It’s been a rough week on Monster Island, what with the Board of Directors mandating masks (again). I’m a big fan of them hiring Douglas Gordon as the Island’s security chief, though. Plus, the Board is sharing some…inside info with me you may hear on a future episode.
Anyway, I only have a few of my own notes plus Nathan’s notes from his independent study for this week’s blog. I think he only has a few more of the films from that study left. Atragon and Frankie v. Barry, I think. Regardless, I have some snark to deliver.
- It’s “Ghost in the Shell,” Nathan, not “Ghost in a Shell.” Direct vs. indirect articles. Big difference, as you know.
- Trust me when I say some things in Tokyo will follow you everywhere. At least for a while. And I don’t mean puppies.
- Birds get sucked into jet engines a lot, man. We pilots do have our own superstitions. Canada geese are the worst offenders. (Sorry, Chris Cooke).
- To learn more about Hahajima, which has the big mountain Dd G told us about, click here. Let me tell you, it is a beautiful place. Nathan, Jet Jaguar, and I will be taking a hike there soon.
- If you’re curious about the DC Comics villain Matango, read this.
Here are Nathan’s leftover notes:
- Kubo’s face is seen. He’s unscarred. (Which makes the ending that much more interesting. –Jimmy)
- Music during credits is weirdly upbeat.
- “Tokyo and all her dust.” Men and money are left behind.
- Writer loses his pages in water. I’d be upset. But he thinks writers steal everything. (You would know better than me, Nathan. –Jimmy)
- “Top lady” = mistress (and double entendre?) (Yep. –Jimmy)
- 40 million yen yacht. Best that money can buy. Destroyed by storm.
- Scare girls and then treat them tender. “That’s not psychology—that’s a paperback novel!” (One of the best lines in the film! –Jimmy)
- Professor is a psychologist. Appropriate and ironic.
- The women are polar opposites. Mami (Mizuno) is a flirtatious harlot while Akiko is a chaste, shy girl who’s never been kissed.
- 7 characters for the 7 deadly sins. (You can thank Danny DiManna for that idea. I still can’t figure out which character is which sin, though. Maybe Rev. Mifune could help explain? –Jimmy)
- Music is somewhat minimalistic for the most part. Not Ifukube or Sato. (It was Sadao Bekku. –Jimmy)
- The hallucinations begin before they reach the island with the phantom ship. Perhaps an indication that Yoshida is already unhinged.
- Fog is a common motif. It obscures. It clouds. Drug reference?
- This film is Lost meets Gilligan’s Island with a Twilight Zone ending.
- The set design for the ship is great. The mold everywhere. Unique. Like a haunted house. Reminiscent of classic Universal horror.
- Is it possible this whole film is Akira Kubo’s fever dream? How much of it is true? There are things that don’t add up. (Given what we heard from Dr. Dourif, I’m pretty sure it was real. –Jimmy)
- The mold is great foreshadowing for Matango.
- Eyeless turtle: foreboding.
- Matnago is said to be a radiation mutant. Anti-nuclear. Doesn’t explain everything.
- Nationality of boat concealed. Communist and western. Even Japan. Humanity represented. No one is innocent.
- Matango is the forbidden fruit. May eat everything else but that.
- Plays on natural need—eating—and makes it scary. Do it and suffer. Much like Nightmare on Elm Street with sleeping. (“Never eat again…”. –Jimmy)
- The location photography is amazing.
- Is this island attracting boats to it and sinking them? Bermuda Triangle?
- First Matango appears almost 43 minutes in.
- Two characters fire at Matango but not sure they hit it or saw anything but audience sees mushroom goo on ground.
- This film was almost banned because of the mushroom man make-up. Looked like bombing victims. (The Hibakusha, which we’ll be discussing in a future episode. –Jimmy)
- Even the characters think they saw ghosts—but there are footprints.
- Illustrates why William Golding had no girls in Lord of the Flies: aggravates things. Aggravates men. Unlike that story, they are just as corruptible. (To hear his full reasoning from the foreword to his book, watch this video. –Jimmy)
- “Akiko…this is Mother.” (Clearly that was the mushrooms talking. Those lying Matango! –Jimmy)
- Yoshida says frayed nerves make people see witches and devils. Tries to explain strange happenings away. (That just sounds like trick-or-treaters at Halloween. –Jimmy)
- Yoshida and Mami have a full-on make-out session. Most sexual thing in a Honda film.
- Koyama pulls rope as he falls. Lifeline. Symbolic. Body has bills strewn about him. Also symbolic. Died amassing useless wealth.
- Mami’s wardrobe changes to reflect her allegiance. Green and plantlike.
- One character eats Matango and has vision of dancing showgirls amid Tokyo neon. Drugs. Revelry. Opulence.
- The Matango laugh was recycled later for Baltan on Ultraman. (And it’s just as disturbing coming from those big beetles! –Jimmy)
- Sakuta runs, but he eventually jumps overboard. Then writes on wall that everyone else is dead. Betrayal.
- The professor and Akiko decide to leave. Almost happy ending. Then mushroom people show up. Like a zombie movie. Night of the Living Dead? Hacks off an arm. (Maybe George Romero saw this movie? –Jimmy)
- Seems a little convenient that he leaves on boat and gets found. Why take him to psychiatric ward?
- Doctor says, “We are grateful that you were able to come back.” Are they speaking of him as a patient? (Another parallel to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. –Jimmy)
- (In “The Voice in the Night,”) John and his fiancée are like the prof and student in the film: innocent but they succumb to temptation. And are corrupted spiritually and physically. (Read more about this story here. –Jimmy)
That does it for my notes this week.
Join us next Wednesday to hear the start of the “Daimajin Days” when Nathan’s friends Joe and Joy Metter returned to start their journey through the Daimajin trilogy. Then this month’s mini-analysis will be on Ishiro Honda’s other 1963 classic, Atragon.
As the Board says, “Together we can find a better way forward.”
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