The Win of "Godzilla Minus One"

 

"Congratulations to Coach Yamato and all the white team 🎉

Very happy to see 70 years.

I'm sure my sister and dad are surprised.

You're saying, "See you Godzilla."" - Sonoe Nakajima, daughter of suit-actor Haruo Nakajima.*

It took 70 years, but Godzilla finally got some respect in special effects.

The win of Godzilla Minus One for Best Special Effects last night at the Academy Awards had many Godzilla fans in tears of joy when the winner was announced. Fans were just as pleased when the movie was even nominated, but the win was much more than the icing on the cake. 

Godzilla movies from Toho were often laughed at, although entertaining, during the man-in-the-suit with miniatures years. Toho shifted gears and joined the U.S. in using CGI. That has paid off in spades as last night's Academy Awards has shown.

Although Toho's Godzilla is now being animated with computers, I was even more impressed with the recreations of Tokyo of the 1940s. Apparently, Academy members agreed. Taken as a whole, the special effects were astounding considering the $15 million total movie budget and only 35 members on the special effects team.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

The King of Monsters finally has his share of Oscars glory.

In an ironic triumph of small over large, Japanese monster movie sensation Godzilla Minus One — which was made for only about $15 million — beat out four big-budget Hollywood tentpoles to win the best visual effects category. It’s the first time in decades that a non-U.S. studio film has won the category. Despite its deep influence on the history of visual effects in cinema, this year was the first time in the Godzilla franchise’s seven-decade history that it was nominated for an Oscar.

Godzilla Minus One was written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, who also headed up the film’s VFX team, which included Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima. The team is now Japan’s first-ever winner of the best visual effects Oscar. In another rarity, a director winning the category has only occurred once before — Stanley Kubrick’s win in 1969 for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Godzilla Minus One has been a critical and commercial sensation, earning $56.4 million in the U.S. and Canada to become the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time. Only two international live-action movies — fellow Oscar winners Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life Is Beautiful —  earned more in North America.

Many fans exclaimed, "I never thought I would live to see this day." I would have to agree, especially since I am the same age as Godzilla since we both arrived on the scene in 1954.

To read more, go here.

*I think Sonoe Nakajima meant Coach Yamazaki and the translation goofed it up.