For those that enjoyed The Day After Tomorrow, Shinji Higuchi’s Sinking of Japan is another film that should certainly appeal. With hugely impressive special effects and excellent character development, Sinking of Japan is a disaster film that is most definitely well worth watching, and the acting quality here is always of an exceptional standard.
As major earthquakes begin to hit Japan it doesn’t take the geological experts long to realise that the country is in serious danger, and the authorities are alerted as it’s calculated that there’s less than a year to go before that Japan will be fully submerged under the sea. The government keeps the situation quiet at first, as large areas of the country begin to get wiped out the time arrives for them to act fast however and they begin to make plans to send as many people overseas as possible. Although the countries future is at threat, all hope is not yet lost as there is a way of solving the problem and stopping Japan from becoming any further damaged by nature; the procedure to stop Japan from sinking is high risk, it is however possible that Japan can be saved.
Kou Shibasaki and Mayuko Fukuda both play their parts brilliantly in Sinking of Japan, and it’s their developing relationship that is at the very centre of the film. Their characters have been extremely well developed here, and their incredibly high quality of acting really does make this film special. Not only is the film visually impressive, but cerebrally engaging also, and the film easily manages to maintain your interest for the entirety of its 135 minute runtime. The only thing that doesn’t seem to work particularly well is the choice of song in what should be an extremely poignant scene; the scene should be highly emotive and could have been excellent, the accompanying track however just doesn’t work. Were it pure instrumental then the effect would perhaps have been greater, for two full minutes the track plays though and just really breaks the film up; this I feel would be my only cause for complaint about the film, and this I feel is an area in which the film could have been improved.
For fans of disaster films I really would recommend watching Sinking of Japan, and for those that follow extreme weather this is a film that would surely appeal. Shinji Higuchi truly has done a cracking job with this film, and all credit must also go to Sakyo Komatsu, the writer of the novel Japan Sinks on which the film is based, and the screenplay writer Masato Kato also. All involved with Sinking of Japan combine together to make the film special, and this is no doubt a film to add to your rental list at the very least.
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UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
