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This
is a strange duck, a film by the legendary anime director Rintaro
based upon a manga by another legend Osamu ("Kimba the White
Lion", "Astroboy") Tezuka, which was based upon his
impression of the poster of the Fritz Lang film: 'Metropolis'.
I'm not going to make fun of this idea because, like all examples
of extreme inspiration, it has its elements of brilliance. In this
case, I found it all a bit unaffecting. There is no denying that
the conjunction of Rintaro ("Galaxy Express 999") and Katsuhiro
Otomo ("Ghost in the Shell", "Akira") has provided a film of startling
imagery and a newness of design that is challenging. However, for
non-anime fans the clash of graphic elements of Rintaro's cutesy
characters (think "Astroboy") layered on top of art deco and industrial
backgrounds may be daunting. Furthermore, the admittedly brave injection
of jazz and blues music (in the climax of the film, a huge explosion,
the soundtrack breaks out into "I can't help loving you") as the
soundtrack can be weird and inappropriate. I also found the nods
in some of the shots to classic American film jarring such as various
odes to the Godfather and de Palma. I was told that the bad subtitles
in the first third of the film were 'stylistic' by my anime fan
friends but, well, there's no excuse for lack of readability. And
while non-anime fans might find the plot to be interesting, I found
the plot fairly standard: the corrupt government funding a huge
project that will be brought down by rebels who try to protect a
special being with the power to destroy or save society. Sound familiar?
Sound like Akira?
In theatres now
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