A tribute to a late special effects modeler leads to fiction and reality intertwining.

Following a prolonged absence, tokusatsu veteran Keizo Murase returned to film as a sculptor for Daisuke Sato’s wonderful short film “Howl from Beyond the Fog.” Recently, he’s made his directorial debut with the independent feature “Brush of the God.” Originally conceived as a story written by the director, it has now been adapted, with a screenplay by Takeshi Nakazawa, and Sato producing and directing the special effects. With a small budget, the project would receive additional funding through donations on Motion Gallery and Kickstarter. The final product is a movie with a promising setup but underwhelming payoff.

Renowned special effects model artist Kenzo Tokimiya passes away, and a memorial service is held for him to honor his legacy. His work is on display, and his daughter is organizing the event. One of the attendees is Kenzo’s grandaughter, Akari Tokimiya, who feels torn about the event because she doesn’t have the fondest memories of her late grandfather. While there, she runs into her classmate, Takuya Kido, a big tokusatsu fan, and they discuss the artist’s legacy and what will become of his work. Then, they meet a man named Hozumi, a proclaimed acquaintance of the old master, who shows the two teens an outline for a film Tokimiya had planned but never got around to making called “Brush of the God.” He then pulls out a brush and requests that they find it and save the world from vanishing. The duo is then transferred into a fantasy world that turns out to be the fictional reality of the unfinished movie, with the script being their only major resource available. They come across numerous creatures, including a friendly winged bunny creature called Mugumugurus, yet realize that the stakes are high when they encounter the legendary monster Yamata no Orochi, an eight-headed serpent capable of devastating catastrophe.

The premise for “Brush of the God” is very promising and, on the surface, endearing. It is a passionate tribute to the special effects art form of tokusatsu while channeling the filmmaking mode of meta-cinema. There is prominent self-insertion, with Kenzo Tokimiya meant to represent Keizo Murase and reflect on his career. The work of the deceased artist within the movie humorously references Murase’s real-life contributions to the medium, including films like “Matango,” the “Daimajin” sequels, and “The Mighty Peking Man,” yet the fictional movies showcased still feel like they could exist. There’s even referencing real independent productions, prominently “Howl From Beyond the Fog.” Additionally, there are themes of family reconciliation, with Akari reflecting on who her grandfather was as a person beyond his craftsmanship, material that can make for compelling drama.

There’s undoubtedly passion behind this feature, yet “Brush of the God” fails to deliver a compelling story, largely due to lackluster direction and writing, further dampened by awkward staging. The plot is incredibly rushed with how it progresses, reliant on continuous convenient contrivances that stretch subversion. It never feels like things happen naturally, which becomes a glaring detriment when the film attempts to insert drama, primarily with Akari reflecting on her relationship with her grandfather. All the characters are forgettable, with the only attempts at development being with Akari Tokimiya, but even she feels underdeveloped, and the intended resolutions to her conflicts don’t feel earned by the end, due to the lackluster screenplay. These narrative faults are not helped by almost all the dialogue being blatant exposition, frequently spelling things out for the audience, which becomes irritating.

In addition to dull characters, the acting is generally poor here. Rio Suzuki and Takeru Narahara are distractingly subpar in their roles as Akari Tokimiya and Takuya Kido, with some especially clunky line delivery and emotional conveying. While intended to be mysterious, Takumi Saitoh looks more lost than engaged in playing Hozumi. There’s also a handful of cameos from recognizable faces in tokusatsu media, like Yumiko Shaku, Shinji Higuchi, and Shiro Sano, yet they are sadly just as wooden as the film’s leads, which can also apply to the rest of the cast here.

Another frustrating aspect of “Brush of the God” is the inconsistent production values, particularly the special effects. While this movie aims to stay true to classic tokusatsu techniques, the quality is all over the place. Granted, even with crowdfunding from Motion Gallery and Kickstarter, finances are more limited here than in a big studio production, and it’s admirable how determined Sato and the team remained. Yet, for every great visual effects moment, such as Orochi’s rampage on a city, there are numerous bad ones, with some very shoddy digital effects and green screen work. This issue also applies to the cinematography by Yoshihito Takahashi and Yoichi Sunahara, sometimes looking good while other times not so much. However, the music score by Shota Kowashi adds a nice mystical flare to the movie, and the ending theme song, “Kaiju,” performed by the pop band Dreams Come True, is an endearing tune.

Keizo Murase’s “Brush of the God” is a disappointing film, especially considering the talent the filmmakers have. There are elements to admire, yet a lot to criticize. Its heart is in the right place as an intended loving tribute to the special effects art form of tokusatsu, yet its narrative execution fumbles. For every visually stunning moment, numerous sections look incredibly poor. Keizo Murase and Daisuke Sato don’t quite capture the immersive magic here that they did with their previous and vastly superior creative collaboration, “Howl from Beyond the Fog.”

