{"id":5783,"date":"2009-12-22T09:51:12","date_gmt":"2009-12-21T22:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/?p=5783"},"modified":"2009-12-22T10:38:19","modified_gmt":"2009-12-21T23:38:19","slug":"a-rival-for-gamera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/12\/22\/a-rival-for-gamera\/","title":{"rendered":"A Rival for Gamera?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, this one\u00a0 — though it features a giant turtle — seems to be the product of a completely different genre to that of the Friend of Children — a daikaiju eiga subgenre all its own. In fact it looks rather like a Gamera film made by David Lynch after a wild night at a party in honour of Mack Sennett.<\/p>\n

\"ichimotsu-poster2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ichimotsu<\/strong> (Japan-2008; dir. Taku Yamamoto)<\/p>\n

Racing, a giant turtle racing against two detectives, racing again!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As all the sites that have information on this strange kaiju eiga<\/em> are in Japanese, it’s hard to put a coherent synopsis together. But it seems that it is an independent film. It takes place in 1970. The main protagonist is a policeman named Tobisawa (Kohtaro Takaoka), who may be in disgrace (I’m unsure of that) and as a result is sent to a village in Kumamoto Prefecture, where there have been reports of activists targeting a local magnate and his son. This pair have been manufacturing longevity drugs using turtles from a local pond.<\/p>\n

Tobisawa is forced to confront an unbelievable creature, a giant (“over 17 feet long”) man-eating tortoise named Gami. Legend has it that the Kaiju<\/em> Gami is hundreds of years old and will arise once again to take retribution. [“Gami” is a word coined for the film, combining the Japanese words G(K)AME\uff08or tortoise) and KAMI (or Spirit).]<\/p>\n

A key feature of confronting the creature seems to involve running away.<\/p>\n

Confronting<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"ichimotsu01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"sasaki02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Running Away<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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\"run02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a picture of the Gami puppet used in the production:<\/p>\n

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Somewhere in the mix are Tobisawa’s brother, Kamota (Kazuya Sasaki), an old man named Otojiro (Hiroyuki Kawano), who is suffering from memories of war, and his grandchild Yoshimi (Sayo Yokota) — I’m guessing that’s her in the image below.<\/p>\n

\"ichimotsu03\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There also seems to be a lot of lurking around in the pond reeds:<\/p>\n

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Strange gadgets, too:<\/p>\n

\"ichimotsu02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ichimotsu<\/em> was filmed in black and white on 8 mm film and was directed, written, shot and edited by Taku Yamamoto. The music is by Taku Yoshida and Taku Yamamoto. It runs for 96 minutes… with “run” being a key word, as you can see from the trailer below. I think you’ll agree that the trailer displays a bizarre exuberance that makes Ichimotsu<\/em> look like something we’ve never seen before.<\/p>\n

Trailer<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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Trailer 2<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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I suspect that director\/creator Taku Yamamoto is a weird guy. Here is his official portrait:<\/p>\n

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I’d love to see this film. It looks beautifully eccentric and exuberant with that peculiar form of Japanese weirdness that I never tire of. Currently Ichimotsu<\/em> is not on DVD, though there was a Japanese DVD available a while back. It sold out. Hopefully whatever response that comes from this article will encourage the creators to do a new run.<\/p>\n