Woodyanders
This extremely thorough and fascinating 69 minute documentary relates a lot of interesting stuff about the fifty plus year history of Godzilla. Among the subjects addressed herein are that Godzilla in the first movie was meant as a metaphor for the atomic bomb, the tremendous amount of arduous and painstaking work that go into building the miniature sets (which of course always wind up being demolished by the Big G!), how the emphasis on constructing said miniatures was specifically on atmosphere, the evolution of Godzilla from fearsome villain to sympathetic hero, the difficulty in keeping the pictures in sync with modern sensibilities, how the organic hand-crafted old-fashioned approach to special effects tends to be more credible and effective than CGI, and the importance of bringing a sense of wonder to every last Godzilla feature. Trailblazing special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya gets his well-deserved props in this documentary. Ditto the shamefully unsung art director Yasuyuki Inoue, who toiled away on numerous Godzilla outings without ever receiving much appraisal for all his tireless hard labor. Moreover, veteran Godzilla stuntman thespians Tsutomu Kitagawa, Haruo Nakajima, and Kenpachiro Satsuma all tell some choice war stories about the real-life perils of portraying this iconic over-sized Japanese monster. Director Alex Cox does a sterling job with the sober narration. Ko Otani's suitably dramatic score likewise does the rousing trick. Director Norman England keeps the whole show moving at a brisk clip from start to finish. Essential viewing for Godzilla fans.
