Blu-ray Review: Giovanni’s Island

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There’s a lot to history that doesn’t get taught in high school and even college courses. A lot of stuff has happened and it’s easy to never hear about certain events for numerous reasons. It’s not some sort of conspiratorial cover up. You can’t just know everything. When I first heard the plot of Giovanni’s Island about the Soviets occupying Japan after World War II, I thought it was some sort of alternate history like a Quentin Tarantino movie. But the basis of the film really did happen. At the end of the war, the Soviet navy arrived on four of the Kurii Islands. The islands are between the large Japanese island of Hokkaido and the Soviet’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Giovanni’s Island goes into life during the early years of the Soviet takeover.

Junpei and Kanta are two brothers who have been growing up on the island of Shikotan. Even though they’ve spent most of their lives growing up during World War II, the battles haven’t had much of an impact on their island life. The place doesn’t even have electricity so there’s been no need for blackouts. Their grandfather is a fisherman so he keeps them fed. The brothers are named after characters in the novel Night On The Galactic Railroad. This was their mother’s favorite book before she passed away. Their father Tetsuo is part of the local force although they aren’t much of an army. The war doesn’t show up until battleships arrive off the coast. The elders think it is the American forces that will disarm them. But it turns out to be the Soviets and they aren’t there to reform the Japanese citizens. They have come to claim Shikotan as their island. They bring over their families to put down roots. This leads to a harsh adjustment of the brothers having their school abruptly changed so the Soviet kids get the better facilities. Even worse is they have to move out of their house and into the nearby horse stall. They can’t be too angry because the Soviet family has a young daughter Tanya that Junpei has likes. Adjusting to life on the occupied island isn’t easy for the boys. What will the Soviets do with the Japanese citizens as they have zero desire to return the island to Japan.

Giovanni’s Island shows that an animated movie can illustrate a historical event. The film does an amazing balance of presenting this time using the brothers so there is a human factor to what happened on the island. The movie is also extremely heartbreaking as the family deals with all the turmoil the Soviet military throws at them. This is a very adult film even if the main characters are children. The third act is gut wrenching as the boys attempt to get back to Japan. Director Mizuho Nishikubo and his crew have made very deep and moving film about the Kurii Islands.

The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The animation looks fabulous on the screen whether it be the island views or the snowy landscape of the Soviet Union. The audio features the original Japanese soundtrack in 5.1 DTS-HD MA. There’s also an English dub in 5.1 DTS-HD MA. The subtitles are in English and Spanish.

Making Of (37:42) introduces us to the director. He calls is a documentary style of animation. He goes into how they had to change the colors used in two scenes late in the production process. They show the different tinted scenes so you can have a sense of how they emotionally hit. We meet Santiago Montiel, the general art director who worked remotely on the film. Hiroshi Tokuno was born in Shikotan in 1934 and describes what it was like when the Soviet military arrived.

Interview with Polina Ilyushenko (4:25) has the voice actress talk about her experience with the Japanese animation crew which was different from working with American and English productions. She gets into her character of Tanya.

“Troika” Music Video (4:13) is the male choir version that didn’t make it into the movie. Visually it uses clips from the film.

Art Gallery (7:22) includes the character sheets and object designs.

Shout Factory & GKIDS present Giovanni’s Island. Directed by Mizuho Nishikubo. Screenplay by Shigemichi Sugita and Yoshiki Sakurai. Starring Masachika Ichimura, Yukie Nakama, Kanako Yanagihara, Polina Ilyushenko, Yūsuke Santamaria and Kōta Yokoyama. Running Time: 102 minutes. Rated: Unrated. Release Date: February 21, 2023.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.