Dai-Nipponjin (2007)
Not Rated / Color / 113 Minutes

WARNING: THIS CAPSULE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Hitoshi Matsumoto is a household name in Japan and is synonymous with comedy in his native country. (He and his sidekick Masatoshi Hamada are apparently the Japanese equivalent of Laurel and Hardy.) Though his brand of humor has yet to be experienced by the majority of the world, some of us have been lucky to catch Dai-Nipponjin, his directorial (and screen-writing) debut, either at a film festival or by getting our paws on a Japanese DVD of the film. I myself managed to get a peek at this movie and it proved to be a very unexpected surprise. Though my copy of the film has awful subtitles, and a lot is lost in the (lack of) translation, I still enjoyed this cinematic treasure from the "Land of the Rising Sun."

Dai-Nipponjin (a.k.a. Big Japanese Person, a.k.a. Big Man Japan) is an extremely odd mockumentary. Through the first twenty minutes of the film, a camera crew follows around a fellow named Masaru Daisatou (Hitoshi Matsumoto). The forty-something Masaru is on the verge of a divorce, makes barely enough money to survive, lives in a graffiti-covered house, and apparently isn't very popular with the locals. This is all due to Masaru's extremely strange profession. You see, Japan is, as always, a magnet for giant monster activity. Rather than send in the military, the Japanese government relies on Masaru to handle the problem, mainly because he has the strange ability to turn into a kaiju-sized hero when jolted with thousands of volts of electricity!

But he doesn't turn into your typical Ultraman-esque kaiju-fighter. Nope, he turns into a gigantic tattooed sumo with Don King hair! And to make this scenario even stranger, his battles are taped and broadcast as a television show! Despite numerous victories over various monsters, the ratings for his show begin to steadily decline. Its only when he starts losing battles and accidentally kills a kaiju-child that the show begins to gain popularity again. However, Masaru becomes fed up with his job and TV show, and decides to give it all up for a normal life. Unfortunately for him, that is apparently not an option, and soon Masaru finds himself thrust into battle against a seemingly unstoppable adversary.

Dai-Nipponjin starts off a bit slow, but picks up the pace a lot by the time the second act begins. Basically, after the first two monster battles, the movie hits its stride and becomes a lot of fun to watch. The designs for the film's monsters are imaginative to say the least, and are brought to life with some of the most detailed CGI work I've ever seen. The humor is pretty much hit and miss, but there are some downright hilarious moments in the film that you will remember long after. The clincher is the climax where Dai-Nipponjin is rescued by a family of Ultraman-like superheroes named "Super Justice." The first time I witnessed the suitmation finale, I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt, and tears were pouring from my eyes. (And for the record, I still laughed just as hard at the ending during subsequent viewings.)

The film is still making its rounds at various film festivals across the world, but hopefully it will find its way to Region 1 DVD later this year. If you get the chance to see Dai-Nipponjin, please do not hesitate. It is a one-of-a-kind movie, full of imagination, and I can see it garnering a large cult following as the years progress.

For its originality, and for giving me a good laugh, I am more than happy to give this movie:


- THREE 'RADS' -

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