Avalon

Saw Avalon, an odd team-up of a Japanese writer and director and a Polish cast. The two work fairly well together however and, confusing language issues aside, the dual nationality hardly registers. The title refers to a war-themed MMORPG which players can somehow earn a living playing. The real world is a socialist nightmare of soup-kitchens and bread lines. The protagonist is a female top-ranked player who is trying to achieve greater feats of mastery, ultimately leading to a sort of transcendence (in typical Japanese fashion.) The film frequently brings up the original meaning of "Avalon" which is the ultimate resting place for warriors in Arthurian legend. This hints at the transcendence to come.

The film contains many explicit and thematic references to other cyberpunk-ish films. The opening letters reminded me of The Matrix, the Basset hound reminded me of Ghost in the Shell. Much like those two films, this film puts flash and dazzle front and center, but sprinkles a few pockets of interesting ideas here and there. The flash is the focus however and it's pretty good. The majority of the film is in this very annoying sepia-tone, but this allows the film to do cute things, like make the protagonist's eyes sparkle, so okay I guess.

The film deals, of course, with the idea of a virtual reality which is more rewarding than the real reality. Near the end of the film a player even argues that reality is subjective anyway, so how is the game not real reality? There's also other bits which I was unable to make any sense of however: the protagonist takes books out of the library. A big deal is made about how they contain information which can't be found on the internet. When the books are opened, they are blank. Eh? Most of the time I'm able to follow the film's philosophical discursions however (and so can you.)

Mostly, as I say, the film is about a pretty woman shooting at things. The themes of transcendence and real-reality vs virtual-reality are used mostly as interesting set-dressing. This allows us to touch on these ideas without actually, tediously, dealing with them and for that I applaud the film. The film is entertaining and, despite being a bit on the slow side, quite good. There's a feel of mystery which keeps us hooked, there's neat ideas to keep us interested, and there's also a pretty woman blowing things up. What more you ask for?

Edit: actually, this director also directed Ghost in the Shell, so there you go.