SKY CRAWLERS - WTF IDK and ZZZ from GITS director
Terrence Briggs
happened to the old guy. Flew some sorties. Made a friend. Drank
some beer. Met a little girl. She's my boss's sister. Met a big
girl. We slept together. My friend got the perky big girl instead.
Act 2: Flew some sorties. Lost a wingman. Met another girl. My
friend said that the little girl is my boss' daughter, not her
sister. Flew some sorties. Took the new girl bowling with my
friend. She's not very good. My friend played with the other bowlers
in the room. Drank some beer with the new girl.
Sky Crawlers is (ostensibly) the story of a new teen military pilot
who goes to work every day, and wants to know what happened to the guy
he replaced. I think.
When I say "goes to work", I mean "stares off into space and has
obtuse conversations with his co-workers, when he isn't dogfighting."
I have been baffled by the works of Mamoru Oshii is the past. His
Ghost in the Shell films could cure insomnia, but those films were
about robots. Sky Crawlers is in another league. He not only wants
you to be sedated, but zombiefied. I haven't felt this sedated since
the live-action film Linda, Linda (and I *did* fall asleep during that
one).
The best things that I can say about it come three days after watching
it, safely distanced from the experience of actually watching it.
Is this a meditation on zombie soldiers? An immersive exercise in the
muddle of soulless routine? An existential hamster wheel? Thanks for
sharing.
Linda Linda featured a concert climax that represented the only energy
the movie ever showed. That was kind of the point: Music was the only
energy in the protagonist's lives. (I think. I fell asleep,
remember?)
Sky Crawlers might be operating on a similar wavelength. The lifeless
pointlessness is the point. Life's a drag, then you die... or seek
death. You never learn anything important beyond that. You never
grow old, or just muddle through a perpetual adolescence. Sure, there
are some perky people here and there, but they're weird - or they're
kids who don't know any better.
The epiphanies in seem like puddles in a desert. The flight scenes
features gorgeous skyscapes and imaginative CGI aircraft (speculative
prop designs that reminded me of Nadia and the Playstation game,
Skygunner). Pilots are occassionally blasted by gunfire into ghostly
crimson spectres: a dreamy effect that reminded me of Steven
Spielburg's War of the Worlds. Cute hounds and lively girls appear
every now and then.
I'm not opposed to deliberate animated storytelling. Mushi-shi can be
as uneventfully dry as SC, but at least it intrigues and compels over
certain 20-minute stretches. The Vampire Princess Miyu OAV is one of
my all-time favorite animated works, using a soft, contemplative hand
to craft truly compelling human drama. Sky Crawlers lulled me the way
Lain's first four episodes did: by spinning its narrative wheels and
eshewing anything resembling a payoff. I grasped and gasped for air,
and got... more spinning.
Fans of Married With Children will remember the highest praise Al
Bundy ever gave a movie:
"I saw hooters. A bunch of guys died. It had no story at all. It
was beautiful." Sky Crawlers may prove Mr. Bundy wrong.
Now I'm spinning my wheels, rambling instead of answering the
questions you must have about the movie. Well, the movie does the
same thing, so I hope you're impressed by my mimicry.
Terrence Briggs, noting that Sky Crawlers was at least Better than
Bayformers 2
Peace to you...
P.S. New job. I'm a pilot. My new boss looks familiar.
dbbrandell
The ANN reviewer thought it was a slam on the anime business; it keeps
churning out the same kind of shows, the fans keep watching them, and
nobody ever moves on/grows up, they just stay in the same rut.
Anyway, he kinda agrees; quoting from the down part of his capsule
up/down rating: "Most people won't get it, and will be bored to tears."
DBB
Derek Janssen
> Terrence Briggs wrote:
>>
>> Sky Crawlers is (ostensibly) the story of a new teen military pilot
>> who goes to work every day, and wants to know what happened to the guy
>> he replaced. I think.
>>
>> When I say "goes to work", I mean "stares off into space and has
>> obtuse conversations with his co-workers, when he isn't dogfighting.
>
> churning out the same kind of shows, the fans keep watching them, and
> nobody ever moves on/grows up, they just stay in the same rut.
Think he was just trying to make head or tail of it, and giving a little
too much credit--
Although wouldn't put it past Oshii to recycle old "Beautiful Dreamer"
licks.
> Anyway, he kinda agrees; quoting from the down part of his capsule
> up/down rating: "Most people won't get it, and will be bored to tears."
If Terence is trying to "shock" us by saying that post-UY Oshii films
can occasionally be a tad obscure and soporific, think he's a bit late
for the GITS2 jokes that have already popped up in anime...
Even the Japanese have their own rotten-tomato punchlines, and bad films
can become joke fodder over there, too.
Derek Janssen
eja...@verizon.net