Cheap Giants and Toys (DVD) (Yasuzo Masumura) Price

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Customer Reviews of Giants and Toys

excellent
Wow, what a great find. It's amazing to think that this intelligent and thought provoking film was made in 1958 - it's just as relevant and insightful when viewed today. Three rival candy companies try to outdo each other in order to achieve greater sales is the basic premise, and the ways in which they go about this has to be seen to be believed. I'd also highly recommend director Yasuzo Masumura's take on The Collector - Blind Beast. The transfers for both films are superb by the way, utilising pristine source elements.

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Greed, ambition and the cult of celebrity
Like the candy companies in the film that aren't really so sweet, this is a great film that deceptively appears to be fun, but becomes quite a serious examination of greed, celebrity and the rat race. It was made in 1958, but could have been made today.

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A terrific little-known Japanese film
This is film is about manufactured celebrity and consumerism in Japan, but it might as well be about America. The filmmakers use the candy business as a metaphor to discuss Japan's headlong post-war plunge to catch up with America and it's interesting to see how the attitudes of the company executives have played out in the modern era.

The first 40 minutes of this film feel like a broad farce, but y the end of the film, the characters really take hold and I was actually pretty involved in their plight. In particular, I think anyone with a passing interest in the goofier sides of Japanese pop culture (disposable pop stars who can't sing, weird non-sequitur advertising campaigns) will definately enjoy this film. The transfer is pretty good (although the audio definately reflects the limitations of the source material.)