October
25, 2004
Mamoru
Oshii’s film Innocence has been making the rounds
across various art house theatres in the country, and I’m
glad that I was fortunate enough to see it while it played in Minneapolis.
It's
the sequel to a 1995 movie called Ghost in the Shell, a
rather uneven picture that found a devoted following in America.
I’m never sure if these fans admire that movie’s reflections
on humanity and life or if they just wanted to see the heroine take
her clothes off every ten minutes.
Ghost
in the Shell was “adult” animation in the college
frat boy sense, but Innocence is an adult film because its intelligence
requires it so. The clichéd anime sex-and-violence is either
tamed down considerably or gone altogether, and what’s left
is Oshii and his thoughts. Imagine if Blade Runner was
made by Igmar Bergman, with touches of Kubrick scattered about.
Innocence
plays out like a film noir police procedural, involving a cyborg
detective named Batou and his young partner on the trail of several
brutal murders. The murders involve sex robots, called “dolls”
because they are supposed to possess no living souls. It turns out
that may not be the case, and in the course of the investigation,
the cops infiltrate a Yakuza den, a battleship, and slums set against
decaying gothic buildings.
I’ve
watched the movie twice, and I still cannot explain why all these
murders are taking place, or why the parties ultimately responsible
are doing this. The plot almost seems secondary. I suspect that
the filmmakers are merely using the conventions of a genre to share
its ideas. The movie is far more interested in reflecting on and
discussing the deeper issues of humanity. What does it mean to be
human when machines are integrated into everything? Is anyone really
human when they all have computer brains and electronic arms and
eyes? Can you really prove that this is reality and not a dream
state? Can you prove that you are actually alive?
In
this futuristic world, no one is truly human. Most people have had
at least some cybernetic enhancement, be it mechanical limbs, robotic
eyes, or more. The special police all have computerized brains that
can be plugged in and accessed with the main computers and each
other. Some robots have human souls. Even Batou’s beloved
dog is a clone. It’s become so that no one can really define
what “human” means anymore.
If
your brain is essentially a computer, it can be hacked. The whole
nature of reality can be openly questioned. This is one of the larger
themes of the film, and Oshii offers a number of twists and surprises
to challenge that reality, and a couple sequences that are just
bloody brilliant. There is an almost hazy surrealism present, and
it’s quite a trip. This is what those lousy Matrix
sequels should have been aiming for.
Innocence
is very much a thinking person’s movie. It's very smart, and
it seems half the dialog is composed of poetic quotes from Confucius
and The Bible and Milton and so on. Practically everyone is speaking
in code, like deadpan beatniks quoting Kerouac. Am I the only one
who’s disappointed that no one mentioned Dylan? You’d
think the characters in this movie couldn’t get out the door
without quoting Subterranean Homesick Blues. In any case,
this is something that will either impress or annoy you.
One
of the problems with the first Ghost in the Shell, I think,
was that its visual style never matched its ideas. Everything just
looked drab, boring. This time, the visual style is more expansive
and bolder. There are many details that drift by, like the reflection
on cars, or the sepia tones of a dark alleyway, and your imagination
takes flight. Japanese animation is often criticized in the West
because they usually animate at fewer frames than an American film.
I’ll always argue that this is short-sighted, and an unfair
way to judge the visual beauty of these movies.
The
part of the movie that best demonstrates this is the parade scene,
which took over a year to complete. It is a parade of enormous boats
that weave across narrow, metropolitan canals. The floats feature
people, masks, and giant robots, all dressed in the costumes of
Japan’s mythological past. There are shots of spiraling skyscrapers
and scores of birds overhead, and close-ups of masks that remind
me of those swaying hands from the flashback scene in Nausicaa.
The crowds in the slums watch and are amazed, and we are too, because
it’s all so breathtaking.
The
visual style of Innocence is a mixture of cell animation
with three-dimensional rendering (largely for backgrounds). This
allows for some truly dynamic camera work, and the dark, sepia tones
add to that noir atmosphere. This something of a minor technical
landmark; there really isn't anything to compare, aside from the
2001 Metropolis.
And
did I mention the basset hound? That dog is wonderful, and has more
spark and spirit than anyone else in the picture. The dog is actually
based closely on the director's own pet, and you can tell how much
he loves him and dotes on him. Just watch the dog's reactions when
Batou comes home from work, it's scurrying, and droopy-eyed devotion.
He adds a dimension of humanity into all of these stone-faced soliloquies.
If
you're lucky enough to catch Innocence in your local theatre,
by all means do so. It's one of those movies that must be seen on
the big screen to be appreciated. I’m not sure how the movie
will look when played on your TV screen, but my guess is that you
will be missing some of its sense of scale. Visionary pictures often
require a big screen, anyway.
I
think I’m more willing to forgive the Innocence’s
flaws, especially the final twenty minutes (which basically crumble
into a clunky, uninspired Rambo shootout), because Oshii
is clearly trying to say something. Most science-fiction movies
are merely content to hurl a lot of effects and noise at the audience
and leave it at that. It’s what Pauline Kael called “bam-bam-pow
filmmaking.” It may have been fine when we were nine-year-olds,
but I can’t imagine anyone drawing any lasting satisfaction
from something like that. Wouldn’t you rather watch a movie
that sparks discussions and gets you to think? |
