ThurstonHunger

The opening sequence is an artful assault of animation, and I should go watch it again as I think it presages a lot of what is to come. It does it in a sensory overload method that fits with the kami-crazy explosion of visual creativity to come.

My son had wanted to check this out, possibly via Devilman or the recommendation of a fiendish friend. After the initial rapid fire sequence, there is a scene in a bar/restaurant that shoves violence right through the viewer and a main character. My wife bailed before even a single pistol was drawn.

Getting past that (and as one reviewer points out a pretty heavy adolescent boy lust-busting view of things) - this is a pretty inspiring cartoon to just watch.

The story maybe is familiar, possibly born out of wedlock between "It's a Wonderful Life" and an old Nintendo gaming consul.

The creators of the film are restless and confident, the main character is gutless and timid, but he may be due for a sea change of Biblical distortions.

Ultimately it is a whale of experience for all involved, even if the philosophy espoused is the sort of a hypercaffeinated all-night gaming teenage world warcraft werewolf.

Hard not to root for our little main character drifter. Could see this playing on a big screen behind the Boredoms in concert if you know what I mean.

If I may recommend watching this with a friend or friends, I suspect you will enjoy the post-movie discussion more than the actual movie.

There is a messy melange of ideas contained within the film, and after watching I am a little curious where the writers/director stand on having children.

An old cliche goes - "insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children" - which could apply here, but in this dystopian future how you get your children might be even more insane. Another old adage is that you have to get a license to drive a car, to fish, to hunt but NOT to have children - well that too rises to the surface.

As for science fiction, this is an interesting and somewhat rare example where it could potentially be presented as a play. Saying that as a cautionary piece of advice as it might turn off a lot of sci-fi diehards. Think the slowest Star Trek episode you ever watch, overloaded with about six morality plays.

I did watch this with my son, and he had seen some previews (I had seen none, just brief mention of the film and Himesh Patel - and that had me intrigued). Based on the previews, my son thought maybe this was a comedy - and in hindsight I can see how he came to that conclusion.

Then again is comedy + repetition a sort of sadism? That word came to mind as the assessment wore on - and in the long denouement we catch a clue as to why. Although even in that post-Assessment wrap-up, the film goes after too many topics - "married to work" aka the Matrix blue pill if you will, or whether life is better defined by death (see Anne Rice vampire tales), or what is the crucial mistake when something fails (a detective defective story) or what to neglect when you are expecting.

Anyways, the film was a somewhat unique combination of engaging, frustrating and unfulfilling - but for us at least opened up various vistas for discussion afterwards.

And that I think is the best offspring produced by The Assessment.

I am old enough to recall hearing about this as an adaptation of King Lear when it came out.

Wasn't it also a sort of swan song/return/farewell to Kurosawa's earlier movies? Anyways for some reason I never saw it, so when one of my sons mentioned it the other day I was happy to rent it and watch it with him and his brother.

Watching in an actual theater might have enhanced the experience, sweeping panorama shots (horses surging across a stream, a distant army atop a faraway hill watching vulture-like as two other clans square off below, a castle in flames, and throughout clouds that seem to take direction from Kurasawa and dominate the screen.

Tatsuya Nakadai in the "Leer" role is so expressive with his face (and kudos to hair and make-up, the tones of blue/red/grey give a startling ghastly look). Add to that his physical work, moving between catatonic trance and then frightened insect prance at times. Very eerie, such a unique portrayal of dementia. When he speaks, and I would say the same for many of the royal family and their trusted fool, every line is hyper-dramatic and shouty. I guess they wanted operatic heights to scale the bulwarks of the fortresses or to make a rather simple story seem more charged, but it wore me out emotionally at times.

That said, the loyal lieutenant-like characters - I found their measured speech and decisive action highlighted them as the truly noble characters in the film. Speaking more sternly, and speaking truth to power - and not just the fox statue allegory scene. Meanwhile speaking of other more literal "characters," a minor point the subtitles were often lost in the background of the stunning cinematography. My son paused our viewing and looked to see if we could change the font color at one point.

Overall a grand spectacle that may have lost something in translation. Or not, a simple message of ashes to literal ashes, dust to blood-soaked dust comes through loud (despite all shouting ;>) and clear no matter how wealthy, or conniving you may be there is no escaping your fate. Even Buddha's blessing gets blown away.