Tuesday, September 21, 2010

2001 - AVALON, interesting live action Japanese anime film


What came first Avalon or The MatrixThe Matrix was released in 1999,  2 years before Avalon.  The filmmakers of the Matrix films always said they were influenced by the Japanese anime film Ghost in the ShellGhost in the Shell and Avalon were made by the same filmmaker Manoru Oshii.

Avalon is a virtual reality (VR) environment in which people enter and play to different game levels where they receive money or some kind of reward.  One of the players has begun to believe there is more to this virtual reality world then they are being told.


An odd if interesting film shot in Poland by Japanese filmmakers.  There isn't a lot of action and the film mostly focuses on the mystery of the higher game levels in the VR world of Avalon


The film looks good and has an intriguing story.  I suppose you could say in some ways it's a souped up episode of the old Twilight Zone TV series.  It's also a science fiction dork dream come true with a good looking woman blowing up tanks and aircraft in a virtual reality game world. 


Considering it kind of treads on the same themes of the Matrix trilogy I was more engaged with the film that I should have been.  Worth a look.

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