JapanNewbie

Big Man Japan – Dainihonjin

Posted on 25. Sep, 2009 @ 12:47 am by harvey in Humor, Media, Movies Views: 990

I watched Big Man Japan tonight. The Japanese title is 大日本人 (dainihonjin or dainipponjin).

Unfortunately, this trailer really doesn’t capture the essence of the film. These fight scenes are almost short interludes to the main part of the movie. Most of the movie depicts a faceless and nameless reporter following the Big Man around interviewing him about his daily life. It’s got a documentary feel to it that works pretty well.

Big Man Japan

My wife warned me that the Japanese reviews didn’t give Big Man Japan any love, and that it wasn’t popular among the masses in Japan… but she watched it with me anyway. (She didn’t like it though.)

This is the first movie done by Downtown’s Matsumoto-san. Downtown is one of the most famous comedy duos in Japan. I think the issue giving the movie a bad reputation is that the humor used throughout this flick is just so different than Downtown’s usual style.

Here is Matsumoto-san in some Downtown comedy appearance. He’s talking about his new married life. It’s not exactly a comedy routine per say, but you can see how animated he is and what Downtown’s interactions are usually like.

His usual style is just so much more big and loud and slapstick. Much of the humor in Big Man Japan is in the scenes where he is not big, and just talking to the reporter about what life as a Big Man is like. It’s a low key kind of humor that you can miss if you’re not looking out for it. There’s no laugh track throughout the movie, and Matsumoto-san hardly even smiles. It’s just straight dry humor.

The final battle is a bit more slapstick than the rest of the movie… Actually… it’s a LOT more slapstick than the rest of the movie. You can watch the final battle on YouTube. If you plan to see the movie someday don’t click this link and spoil it for yourself.

The “fight” with the stink monster「匂うの獣」was one of my favorites. Maybe I just liked it because of the stink monster’s Kansai-ben. The following “kid monster” fight and the aftermath were pretty funny as well.

Anyway. Check Big Man Japan out if you can! It’s going to be one of those cult classics.

Because it’s weird.

Anyone else seen it? What did you think?

- Harvey