Hope these don’t make it into my dreams.
There are some movies that I really hesitate to review, and Attack of the Mushroom People (1963; in Japan, Matango) falls into this category. An anomalous collection of Japanese people board a yacht for a long sail. They range from a egotistical corporate executive, to a famous singer, to a professor of psychology, a writer, an apparent nobody, and the boat’s captain and mate.
The inevitable storm comes up, but – to my surprise – no monsters board the ship and hunt down the occupants. Instead, it sustains enough damage to distress the crew, although the passengers seem merely irritated. As they transition from distress to real nutritional deprivation, a fog-bound island appears and they make their way onto shore.
The hunt is on for food, and they find a few roots, clams – and a bounteous crop of mushrooms, which they carefully avoid. From the top of a hill, they spot another wreck. A visit reveals an abandoned ship whose log is mysteriously vague; even the nationality of the ship is questionable. It’s clearly a research vessel, but gear is present from both Communist and free world countries – and why is a radiation meter present?
They take up residence, and not a moment too soon, as strange figures appear at the portholes. But it’s all quite leisurely, building the tension until we begin to see the various personalities begin to fall apart under the pressure. The big windup doesn’t come from without, but from within, and somehow that’s more satisfying.
I found it annoying at the same time I was fascinated. The acting was on par with general Japanese kaiju movies, with which I’ve never been comfortable. But here it’s as if the audience is watching stereotypical characters from one genre finding themselves in another, and it can lead to a certain cognitive discomfort.
And that’s what makes me wary of this review. Perhaps, for a Japanese person of the era, the characters seemed perfectly natural. I don’t dispute their reactions to the tension brought on by whatever has happened to the crew of the wreck our immediate characters have found. It’s an interesting dig into the psychic tensions of what may be generic examples of certain categories of people. But the whole thing may be colored by my American perceptions.
So, if it sounds interesting, give it a watch. The first 10 or 15 minutes were tedious, but when the storm hits, things become more interesting. And if you have a clue as to how to evaluate this movie, let me know.
