The Sky Crawlers, the latest movie from Mamuro Oshii, the director of the Ghost in the Shell movies. A quiet, poetic, philosophic, dramatic, sad movie. With lots of silence, CG airfight, cigarettes, children, a mother, a father, and a dog. And to your enjoyment, it’s two hours long.
I’ll just re-post my message to Frostii here:
Thank you for subbing this, I absolutely love the movie…it’s very quiet, flows like a river, much like the first half of GitS: Innocence, the last work of Oshii (IIRC).
The small-world setup is one of my favorites since watching Haibane Renmei (there are some other similarities with this one), and the subtile characterization scenes that make up most of the movie are extremely well done. Kusanagi should get an Oscar. By the way, she reminds me of Major Motoko Kusanagi; I’m sure this is no coincidence.
The character artwork and animation is minimalistic, the more important a character is, the fewer lines they get. I think it shows again that Japanese animation is still the best.
I also liked the CG integration, of course you would expect this from I.G. It took me some minutes to realize that the machines had their propellers at the rear o_O But after that, the fight scenes became very clear.
The music fits perfectly, you don’t really notice it…Kenji Kawai, the perfect man for this.
I’m sad that the movie didn’t even get a nomination for the Oscar. Okay, Wall-E deserved it, but when “Kung Fu Panda” can get a nomination, why in the heck not this gem of a movie?
Whatever. I’ve already began spreading the movie to anime-fan friends, and I’m sure it will come out in Germany on DVD as well. Count me in for the Limited Metal Box Deluxe Special Edition.
And, again, thank you Frostii for subbing Sky Crawlers :D Kudos!