Japanese Movies and the Holidays

My wife and I watched Godzilla Minus One the other day, and it was really good. Godzilla really was just a monster to be taken down by the Japanese people still recovering and rebuilding from World War II. The main characters was a kamikaze pilot who could not go through with his mission, and subsequently, could not move past the war or his need for revenge against Godzilla. Considering that there were a few big budget movies with a production budget in the hundred millions that flopped, it was incredible that a Japanese movie with English subtitles that had a fifteen million dollar production budget did as well as it did.

We also watched The Boy and the Heron, the latest Studio Ghibli film. It was very artistic and metaphorical, but still a good film. It seemed something of a compilation of Hayao Miyazaki’s greatest hits, in that tropes and ideas that he has utilize in other movies are used here. The motley crew of heroes, environmental messaging, non-adult protagonist, talking animals, villains that become allies, and many other things from previous Miyazaki movies can be seen here. However, the focus on family throughout the movie is strong, going through generations. It was a contemplative movie, for sure.

Besides the movies, my wife co-hosted and event for our church, which was a fun event. She used to host events in the Philippines, but that was the first time that I have seen it in person. Otherwise, we are just looking forward to New Years coming up and 2024 in general.