Avalon has a power that glues the audience firmly to their seats for the movie's entire 106 minutes. Even when the credits roll, people linger as if unable to move, still pondering the story.
This was the reaction at the Golden Horse Film Festival two nights ago, as well as when the film was premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and at its European premiere in Cannes earlier this year.
The movie, by renowned Japanese animation and film director Mamoru Oshii, is probably best described as a sci-fi, with stunning visual effects depicting a futuristic world of virtual reality with heavenly, powerful sounds and music and an intriguing, philosophically rich story. US director James Cameron said the film is "the most artistic, beautiful and stylish sci-fi in history," at the film's premiere in Tokyo.
The story of Avalon unfolds in a near future, in a country in ruins. Dangerous and illegal virtual reality war games spread disorder. "Avalon" is one of them, in which young people abandon themselves to the killing and dying in the game. The game becomes their world, their reality.
The film opens with a massive war game inside "Avalon," with giant tanks firing their cannons and bullets flying in all directions. Once shot, players dissolve into the air. Calling "reset" is the only way to avoid being eliminated, just as in on-line games.
Ash, a female fighter who is also known as "the noble soldier" does not reset. She's an ace fighter in "Field Class A."
Every time the screen shows "mission completed" she takes off her virtual reality helmet, collects the money earned from her game, and goes home on a rickety old tram to her small cell, where there is only her dog, a computer and her cigarettes.
The first part of the film is shot in sepia and the streets and buildings are in Warsaw, Poland. The result is a futuristic meshing of old and modern.
In this future world, reality and the virtual world are difficult to distinguish. For many, reality is within the game.
One day, Ash finds the message "Mission terminated." She has conquered all the fields of "Avalon." She is now faced with two choices; form a team for a new, but maybe devastating challenge, or quit while she's ahead. The gamemaster advises her to find her own team, but she insists in fighting alone.
A player called Bishop first provokes her, showing off his superior skills and his higher combat level. When Ash tries to learn more about this mysterious rival, the response from the computer terminal to her inquiry is "no data," which makes it all the more intriguing for her.
Another who taunts Ash to take up a new challenge is Stunner, an old acquaintance. The two had once been on the same team called Wizard, which split on bad terms, when some of the members were eliminated in the game. Stunner reminds Ash of this past and of what had happened to Murphy, the old captain of Wizard, who is now in a coma in a hospital.
"Level Special A" is every player's dream, but it is also a level from where there is no return. In this level are the fairy Nine Sisters and King Arthur -- which is the link to the name of the game "Avalon." Given the challenge to complete the special level, Ash cannot refuse.
Avalon's impressive soundtrack, composed by Kenji Kawai and performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, builds in strength and volume as Ash becomes more drawn to the search for "Level Special A," the fighters' heaven.
As in Oshii's animated films, the action scenes are vast and visually stunning, yet the narrative is rather rambling and slow, with shots that dwell on small details. The camera work brings us into the world of Ash and highlights the questions of heaven and reality.
The last 30 minutes of the film are shot in current-day Warsaw in real color and natural lights. This is supposedly the "Level Special A." There, in the pleasant virtual world Ash finds Murphy, who prefers his existence there to the real world. But Ash's mission is to eliminate Murphy.
Avalon is frequently described as the art-house version of Matrix. In Matrix, however, the relation between technology and philosophy triggers a search for larger truths, whereas in Avalon, the questions about reality are directed at the individual player and viewer.
Oishii has said the film is the accumulation of his 20 years of game-playing experience. It is also his sincere look at the lost souls and empty hearts of the technology-driven generation.
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