Avalon

Firstly I was amazed at the effect that this film has on people. After reading other comments here, it does not take long to note that reviewers are either full of praise or downright critical, with little in between. Not many movies are so provocative. I stumbled onto this film late one night at the local video rental and it was like my last option, so I had little or no expectations to be deflated. I was pleasantly surprised. The sombre ambiance of the surroundings (Poland) enchanted me, and the sepia black & white film stock simply added to the mystique of the setting. Indeed I have not experienced such a rich atmosphere in a sci-fi film since Blade Runner!!! The SLIGHTLY low-tech special effects were incredible in that they seemed to add authenticity to the fact that this was a "video game" NOT "reality", unlike a lot of sci-fi where the special effects are merely another prop. The insular existence of the lead character due to her obsession with her virtual world is perhaps very poignant today more than ever with the advent of cyber space, computer games etc and their potential for social alienation. Perhaps the films shortcoming is that it may not appeal to the younger set who have grown up on a heavy diet of Hollywood Blockbusters where there has to be the mandatory car chase and subsequent sex followed by a gratuitous helping of ultra violence, but for me that was part of this very artistic films charm.

* Director

Oshii Mamuro. Known for his slow pace, attention to detail, quite complicated storylines and his moodsetting. Always works together with Kenji Kawai (sound) and Ito (story). Other movies include Ghost In The Shell, Patlabor 1/2/OAV/Minipato, Urutsei Yatsura:Beautiful Dreamer. Also contributed to Jin-Roh and Blood. All these are worth a peek, especially if you like Avalon. Strange little fact : Oshii's a total dog freak. Watch his movies carefully.

* Story

Well, I can be short here. Set in an alternative present/future, a girl (Ash) sets out to find a hidden level in a VR-game (Avalon). It may be a bit thin, but a good setup for the main theme of the movie. Besides that, Oshii's movies were never all that story-based to begin with, as he pays a lot more attention to general moodsetting of his alternate realities. Oh, and for those who claim it's too confusing, try to focus a bit. After two viewings, most of it can be understood (minus a few little details). One warning though. The pace is as slow as ever. Oshii is one to leave you a lot of time to think about certain things that happen. Some like this, most of you probably won't.

* Acting

Kinda hard to judge, as the movie was made in Poland, with Polish actors. Personally, I find the acting adequate. No oscar nominations here, but good work from the leading actress and the guy that plays Murphy. It all depends on what you like. To me the charm came from the exotic language, some will probably find this a turn-off. The conversation is minimal and not so important. It's just there to deliver the facts, not to explain emotions. Comments about the coldness of Ash have nothing to do with bad acting, but with the character she plays (another one of Oshii's trademarks).

* Characters

Typical Oshii. A cold female in the leading role. The only time she shows emotion is when she's in the vicinity of her dog / dogs in general. Besides that, she's an ice cube. Personally, I like 'em like that. The others are interesting because of their little quirks and oddities, not because of their background stories, emotional struggles or deeper motives. All in all, they're a memorable bunch, but only there because you can't make a movie without characters.

* Themes

Every Oshii movie has it's own theme. Beautiful Dreamer was about the boundary between dream and reality, Patlabor 1 about the relationship between mankind and machinery and Patlabor 2 about war in general. Avalon tries to question the boundary between reality and virtual reality, using the first-person game genre as an ideal setup. Which world is real, which isn't, does it actually matter and is there a way to find out what's real and what isn't. Oshii poses all these questions, but doesn't deliver any answers. Which, in my humble opinion, is the best way to handle it. When a movie does try to give you an answer (Existenz), it doesn't stimulate the viewer to think about it afterwards. So, it all depends on what you're looking for. You want some questions to think about, this is your movie, you want a quick story with cheesy moral (Existenz again), avoid.

* Special effects

Again, the opinions here are diverse. I think it's one of the most visually impressive movies I've ever seen. Everything looks absolutely gorgeous, especially when you compare the original shots with the result. But allow me to stretch the term SFX a bit. This isn't The Matrix with twirly, flashy, in-your-face SFX. Instead, the first hour or so is completely reworked with a superb sepia-colored filter, which gives the movie a 1940 postcard kinda look. Besides that, the SFX are a lot more subtle. Those which are in-your-face (like the rendered vehicles) are done nicely. I especially liked the Citadel, and although the rendering is not perfect, the designs are marvelous.

* Music

Oshii regular Kenji Kawai made all the songs for this film. Oshii's one of the last to realize the effect a good soundtrack has on a movie. And I don't mean finding some pop idols and putting them on a CD, but really incorporating the songs in your movie for extra effect, and even working the other way around, by adjusting the images to the sound. All the songs were written for Avalon and vary from ambient to something close to opera. Even if you don't like the movie or haven't seen it yet, the soundtrack should be part of your CD/MP3 collection.

* General Moodsetting

Well, this is what makes the movie one of the best there is. It requires a special kind of taste to like it though. The characters' reality is a bleak and cold one, with little room for emotions, yet portrayed in such a way that it still feels kind of warm and cosy. It's hard to explain but I believe it's best compared with the darker side of romance. The feeling you get when you're sitting in front of your window, it's raining outside and your girlfriend just left you. It's a sort of gentle comforting sadness. He atteigns this through the music, the sepia filter, slow pace and briliant camera swoops/positions. One of the fears I had before I saw the movie, was that he wouldn't be able to capture this mood in a live action (he normally makes animated movies, which all have a certain style of their own to begin with), but he did a magnificent job. Very unique and stylish.

