Metropolis
During the last year and a half I have been playing with my DVD player quite a bit. And in that time my taste has been leaning more towards the Genre known as Anime. While I'm not a died in the wool fan of this entertainment, I know enough to be considered a casual viewer. And a new movie has come out that I think is one of the best Anime to come in at least 5 years. The name of the movie is Metropolis. Although you can see some inspiration from the classic silent film directed by Fritz Lang, it is in reality based on a manga (Japanese comics) series of the same name created by Osamu Tezuka, who was also known to have created a classic kid's cartoon called AstroBoy. You can definitely see the same artistic style between Astroboy and Metropolis. The screenplay was written by Katsuhiro Otomo the creator of the ground breaking manga and movie Akira and directed by Rintaro who was responsible for a series called Galaxy Express 999.
The story concerns the tri-level industrial world of Metropolis where power plays are being played on many levels of their own (Otomo's hand can be seen in this ). In Metropolis, a celebration is underway for a new achievement of technology that has been created called Ziggurat, a great building that towers above all else. But Ziggurat is not what it seems and an undercurrent of unrest is running underneath the celebration. Robots have taken over the menial tasks originally taken by man. As a result, the lower levels are overrun with the homeless and unemployed. A vigilante group called Marduk patrol the city gunning down any robots that are not allowed on the upper levels of the city. A Japanese detective named Shunsaku Ban along with his nephew Ken-Chi arrive in Metropolis searching for one Doctor Laughton for unethical practices concerning the use of human organs. Ban and his Nephew are unaware that the Dr. is in the lower levels of the city, and has been hired by Duke Red to create an android in the image of his deceased daughter Tima. Duke Red is an industrial power player who has more than sentimentality in mind for this android. The leader of the Marduk is named Rock, the adopted son of Duke Red with a white hot hatred for robots. When he learns of the Doctor's experiments, Rock destroys the lab in a blaze of gun fire. Ban and Ken-chi come across the lab burning and attempt to rescue who ever is trapped. Ban pulls out the doctor while Ken-chi discovers Tima. But Uncle and Nephew are separated during the blaze and attempt to find each other, unaware that Rock is hunting Tima down with a vengeance .
During their travels, Ken-chi befriends Tima and neither He or Tima are a-ware that she's an an-droid. What follows is political power playing, mind games on many levels, an array of interesting characters beyond the major ones mentioned, and a climax that's chilling and ultimately touching
The film's animation was both cel-animation (for the characters) and computer generated (for the backgrounds). So many who make the attempt have failed, but the animators for this film had succeeded .
I was very disappointed that the film didn't make the Academy Awards. I felt it would have at least given the competition a run for its money!
The music used in the film is primarily Dixieland jazz, and the use of Ray Charles "I Can't Stop Loving You" plays very well at the climax of the film!
And as I have always said in the past about Anime, don't be fooled by the looks of these characters! Some of them look like cute little dollies, but a few of them have a very mean temper. And while the story isn't raunchy or gory, there's a great deal of adult content by way of storyline and it's not recommended for the entire family.
The movie is now out on tape and DVD. I highly recommend having a look at this film! You will not be disappointed!
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