Synopsis
The lives of several Japanese families are shattered as the USA and the USSR move toward war, Japan finds itself caught in the middle, and Tokyo is ultimately evacuated as the two superpowers invoke the 'nuclear option'.
1960 ‘第三次世界大戦 四十一時間の恐怖’ Directed by Shigeaki Hidaka, William Ross
The lives of several Japanese families are shattered as the USA and the USSR move toward war, Japan finds itself caught in the middle, and Tokyo is ultimately evacuated as the two superpowers invoke the 'nuclear option'.
Years after being rediscovered through a Japanese TV airing, this obscure "end of the world" movie finally has English subtitles. And honestly, it was worth the wait.
The film was made the same year as the signing of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States and Japan, and has some things to say about it, albeit never directly. Early on, those protesting against it are portrayed as wild and violent (This was a bit uncomfortable to watch in June 2020 America), but over time, it does begin to sympathize with their cause a bit more. Japan's lack of nukes is very much regarded as a good thing, but Americans having bases all over the country is…
Japanese version of The day after before The day after. There's more of the day before than the day after, whereas The day after has less of the day before and more of the day after. There's Japanese gospel music and some cool miniature effects, no surprise on the latter. In a five second snippet three dudes on bikes kidnap some Japanese sweeties in the panic the day before. My guess is that they suffer or die like everyone else the day after.
We meet a few Japanese families going about their lives as a political crisis brews. Things go hot in Korea and the popular starts to riot and evacuate the cities.
The bombs drop with only a few minutes left to go, a bunch of models get trashed.
The auto translation for this was really wonky, barely making sense at times.
Film #712 of 2020.
After watching "The Last War" (1961) found out that there was another Japanese film with exact same premise that came out year earlier, so naturally i had to check out that one too. This one has less melodrama and miniature effects but still decent enough film.
Finally found what appears to be a decently-subtitled version of this and gave it a rewatch. Subtitles are essential as this is very dialogue-heavy; this isn't the big-budget color Toho THE LAST WAR.
Instead this is a cheap-looking b/w by Toei, that starts so slowly that we don't even get the first bit of bad news on the radio until exactly one-third in (minute 25 out of 75 minutes). Up until then it's all setting up the three couples (I think three?) that will be our POV. I didn't give a crap about them as characters and odds are you won't either, though I liked the father who'd been saving money for the future and looked to retire in ten…