A Heisei Gamera marathon? On the big screen? With an Ayako Fujitani Q&A? YES PLEASE.
Portland Oregon’s CineMagic theater provided that exact experience on February 3rd, 2024. Previously scheduled for mid-January, it had to be postponed due to inclement weather (which worked out for me, since I was out of town that weekend).
Despite growing up in a suburb of Portland, it took me a decade after moving to another state to finally get to this theater – I usually attended the Godzilla showings at the Hollywood Theater (thanks to KaijuCast!) – and it was neat! In typical Portland theater fashion, this one-screen theater seems to play older movies and marathons (like the entirety of the Nightmare on Elm Street series). VHS boxes and movie posters adorn the walls, but you gotta walk by the concessions first.
You’re allowed to bring in your own food (though they sell popcorn and candy) which is neat, and they also have a variety of beers and ciders on tap (though the showings are all-ages – with sodas and seltzers for those who don’t partake). I went with a Portland cider (when in Rome!) and a “Down Under” IPA (since Gamera comes from an undersea civilization? Work with me here).
The Heisei Gamera trilogy is…I hesitate to say “perfect” but the general consensus among those I’ve talked to is that it rivals, if not triumphs over, the Godzilla Heisei series – NOT THAT IT’S A COMPETITION! With an extensive list of films spanning multiple decades from multiple companies, there’s a kaiju film for everybody. And it was great to see that some of those everybodys braved the Portland streets (one of my least favorite cities in which to drive) for a back to back to back flying turtle triple feature – and loved it! Being in a room full of nerds applauding when a space turtle defeats a birdy-bat is the perfect way to spend the weekend.
From the audience reactions, it was a pretty decent mix of people viewing these films for the first time, and people revisiting some childhood favorites. For me, this was definitely a revisit, although A) I realized I hadn’t watched the first two in their original Japanese with English subtitles before (as they were here), and B) I don’t think I’ve ever marathoned them quite like this! I’ve listened to the soundtracks back to back to back, but hearing it all in context was even better. We definitely enjoyed ourselves during the showings – cheering and laughing (remember “Netscape Navigator” and the Sega Dreamcast?) and applauding at the end.
Some folks only came for the first showing (about 30-40), so that number dipped for the second movie (about 20-30) – there were quite a few of us who stayed the whole time, but the third showing really drew a crowd (about 50-60), probably due in part to the Q&A session with Ayako Fujitani! One of the owners introduced the third film, as Ayako herself was in attendance, discussed how each film just gets better and better, and reminded us of the Q&A after the film.
The first time I heard of Ayako Fujitani doing an event in the US was 2022’s All Monsters Attack in Indianapolis – it’s absolutely possible that she has done plenty of other events over the years; I don’t get out much.
There’s a certain joy that comes from seeing a kaiju film veteran return to talk about it, especially decades later. Her love for the series is apparent, and she seemed to be having a genuinely good time. It’s always a relief seeing and hearing a guest enjoying the questions, having a good rapport with the interviewer, and generally having fun with it! She stated that she was kind of nervous that people wouldn’t show, but she was excited to see so many fans! This gives me hope that we’ll see her at more events.
Ayako Fujitani Q&A Highlights:
– When she was asked to audition, she hadn’t heard of Gamera before, so she rented one of the earlier films and enjoyed it!
– Initially, there was a debate on whether or not her character Asagi would return for the third film.
– She got to work with both directors (Kaneko for the “human beings” and Higuchi for the “monster beings”), but got in trouble for constantly touching the monster suits.
– Going in to Gamera 3, they knew it was going to be a trilogy, and they knew this was going to be the end. Even if the film exploded at the box office, they knew that this was still going to be the end.
– If asked to do another Gamera film in the future, she would consider it – it depends on who is directing.
– “How was it working with Hideaki Anno?” “”Yeah, good question, he’s crazy right??”
– She co-wrote an upcoming movie “Tokyo Cowboy” that’s currently running the festival circuit, opening in theaters in Japan summer 2024, “and hopefully in America!”
– She discussed some of the struggles she had – being a teenager balancing going to school and doing those films, wanting to write but being told in Japan that “actors don’t write” and being shot down in the US because English wasn’t her first language, and the difficulty of reacting to a creature that wasn’t there (that was just “a small stick with a thing on top so actors can follow the eyeline”). “Kaneko, my director, I call him my dad, he told me: if the actor’s eyes don’t believe in it, the audience can’t believe in it.” Her daughter once told her that actors are good liars, to which she responded “no my daughter, we’re not liars, we just believe!”
– The actors were told that in the universe in which the Gamera films take place, there are NO TURTLES. They don’t exist. Because if they were to see a giant turtle kaiju they would just go “oh wow, that’s a big turtle”, but since turtles don’t exist, Gamera is a completely new type of being.
– Being close with the directors and writers, she got to hear a lot of their process, discussing why Gamera exists – is it a friend of children? Humans in general? Protector of the Earth? As the films go on, we see that Gamera cares most about the Earth first. In her words “Gamera doesn’t give a fuck about humans. If you’re a harm to the Earth, Gamera will kill you too!”
– Of course, when asked about her favorite kaiju, the answer was obviously GAMERA.
– When asked about her time in Portland: “Portland is great, for real. Portland is about art, and people are willing to embrace art, and I’m lucky to be here.”
Concluding Thoughts
We were lucky to have her here! It’s great that there’s enough interest in kaiju media for a venue to be willing to do something like this, and enough interest from the public to attend! Whether there’s enough interest on Gamera on its own, or if the increased popularity from Godzilla is helping to boost the other kaiju franchises, I’ll take it.
All in all, the event was absolutely worth the 2-hour drive for me. If you ever get a chance to watch these films on the big screen, or hear Ayako discuss working on them, go! Do it! Until then, be kind to the Earth!