“The Right Moment” is a very competent short that manages to eloquently present a series of social and political comments.

Fang Chen, from the Chaoshan region in Guangdong, China, holds a Master’s degree in Film Making from the China Film Art Research Center. She is dedicated to creating genre films with a personal touch, navigating the space between commercial and artistic cinema while continuously exploring and uncovering unique perspectives in female narratives. In 2022, her feature film script “Ms. Wang Cailing” was selected for the 13th “Supporting Outstanding Youth Film and Drama Program”. Her short film “The Right Moment” was officially selected by the 29nd Beijing University Student Film Festival, and the Macau International Film Festival, among others. Additionally, several of her short films have been showcased at various film festivals.

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The film begins with a letter circulating in a classroom while the teacher is talking, with the last girl giving it to a male student who doesn’t seem to want to get involved, making her rather anxious. It turns out it is a joint petition asking for signature from students in order to complain about a teacher, and everyone in the class have signed it. Two girls, obviously good friends, seem to be the ones that started the whole thing and are quite happy about the outcome, although they are worried they will be discovered, as the whole thing seems to be anonymous.

The girls then split up, with one, Sheng Lan, obviously lying about the place she lives in, mentioning a high-rise place, although she lives in a rundown house across the aforementioned area. Furthermore, it seem her mother does not want her to get involved with anything political. Eventually, however, the letter is discovered, forcing the two girls to choose between protecting or betraying each other. A flashback showing the two, Sheng Lan and Tang Yanyan, reading the letter, reveals what it was all about.

Fang Chen directs a 15-minute short that unfolds in two narrative axes. The first one one is sociopolitical, with the director commenting on the fact that, in the current era in China, reporting on each other has become a routine, thus highlighting a setting that can easily be described as suffocating. The second moves into coming-of-age territory, with the decision Sheng Lan makes essentially forcing her to mature and realize the concept of taking responsibility in life. On a lesser extent, the discrepancies that are found in students due to their parents’ financial situation, even for those attending the same schools, is also commented upon.

This last aspect is also well embedded in the cinematography, with DP Xiaojie Huang highlighting the difference of the two settings, the rich and the poor, in the most intricate fashion, in frames that include how one looks when witnessed from the other. Fang Chen’s own editing also works well, with a relative fast pace that allows the story to unfold nicely, without rushing.

Lin Jingtong and Huang Siyan give realistic performances as Sheng Lan and Yanyan, with the former having the meatier role, and being quite good in highlighting her discomfort about what is happening.

“The Right Moment” is a very competent short that manages to eloquently present a series of social and political comments.

John Mayall, the musician and bandleader often referred to as the godfather of the British blues — and whose long-running group the Bluesbreakers incubated some of rock music’s biggest talents, including Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor and Mick Fleetwood — died Monday at his home in California, according to a statement posted by his family on his official Facebook page. He was 90.

The statement didn’t specify a cause but attributed the death to the “health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career.”

Mayall, who’d been performing on the road as recently as 2022, was due to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October as a recipient of the organization’s Musical Influence Award. On its website, the hall hailed Mayall’s “rugged individuality and distinctive voice and style” and said he “continually experimented with and stretched the blues.”

“The blues is such an everlasting source of inspiration to me,” he told The Times in 1990. “It’s quite inexhaustible, really.”

A guitarist, keyboardist, singer, harmonica player and songwriter, Mayall released dozens of albums and played innumerable gigs in a career that stretched over more than half a century. Yet he’s best remembered for helping to launch the blues revival of the 1960s that would go on to make pop stars of Clapton, the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac.

His 1966 LP “Blues Breakers,” which featured Clapton on guitar (not long after he’d left the Yardbirds), is widely considered a classic of the form and earned a spot on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Mayall was born in 1933 near Manchester, England, where his father collected records and played music as a hobby. At age 3, he “got addicted” to the music of the Mills Brothers, he told The Times; after being discharged from the British Army in his early 20s, he formed his first band “strictly for my own satisfaction.”

By the time he was 30, though, he’d moved to London to pursue music professionally and found a thriving blues scene he described in The Times interview as “the south’s answer to the north, to the Liverpool pop-rock thing dominated by the Beatles.” Beyond Clapton, the Bluesbreakers eventually attracted Peter Green, who left the band to form Fleetwood Mac; Jack Bruce, who played with Clapton in Cream; and Aynsley Dunbar, who played drums for Frank Zappa, among other artists.

Mayall moved to Los Angeles in 1969 and spent the ’70s expanding his playing into jazz. But he reformed the Bluesbreakers in the mid-1980s and soon got back to averaging 120 dates a year.

“There would be more, but I put a ceiling on it,” he told The Times. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t get any home life, and that’s very important to me.”

Mayall is survived by six children, Gaz, Jason, Red, Ben, Zak and Samson; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. His family’s statement said he “is also surrounded with love by his previous wives, Pamela and Maggie, his devoted secretary, Jane, and his close friends.”