Change Your Image
jlovejoy
Reviews
Beyond (2003)
Sublime
None of the other shorts stood up the hairs on the back of my neck like this one. Even in the stern droll world of the Matrix, innocence, wonder and purity survive. I was reminded of Castle in the Sky at certain moments. Yoko (Hedy Burress of FFX) and the three kids have a carefree little afternoon in this amazing house that defies all the rules. They're oblivious to the truth that they are in a computer program that just happens to be glitching in this time and place. The sights and sounds of this short are gorgeous and sublime (how I would also describe the score), and despite lasting only 12 minutes, it evokes an immense emotional impact, bringing you up to a high, then wrenching everything away. It is one of the finest films of any length I've ever seen, and definitely the best of the Animatrix shorts.
Program (2003)
Seven minutes of total engrossment
Speaking aesthetically, I really enjoyed the crisp, thick-lined and fluid animation and radiant pace, and overall epic feel of this short, which also took "residual self image" to a far more imaginative level than the hit and miss euro-trash style of the live action films. I particularly like how Cis's hair is so much longer in the construct. The whole look of this short was so rich and elegant it just drew you in and you lost all concept of time. Speaking thematically, we know what happens when people like Cipher get sick of the real world. Duo is almost a deeper character in this seven-minute animation. He knows how brutal the machines are, and feels like its only a matter of time before the free humans are wiped out. He also loves Cis and wants her to "escape" with him and escape the pain and certain death he feels is inevitable. I take Cis' side, however. As well-intentioned or logical Duo's argument is, the fact remains he betrayed Cis and everyone else he knows because he allowed his fear to take over. Cis won't run from the truth like he is, and she knows that the only way to survive the situation is to terminate the traitor without hesitation. In this desperate form of human existence, her action was not at all uncalled for. Those whose minds have been freed depend on one another. Fortunately, he was just a simulated character in a test program.
Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984)
One of the best films I've even seen, if not THE best
1984. I was born that year, and that was the year Nausicaa was released in Japan. That was a dang long time ago by my reckoning. Yet here, 21 years later, the US is fortunate enough to get a decent version of it on these shores. I saw a TV ad for this movie; I had never heard of it before. But I had seen Spirited Away, and I knew that Studio Ghibli was capable of creating cinematic masterpieces that blew any other animation out of the freakin' water. I had to see this, and I saw it the first day it was released, and I wasn't disappointed. Never mind it's age, this film is timeless in its power and imagination. It was definitely one of the best films -- anime or not -- that I've ever seen (just to make my tastes in film more specific, I also consider the godfather, Strangers on a Train, Citizen Kane, 2001 A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, the Untouchables, The Fifth Element, Brazil, Spirited Away, and Leon other great films...I know, its a wide spectrum).
Nausicaa has so much going for it. The story pulls you into this fantastic world; the legends engross; the landscapes are surreally breathtaking (saying something for an image on a 2d screen); especially with Joe Hishashi's score, which can only be described as virtuoso. With an ingenious mix of traditional orchestral and 80's electronic, seamlessly merged. The English dubbing is superb, too. Alison Lohman has a great voice. Patrick Stewart, whom I'd known for more than a decade as Picard, was a very welcome surprise.
These are all my opinions, I'm not selling anything; everyone's tastes are different, especially in film. But I really liked this film, and as such felt compelled to comment on it. I would recommend seeing it. I thought anime was stupid until very recently. A lot of it is. But not this. This is peerless cinema.