Rintaro, 2001
n/a
okay. i will not give the film a rating because, well, i wasn't able to finish it :) it wouldn't be fair to judge the whole film because i only saw half of it. i wasn't able to finish the film because i was dead tired and i also couldn't get into it properly. see, the cover kinda threw me off a bit. it looked futuristic and high-tech, with Katsuhiro Ôtomo writing the screenplay. i felt confident. but then the film started ... and the characters looked like old-style animes like Albator (oh fuck - i just checked out Albator on the web -- Metropolis director Rintaro was the director on that series. ha!) and Candy with the big oval eyes. there's also a Fritz the Cat vibe with the roundness and jazz swings. so, that was jarring enough when i was expecting a cyberpunk film. the other half of the picture, though, is a real Futurama CGI effort, and that does work. but the simple, throwback feel of the handdrawn characters was enough to put me off every time. i also couldn't get into the flow of the film. the rhythm was off (or at least, mine was). there was no steam, no tension, no buildup; just a series of events (they weren't even able to make the action exciting!). it felt like i was reading a bland comic book (which i know is the source of the film -minus the blandness, i'll assume- but come on, i'm sure there was at least excitement in that one to warrant a film adaptation). the story is good enough (which must have inspired Katsuhiro Ôtomo because he would go on to write and direct Steamboy, a much more successful and exciting attempt (imo) revolving around technology and greed) but the film was a huge, jarring letdown for me. enjoy :)
Posted by Anonymous | 12:11 PM
