Sci-fi London anime all-nighter 2008
How hardcore am I? Apparently hardcore enough to sit for over eight hours between midnight and the break of dawn in the name of cinematic entertainment…my head aches, I’m sore all over and badly in need of a shave and a proper night’s kip and my eyes look like bloodshot piss-holes in the snow. This year marks my third successful attempt at the notorious Anime All-Nighter that forms part of the annual Sci-fi London festival; this year I dragged along one of my friends (the brave soul who’s marrying one of my sisters next year, incidentally) for the ride, which made an already entertaining evening even more fun. I’d already seen three of the evening’s offerings in some format or another but it was still great to experience them in the AAN setting. This year’s running order was an impressive one: Appleseed: Ex Machina, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Tekkonkinkreet and Vexille.
Every year the AAN has a special sort of atmosphere, this time around aided by a guest appearance by the Alien (yes, the Alien) and the Predator (yes, the Predator) who wandered into the downstairs foyer beforehand, hugged my future brother-in-law among others, danced to Yoko Kanno’s Voices and left via the lift. Where’s a camera when you need one?
Need…sleep…so…zzzz
The free tea, coffee, Red Bull and various types of ice cream were on offer as in previous years and it was also good to see that the seat allocation system was repeated, because it saves a lot of hassle. The venue is pretty posh by cinema standards too, so the wide variety of stuff on offer is hosted in a clean and classy location - always pleasant and comfortable in my experience. Incidentally, we had time to kill beforehand so caught a special showing of the live-action French cyberpunk movie Chrysalis, which was really quite impressive; well worth a watch if you get the chance.
Appleseed: Ex Machina
The first up was the main reason for attending this year: I’m impatient for the DVD and was looking forward to a follow-up to Aramaki’s first foray into the Appleseed franchise ever since seeing that teaser trailer and the mention of John Woo in the production credits. To be honest, I’m not an expert on the guy so beyond being thoroughly impressed with the action scenes overall I can’t say how much he brought to the table. Aramaki and his team deliver the same shiny goods as last time though, with the edge-of-your seat combination of shiny mecha, futuristic cityscapes and a gutsy woman with a gun.
The plot is satisfactory enough but I doubt many viewers will place it as a high priority since it’s all about the adrenaline rush and the ‘Wow’ factor that stems from Shirow’s city of Olympus being given the cinematic CG treatment. The visuals are a tad above those of the first movie too, which, let’s face it, set the bar pretty high to begin with. The character expressions are still a bit off, mind, although the designs (Athena’s in particular) are slightly more convincing. An additional member of ESWAT, with the resulting issues that have a knock-on effect on the way the unit operates, added some spice to the mix and shaking up the Deunan/Briareos dynamic a bit. All in all it was an enjoyable follow-on from the first outing; expect proper reviewage when the DVD comes out.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
I don’t know where to begin with this one since I raved about it not once but twice here already; I have the fansubbed version but seeing Hosoda’s debut feature on the big screen was a marvellous experience (although it’s out on DVD soon from Manga Ent too…go preorder it already). So, then, it was the highlight of my evening in terms of entertainment value but the surprise was that my buddy thought the same, despite sharing my initial expectation of Ex Machina being the most memorable. As a matter of fact, it got the most enthusiastic audience reaction of the lot which I guess can be put down to the combination of genuine drama and feelgood comedy. Being in turns enchanted by the bittersweet nostalgia and rolling in the aisles at Makoto’s teenage antics with a theatre full of other people just reminded me what a stunning movie this is.
Tekkonkinkreet
It’s the nature of sleep deprivation I guess that I don’t appreciate some films as much as others under these conditions. The unusual art style of Tekkonkinkreet is a refreshing change, which makes it worth the price of admission alone; it’s a brave approach that I wish anime studios would try out more often. The movie has its moments but the dialogue-heavy narrative and the somewhat unsatisfying ending didn’t lend themselves to well to a room full of hardcore sci-fi nuts who were struggling to stay awake (and in one or two audiable cases, failing). The lukewarm reaction as the end credits rolled suggested to me that most of the viewers who hadn’t seen it already didn’t quite know what to make of it.
Vexille
Another effort that I’d had the pleasure to see at the cinema once before, Vexille still feels to me like Appleseed’s younger sibling. The dystopian futuristic settings are similar, as are the CG motion-capture art style and a significant proportion of the production crew. My first thought of this movie was “Wow, those snowflakes on that car windscreen look so lifelike!”, which sums up the whole thing pretty well. Lots of neat little details and impressive CG, which draws attention away from the derivative premise and numerous plot holes.
The fact that I have to point out that this is Vexille and not Deunan highlights the problem of similarity
Now that I’ve seen it at the cinema twice and found the two Appleseed films to be more enjoyable I’m not sure if I’ll be picking this one up on DVD. When you feel the need to switch your brain off in order to concentrate on keeping your eyes open though, this is the sort of straightforward blockbuster entertainment that’s appropriate for the occasion. Definitely worth the rental, although I found Sori’s live action sports effort Ping Pong to be considerably more satisfying.
That’s all for now. I need sleep. Just out of interest, were any of you guys there too?
Posted on May 4th, 2008 @ 11:08 pm
I would have loved to have gone, but I knew that other commitments would get in the way, and so it proved - Damn the computer hardware industry and their ever-changing launch schedules, and double damn them for making me work my ass off over a Bank Holiday weekend.
Anyway, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is one of those movies I could watch a thousand times and never get bored of, it’s an absolute joy to watch and I’ll certainly be picking it up on DVD too. Appleseed Deus Ex Machine is not terrible, not great, and worth watching for some of the action set-pieces. I still haven’t seen Tekkonkinkreet though, much to my shame - Especially considering how many times I’ve listened to Plaid’s soundtrack of the movie!
Posted on May 5th, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
wow. That sounds like an awesome event. I’ve never heard of it before but now I do I can’t help but think if only I had some money (and parental permission) to have gotten the train down to london!
To be honest the only one the films you’ve mentioned I’ve even heard of is the girl who leapt through time, and the story doesn’t much appeal to me, though I’ll probably end up watching it just to see what the hype is. From your screencap the art style of Tekkonkinkreet looks really good and I’m definitly going to hunt down some info on it.
Posted on May 6th, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
Gah, you lucky bast! I remember reading about this on AUKN and, for the first time in four years, regretted I wasn’t still living in the south-east. I’ve only see The Girl Who Lept Through Time on the list, but I could watch it a thousand times - moreso if it was on a big screen.
Surprised about Tekkonkinkreet’s narrative-heavy approach, though. I’ve only read the manga and there’s barely two A4’s worth of dialogue in that.
Posted on May 6th, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
@Hanners: I can complain all I like about my own job but at least the hours give me weekends free (the Bank Holiday also gave me valuable time to catch up on sleep!)
@Saya: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is in the vein of the more comical Ghibli movies - it’s a high school romance-related film that doesn’t let the sci-fi elements get in the way of a great story. Definitely one to check out.
@Hige: Any other time I’d praise Tekkonkinkreet’s busy storyline and innovative approach, but everyone was running on pure caffeine and trying to stay awake. Point taken with the manga though - I’ll have to add it to my ‘to buy’ list.