you, but don't expect a typical giant monster movie.

Strangely paced, unflinchingly crazy and brow-furrowingly confusing, this is a tough movie to get a handle on. It's pseudo-documentary in the same style as Christopher Guest, but with a less obvious comedic timing, more humble, unassuming characters and a hefty injection of pure, unabashed Japanese absurdity. The camera's focal point is Masaru, a soft spoken middle-aged loser with a going-nowhere life and zero self confidence, who nonchalantly moonlights as the fifteen-story tall, nearly naked hero "Big Japanese Man." Despite saving the city from a series of rampaging monsters, public interest in his work is waning and he's beginning to find it difficult to make ends meet. Excruciatingly slow at points, it has a few interesting things to say about the longevity of the superheroic profession and the notoriously fickle nature of public favor, but much of that is lost beneath the burden of such a painfully dull lead character. Its dry, bizarre sense of humor hits the mark more often than not, and the CGI fight scenes make for quite the spectacle, but this really didn't need to be half as long as it is. Fans of the eccentricities of Japanese culture will have a ball with it, although they'll have to wade through some arid terrain to get to the good stuff. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened in the last scene.

A dull guy gets zapped with electricity to turn him into a giant so that he can battle monster that attack Japan, there's a good idea for a film if ever I've heard one. There's some funny bits at the start as we learn that the general public don't think a lot of him but from then on the film just disappoints again and again.

I can take the poor CGI but it does look absolutely rubbish. The monsters are supposed to be hilarious but just aren't funny at all and the whole theme of him being a bit of a loser wears thin quickly.

When I read the gushing reviews for this film I really loved the concept and it sounded like something I'd really enjoy, unfortunately a lot of it is just plain boring and the wry dry humour is stretched well beyond the material. I wouldn't waste your time, it's a good idea squandered.

Matsumoto is a member of comedy duo Down Town, he's a No.1 comedian in Japan present. His vision is very surreal and it makes him so special. I'm a huge fan myself, however I'm not so happy about Dai Nippon Jin. I recommend his early works like Visualbum series, To-Zu or Hitori-Gottsu series instead. Those are more fun and lyrical, overall it's unique.

I'd say he should work with his friends together again like in his early days. Though, I know they are all big now, there's some problem working together. But it's my dream that Matsumoto working with Mr. Itao full time making a picture together. It should be a great surreal comedy flick.

Actually, Itao appearing few minutes as smelly monster in this film. I always laugh my head off seeing that, but it's not enough, cos considering their talent, they can do more than that.

Maybe Matsumoto's weak point is working with strangers and that huge budget. Probably, big budget gave him big pressure mentally, and couldn't concentrate. his talent will definitely explode when solving those problems. Working with his close friends, making it with low budget. I'm expecting his next work.