i have to say i was impressed how this movie convey the feeling it thinks very high of itself. for an endless amount of time, we have a ooshi masturbating in front of us. what is this ? an attempt at geeky spirituality ? my god, this was awful to endure, and i say this as an avid watcher of strange movies.
shareChrist, it's really annoying how people go into this film thinking it'll be like the lame Matrix movies, and then they get blindsided by the fact that Avalon is an art film, and then their heads explode when they don't "get it".
You aren't supposed to get everything in the movie. It's like 2001; parts of it will always be mysterious and open to interpretation. And for everyone whining about the scene where it shows all the things Ash has already done, it's actually showing that she does exactly the same thing every day in exactly the same way because she has a dull, repetitive existence. Learn to watch a movie.
Absolutely loved this movie. Virtually everything about it.
shareAh, there's that self-important cry again: "If you think this movie sucked then you didn't get it!" At least you could think of something original to say.
shareI would say watch this movie again until you do "get it." It really is a "difficult" film, but improves tremendously on repeat viewings. The first time I saw it, I didn't like it either.
shareIt's kinda annoying how some people think that if other people didn't "like" some of their favorite movie(s) they didn't "get" them... newsflash, there wasn't THAT much to get and a lot of people over a certain age probably got the basic ideas of the movie or at least should’ve...
I tried to watch this together with my brother after seeing a part of a trailer... I thought it might be some sort of interesting Sci-Fi movie of sorts, he's usually into movies that require "patience" and are supposed to be "thought-provoking" etc. a lot more than me and watched a lot of foreign movies but we had to stop after a certain time because it simply did get boring... I resumed at a later point and watched it completely to see if there wasn't anything about it but it simply sucked... I liked Ghost in the Shell, Gin-Ro and thought Ghost in the Shell 2 was okay (although he could have cut most of the pseudo-philosophical-quoting-BS and make it more like the first part) but I could barely stand this movie...
Just wished she would've wiped long before with all the others ^^
As some other people have mentioned, repetition... in the game the same "levels"… the same rooms all the time, we see that damn helicopter at least a few dozen times, the FX are nothing to be exactly proud of and the sets used didn’t seem exactly perfect either to exactly “convey” the atmosphere.
Sure, you might call it "mysterious" and done to a certain effect of "dullness" or whatever, I'll just call it low budget and miserable...
Gotta love it though when you can spray a few blots of paint with your ass onto an empty canvas and call it "modern art with deep meaning" and some people are all "oh, it's the greatest thing since the creation of the earth" and “he’s a complete genius”...
I'd love to be able to do that myself, just for the same of making a bit of money :P
Yep. It was a great flick. Loved it.
shareI sort of agree, Avalon is quite pompous and self-indulgent, caring more about the visuals than about making a solid story. It has too many pointless, draggen-on scenes that only make it more boring.
It was watchable, but could have been much more interesting if handled and explained in a better way.
"Isn't this movie like an anime? Kinda cool, but never makes any sense?"
Someone who actually watched at least one decent anime with a good story would never say such an ignorant statement. And Dragon Ball doesn't count, as I said "decent" and "good story".
Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too)
I don't mean to seem crass, but it really pisses me off when people call art self-indulgent. What else should an artist do but indulge their CREATIVE VISION? All the art that I find most powerful and interesting, be it music, film or anything else, comes when the artist is true to their inspiration rather than conforming to safe structures and mass-appeal. I WANT artists to be "self indulgent". If nobody was, art would be dead and there would be nothing but the profit-driven, commercialized mainstream entertainment.
When an artist has a unique vision and voice, and is true to it, the result is often a work which will be loved by some and disliked by others. That's fine. We all have different tastes, levels of patience, interests and perspectives. If this film doesn't resonate with you there's nothing wrong with that, but don't pretend that it is somehow objectively bad simply because the creator remained true to his vision rather than entertaining you in the way you expected.
Scenes which are "pointless" to you may be highly evocative to someone else. It didn't deliver you the kind of story you find engaging, but personally I find Oshii's storytelling more compelling than most, because his creative personality seems to resonate with my own quite deeply. Why does a film even need story to be worthwhile anyway?
I feel like this is largely a matter of patience, too. Just as some people can't get through 2001 without falling asleep, many have the same kind of issues with this film, and yet others can have enthralling experiences. Entertainment has trained us to want constant thrills, but don't forget that millions of people over the years have had engaging experiences looking at a single oil painting for many hours.
I'm not trying to make any objective claim about the movie or attack anyone for disliking it, but it just grates on me when people criticize "self-indulgence" in art when that is precisely where all the worthwhile art comes from, and the alternative to self-indulgence is, basically, selling out.