AKA: Ika Resuraa
Country and Year: Japan (2004)
Director: Minoru Kawasaki
Starring: Osamu Nishimura, Kana Ishida

Review By: David Austin
Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars (good)

The Calamari Wrestler is part sports melodrama, part love story, and part inspirational fable, played (mostly) with a straight face, except that half the cast are giant walking sea creatures in wrestling boots. If you’re the type who loves the silly and the absurd, this is the movie for you. And if you’re the type who loves watching Japanese people dress up in rubber suits and whomp the living hell out of each other, then it is definitely the movie for you. You know who you are.

Taguchi, the current star of Japan Super Pro Wrestling seems to have it all, until, at the moment of his greatest triumph, he is challenged by a ferocious fighting cephalopod, who teaches him just how difficult it is to put a full nelson on someone with no arm bones. Taguchi seeks revenge, and the owners of Super Pro wrestling try to exploit the situation – in the meantime the Calamari Wrestler bides his time at a local temple and market, preparing for ultimate wrestling glory. But why does Calamari seem so familiar to Taguchi’s elfin girlfriend Miyako? What is his connection to former wrestler Kan-ichi Iwata? Who is Calamari’s mysterious trainer/manager? And what happens when athletic sea creatures start coming out of the woodwork to challenge Calamari in the ring?

Right up front, I have to say Calamari Wrestler is not a “good” movie. The budget is miniscule, the acting is broad, the plot meanders, and, obviously, the whole movie is completely ridiculous. However, none of that stops this from being a great piece of entertainment. First, the costumes are fantastic. Calamari, and later, Octopus and Squilla look great. Someone put a lot of love into these outfits, and they definitely have a Super Infra-man vibe. Second, the wrestling is much better than you’d think. The actors must have second jobs with US based monster-wrestling outfit Kaiju Big Battel, because they pull off much better moves than you would think possible, considering that they have their arms stuck in long tentacles. Finally, the film is short enough that the spectacle of Calamari going about his daily routine never gets tired. It’s hard not to chuckle at Calamari shopping, meditating, having a {shudder} love scene. This is a movie that will keep you giggling, laughing and cheering through most of its runtime.

Calamari Wrestler also features a subplot about Japan’s nationalistic need for a local hero, which nicely echoes the many years it took for the sumo federation to fully acknowledge how important Hawaiian, and now Mongolian, wrestlers have been for the sport.

Director Minoru Kawasaki has a background as a TV director for Ultraman Tiga, and here’s hoping that he’s given a bigger budget in the future to let his impulses run free. Not too big though – I think this movie is the kind of thing you only get when nervous producers aren’t watching over your shoulders. The actors also perform reasonably well, though the love interest is so wide-eyed and round-faced that she approaches cartoon status. Of course, she was probably cast for that very reason.

By the way, for those of you wondering what a “Squilla” is, it is also known as a mantis-shrimp, a particularly hideous crustacean that looks like the illegitimate love child of a shrimp and praying mantis. Apparently, in addition to being strong enough to break divers’ fingers, they are powerful boxers, more than capable of knocking out King Hippo and laying down some serious trash-talk afterwards. Though, as someone who was once tricked into eating raw mantis-shrimp for breakfast at 6 am in Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji Fish Market, I’m not sure whether squilla is more dangerous in the ring, throwing left hooks, or in your stomach, throwing punches of a different kind.

Recommended? Yes, if you like outrageously silly films played straight, or Japanese Kaiju or Sentai shows. What’s not to love about a movie with a great homage to Empire Strikes Back and where a giant anthropomorphic squid tries to go incognito by donning sunglasses? It may not be the greatest movie, or the most clever, but it is certainly a great deal of fun.

If you like this, you might like: Gamera, Godzilla, Takashi Miike’s Zebraman, The Foul King, Pulgasaur, Super Infra-man

DVD DETAILS

DVD Production Company: Pathfinder Pictures
Release Date: September 6, 2005
Run Time: 86 Mins
Extras: Still Gallery, TV Spots and Trailers, Music Video, “Making of” documentary

While the film isn’t getting the Citizen Kane treatment, Pathfinder has included a surprising amount of extras for a no-budget cult item.

First, and most importantly, Calamari is presented in a clean, 16×9 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Considering its low budget, this is as good a picture as one could ask for. Sound quality is also fine.

Two versions of the television spot are included, one of which includes the chorus of the … um … unique “Ika Resuraa” theme song, along with two versions of the trailer. A still gallery contains some of the more ridiculous scenes from the film. Pathfinder has also included a music video, featuring a surprisingly serious song by a quasi-Goth Japanese woman whose singing is intercut with scenes from the film, which isn’t quite as fun as it could have been. I do wish her name and the name of the song was included though.

The main bonus is a lengthy (20 min) “Making of” documentary. Viewers get to see the early stages of the creation of the costumes, and the stunt men training to perform their moves in costumes. It’s fun watching the stunt man lounge around in the Calamari costume with his head sticking up above the eyes. The best thing is seeing how much the crew enjoyed making this movie - a lot of the documentary shows cast and crew trying desperately to keep straight faces during filming. The documentary also shows footage of mock battles put on to promote the film at press conferences and film festivals. The only flaw is that the footage is only intermittently subtitled - however, it’s pretty easy to get the gist of what’s going on.

Pathfinder’s DVD is a pretty nice little package considering the complete obscurity of the film. It’s good to see a weird one like this treated with some respect.

© David Austin

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