Nippon tanjô

I waited years for an opportunity to see this films. Any aficionado of Japanese cinema probably would, as the Toho mega-production stars half of Japan's greatest actors and actresses. So when the opportunity finally came, I really wanted to like this film. I really wanted to get sucked into its world. After watching the film, which is three hours in duration, I was left perplexed. Not only, because so much of the plot-line is so difficult to comprehend, but because so much money had been invested to a production, to which so little thought had been given.

The film is called "Nippon tanjo". This literally means "The birth of Japan", though the film has been distributed to west as "The Three Treasures". The distributed copy cut the running time to two hours, and whereas usually that qualifies as butchery of a film, "Nippon tanjo" could actually benefit from such maneuvering, as cutting down the strangest bits, and the long gaps where nothing of substance occurs, would make the film much more watchable.

Anyways. This film is based on the legends of "Kojiki" and "Nihon shoki", which are the two oldest texts from Japan. They relate how the world, the Japanese archipelago, the imperial line of Japan and the Shinto faith were born. This film has been called the Japanese equivalent to Cecil B. DeMille's biblical spectacles, and in some ways it's an accurate way to frame it. The film starts with the gods creating the earth, and then turns into the story of the hero protagonist, played by Mifune Toshiro. He is a prince, who is accused of a crime he didn't do, so he has to go on a journey, to prove that he is a good person, and also to kill monsters. Every now and then we get scenes with the gods, confusing the narrative exponentially.

I personally like the romanticized notions of nations filming their historical origins, even if they take artistic liberties with these narratives. I think a narrative, where Mifune as a prince kills monsters could potentially be very watchable. Yet I did not find "Nippon tanjo" to be watchable. The film has a wonderful cast, everybody from Tanaka Kinuyo to Nakamura Ganjiro, and from Hara Setsuko to Shimura Takashi. It is directed by the experienced Inagaki Hiroshi. But the screenplay, by two talented writers Kikushima Ryûzô and Yasumi Toshio, fails to resonate in almost every way. None of the actors receive a character to which they can breath life into. These are all historical ideals, and not relatable three-dimensional personas. The film is superficial even more than DeMille's biblical works. I felt much of the cast, especially Hara Setsuko in one of her weirder turns, is absolutely wasted on this project.

The film also refuses to get going. As a narrative, it is stale and uninteresting. It is also confusing, even if one is somewhat aware of the legends to which it is based on. The campy aesthetics used in the scenes among the gods reminded me of 1960's "Star Trek". They are really weird for weird sake, at least visually. And the scenes in the film go on forever. Also, after so much anticipation, the monsters aren't that well produced either, and the multi-headed sea snake looked kind of lame.

I don't know what to really praise in this production. I like the idea of this film, I just thoroughly did not care for the execution of the idea.

Good, Good and Good, this is the only adjective possible to be used to this jewel of the Japanese cinematography. Culturally is a film to be seen by all, it is amusing and interesting. Here we all learn how we can fight bad things with good behavior and polite talk, something nearly forgotten during these days. The film shows that not always the man can be peaceful but good feelings from humans can help a lot to avoid the violence.

The Japanese equivalent of 1956's The Ten Comandments. A lot of this features nomads wondering around in a desert on camels. Then there's Toshiro Mifune, who slays a hydra-esque dragon at the end. As usual, Toshiro Mifune is great. This is a great movie, with an excellent Ifukube score and Tsuburaya special effects but this is just too darn long and slow paced, it's really a chore to sit through. I still recommend it though.

I was looking forward to this, because it certainly sounded ambitious and unique. It's an adventure film, fantasy movie, and historical action/drama film all at once, and was apparently made to commemorate 1000 titles produced by legendary Japanese film studio Toho. It's certainly an epic, maybe to its detriment, given it runs for just over three hours and it's far from the most consistent film out there to exceed that length.

If you can embrace or get used to the runtime, and accept that some scenes are more exciting than others, there are some good things here that ultimately make it watchable. Toshiro Mifune is the lead, and he's always great. There's a memorable scene where he gets to fight an 8-headed dragon, too, ultimately giving himself an advantage by getting all eight heads drunk on particularly strong sake beforehand.

That does play out as a fantasy/flashback/dream scene of sorts, though, and is one of several (these sequences are one reason why The Three Treasures feels so long and overstuffed, even if the scenes when judged on their own can be fun). The main story is a little more grounded, and follows a prince being sent on a difficult and multi-layered quest after he's accused of murdering his brother.

The movie is a lot, and it's possible to see how it would have been amazing as an event film for audiences back in 1959. Parts hold up decently well, some sequences are enjoyable, and Mifune's good in the lead role (the supporting cast is also generally pretty strong; plenty of recognizable faces in the numerous roles). But it's certainly not a great epic, and its unevenness means that for everything that works, there's usually something that falls a bit flat. It's able to be cautiously recommended to fans of classic Japanese cinema, but probably few others.

I was unfamiliar with the story behind The Three Treasures and the legendary founding of Japan and Shintoism, and I found the film hard to follow, overly long, and ultimately a bit boring (even the fight between Susanoo (the great Toshiro Mifune) and the eight-headed dragon). Some of the imagery and special effects (from Toho Studios master Eiji Tsuburaya) were very good and the acting fine (for an action-fantasy film). Mifune is fine in the dual role of Prince Yamato Takeru and Susanoo, although I found the Prince's constant credulousness tiring (he is repeatedly lied to yet seems to believe everything he's told). I think I'd need more background in Japanese history and culture to really appreciate this film (fortunately not required to enjoy Toho's rollicking kaiju epics).