Review of Shin Godzilla (2016) by Viet Phuong N — 03 Jun 2017

As a monster film, this is not really an impressive one - lacklustre and uncreative CGI, confusing subplots, poor acting. But as a social commentary film, "Shin Godzilla" is a terrific one, and in fact it might probably be the only one so far that is successful in depicting the ridiculous ineffectiveness of the Japanese government in dealing with urgent issues, and also in portraying the physical and mental obstacles that Japanese people had to face right after the 3-11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.

These strengths may be the reason why this film won the Japan Academy Prize over more artistically-rounded ones like "In This Corner of the World" - Japanese people must love such a satirical picture of their incompetent government that at the same time is able to convey their traumatic experiences into cinematic language.