* Overall

I would like to say this movie has no similarities with The Matrix or Existenz whatsoever. People who expect a movie like the afore mentioned will be disappointed. This is 100% Oshii. It's a bit difficult to recommend to people who don't know him and his way of working. My advise is, try to watch Ghost In The Shell first. It has an easier job holding your attention (if you like animation that is), but is still representative for his other work. Personally, I think this ranks among the five best movies ever. It's refreshing, it's unique and made with passion. Hollywood fans beware, others, try it out.

I think many of the complaints about this movie are by those that overlook one of the most obvious statements of the movie... that day to day life is boring & tedious, (walking hallways, taking lonely boring train rides, feeding your dog, watching an annoying person eat) all the while the visual world (read spiritual, artistic, visionary, higher level, etc.) is breath-taking. None of the characters of this world are privy to the visual poetry we are being exposed to as viewers... and that is part of the point, they are blind to it... yet it's a reminder that technological obsessiveness, or material obsessiveness, blinds everyone from simple visual beauty. The lighting alone in the movie was incredibly inventive, variations of sepia tones that went from red to green to blue during the course of the movie... overall the lighting and photography in the movie was amazing. You could take any given frame of this film and have a very beautiful photograph. There is a lot of CGI work in this movie that many nay-sayers called "low budget" and didn't even notice. Watch at the very end of the movie how the ghost's mouth wavers, almost like the Mona Lisa, from sad half-frown into a smirk, and this was done in post. I'm sure many people missed very subtle and beautiful touches like this on first viewing. If someone were to critique it for lack of complexity, I would agree... Blade Runner was not "deep" in the same way... but both, upon multiple viewings, remain almost timelessly poignant while being very reflective of when they were made, and I'm sure in 10 years this movie will seem as striking, as Blade Runner is to me now over 20 years since it's release. This will be one to watch over and over again every 6 months.

One caveat... the Miramax version is rubbish. The translations are horrible and stupid. Literally you lose half the meaning of the film. At one point Ashe is talking to the Gamemaster discussing Avalon (the mythic island) and discussing Odin and the helmet of forgetting... right as she puts the VR helmet on. In the Miramax version... the Gamemaster just says "be careful it's dangerous in there"... etc. Not even close, it's like they didn't bother even attempting a real translation, pathetic.

This is a stunningly visual film which takes many of the best elements of the minor sub-genre of 1980s and 1990s sci-fi involving virtual reality, and blends them into an interesting story exploring social withdrawal, addiction, the nature of reality, and the value of life. The film does have a bit of new wave pretentiousness to it - using cliché hacker-names for the players of Avalon, etc, but no more so than many of its competitors (and a bit less than The Matrix). If this sort of thing doesn't appeal to you - and especially if you're the type who wants a film to simply entertain and tell you a simple story, don't bother to read any further.

The film uses a story-telling technique common in good literature but unfortunately under-used in film - that of intentional ambiguity. The best example of this is the main character - well played by Malgorzata Foremniak. You simply don't know what to make of "Ash". Though I found it easy to relate to this character, and I think I understand her, I am not sure most viewers will. In my opinion, Ash is best interpreted as a person with an iron-clad grip on reality, who nevertheless maintains a distance from the people around her, and prefers to keep her relationships "in-game". This is not at all an uncommon personality type, especially among women and mature males in the real worlds of virtual reality and on-line gaming.

The film focuses on Ash's ambitions to become the best player of Avalon - an ultra-real and sometimes deadly virtual reality game - in the world. Avalon is illegal and run on LANs which are set up in what looks like futuristic crack houses. To become recognized as the best, Ash has to complete a level which tends to put anybody who enters it into a catatonic state. She comes to believe that an old team mate of hers - Murphy - inhabits that zone, and wants to rescue him. But of course the designers of the game have other plans, and maybe Murphy himself does as well. Foremniak does a great job of playing this ambiguous yet sympathetic character. Ash, the carefully developed script, the excellent soundtrack, and the superb and beautiful visual effects, all keep you guessing until the very end. I never knew what to expect from this film, and I was very pleased by the way it developed its own concepts of logic and justice - remaining centered on Ash throughout.

Avalon was interesting enough for a second and perhaps a third viewing. I will update my review (if needed) after my next round with it. For now, I will only give it a very high recommendation to anybody who has read this far. After all, if you've read this far in the review, you're probably interested enough in the film to see it.

I noticed the movie got rated somewhat better by the younger part of the public and frankly, that doesn't surprise me. You'll have to have played an online shoot-em-up or war game at least once to see why the idea of a gamer making a life of her addiction in a near future isn't such an outlandish idea.

Avalon takes this idea to new extremes, without being cheap or easy and adds a healthy dose of magical realism. The artwork is stunning, the soundtrack very strong (and classical instead of the usual techno), the acting is cool and distant, which is all perfect for the dark setting. Even the choice of Poland as the scenery seems right on.

Why then doesn't this flic deserve a 10? Well, although I liked the story and though it does have depth, it is a bit one-dimensional. The world doesn't seem to harbor more than this one story and that's a shame. The movie could have become a classic with a little bit more background plot. But nonetheless, a must-see.