[Categories: OAVs, Movies and Full Series]
Angel’s Egg
I like anime that’s original, unusual and downright strange. I admit it, I enjoy watching stuff that keeps my brain occupied as well as my eyes, even if it’s of the ’scratch your head until it bleeds’ variety. Mamoru Oshii, of Ghost in the Shell fame, is famous for that sort of thing, often adding Christian mythology and philosophy into his work. One of his early efforts, Angel’s Egg, is no exception.
Around about here I would explain the synopsis and characters - this is really difficult in Angel’s Egg because 1. there is little definite plot to speak of and 2. there are only two characters (above). There is a pale young girl who collects water from round glass jars and carries a large unhatched egg around with her and a man with a mechanical cross-shaped object. That’s it. The whole film is very short on dialogue: little is exchanged between the two of them, and it relies on visuals to carry the film off and convey any messages that it has.
Visually Angel’s Egg is stunning. It does show its age a little (it’s over twenty years old, after all) but great attention is paid to the desolate greys and blues of the backgrounds and the subtle movements of the characters, from the nuances of expression to the tiniest drops of water. The musical score consists of haunting orchestral and choral work that adds to the ‘otherworldly’ feeling of the film. Very artistic indeed.
A film that has all this can rightly be called a work of art but sadly Angel’s Egg has little else to recommend it outside of Oshii fans and film students. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fascinating to watch and as a result makes for an interesting hour of your viewing time. It’s just that the film is so…obtuse. We get quotes of the Great Flood from the Bible, fossilised birds, a giant spaceship thing and a crowd of men in a town armed with harpoons and chasing shadows of fish but there is no tangible explanation for it all.
I like cryptic anime stuff (as anyone who’s heard me go on about the likes of End of Evangelion and Serial Experiments Lain will testify) but even Ghost in the Shell has some messages behind the musings. Angel’s Egg looks eerie and arty but the creators seem to have made a deliberate attempt at making it impossible to understand for almost anyone who watches it.
So, is Angel’s Egg a success as a film? Well, yes and no. Artistically it oozes attention to detail and atmosphere and Oshii fans will no doubt want to watch it on the back of his involvement alone. In terms of entertainment value though it very heavy-going: you could watch it over and over and still not figure out what the symbolism is trying to tell you. As it is, Angel’s Egg is an experimental and beautiful oddity.
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