Director: Mamoru Oshii
Trailer (Polish with Japanese Subtitles):
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...01LZZZZZZZ.jpg
In a dystopian future, there is a very popular and illegal virtual reality war game called "Avalon", named after the mystical island of the Arthurian Legend. One of the top players is Ash (Malgorzata Foremniak).
Ash was once one of the members of the top scoring team of all time, Wizard. The team disbanded after one of the team members made a rookie mistake by calling "reset". She has been playing solo ever since.
Ash runs into one of her former team members, Stunner (Bartlomiej Swiderski), who tells her of secret game level, "Special A". Their other former teammate, Murphy (Jerzy Gudejko) had gone looking for this game level and had lost his mind to it.
Reluctantly enlisting the help from the mysterious Bishop (Dariusz Biskupski), Ash forms another team to find "Special A", and to unlock the truth to Murphy's fate.
From the Japanese director who made "Ghost in the Shell", and filmed in Poland with a Polish cast (with top-notch acting), this film is very much a live-action anime. It's full of action, but with a slower pacing, very similar to "Ghost in the Shell". It's not a high-paced thrill ride, but one with mysteries that have to unravel before your eyes.
The cinematography is gorgeous in a sepia tone that fits the dystopian setting. You can also see why Poland was picked as the setting as the bleakness of a more impoverished city seeps through. It has it's own kind of beauty with the complimenting orchestral and sometimes operatic music.
There's an overall theme here of "what is reality?", now that is not a new concept, but how it was explored here was fresh and modern. It really brought that theme to the modern age and contributed for an amazing and interesting ending.
So, if you looking for an action film that is part art, philosophy, and mystery, then give this a try. If you're looking for mindless action, then you may be bored.
