Over the top and larger than life. That is the impression that lingers with this movie. Giant metal spires rising from a sea of mist, thousands of flocks of birds where one would normally do, tremendous statues of human feet, parades of giant puppets, boats the size of cities, hundreds of beautiful killer dolls, a corporate headquarters shaped like an oversized medeival cathedral... all of these things are bigger than big. Then there are the elegantly beautiful classic cars, the sumptuous interior spaces.
I wondered why the director did this, at first (while at the same time revelling in the beauty). Then I realized that it was a tool; he was trying, through contrast, to throw the theme of the movie into the starkest of relief. For in the face of these apparant triumphs of man's ingenuity, we are presented with questions to unsettle the heart as we linger on the edge of sleep.
Can we ever really observe truth when our tools for observing are fallible?
If not, how can we ever claim to know ourselves? How can we, in fact, claim 'self'?
Heady stuff. Yet, the way Mamoru Oshii presents it to us is not opressive or heavy handed. No talking heads around a cafe table espousing the nature of thought here. Instead, these questions are couched in an excellent murder mystery/thriller. Grizzled agent Batou works around the lonlieness born from his last parner's mysterious disappearance, and his new partner's inexperience to track down the root cause of a series of bizzarre murders. By the end, when the peculiar director of this escapade is revealed and the crime is solved, Batou has learned something that eases his loneliness, yet is now more than ever caught in the deep questions the movie raises. Fabulous.
Posted by Gaunt at September 11, 2004 10:58 AM