“With Tokyo constantly under attack by giant monsters, of course you need giant ultra-heroes to defend its citizens; but when something that catastrophic had become the mundane for almost a century, what happens to the hero’s status in society?
Do they stay as revered saviors, or would their popularity eventually wane? After all, the world of modern pop culture has a short-term memory. The premise behind Big Man Japan is a mockumentary about a tokusatsu hero whose life is closer to The Wrestler than to Ultraman.”
From a thoughtful review of a truly ridiculous movie, Big Man Japan, written by Arya Ponto over on Just Press Play. (The movie’s out on DVD now.) It’s a film that I kind of loved despite its flaws.
The film follows Big-Sato’s scattered life, from his meager living condition, his modest salary, to his ex-wife’s reluctance to let him see his own daughter. Most of all, it shows how much he is hated by the public, for a variety of reasons. His modest house and transformation power plants are always covered in graffiti or banners complaining about everything from his disruption of local wildlife to his wasteful power usage.
In a lot of ways, Big Man Japan can be seen as a mockumentary about a sport star’s mid-life crisis. I’m far from an expert on the world of Sumo wrestling, but I have to think that the film is at least alluding to how the popularity of the sport among Japanese viewers has been steadily declining since the 90’s. Big Man Japan features several man-on-the-street interviews, all of whom agree that Big Man Japan’s monster fights are corny and not worth watching. Back in the days of his predecessors, the fights would air on TV during primetime, but nowadays, Big-Sato only appears on the tube at 2 AM.
A lot of Big Man Japan is actually quite sad and thoughtful, but it’s also apparent that Matsumoto [the writer, director, and star] just has a very dry sense of humor that stems from painful awkwardness.
