Forum - View topic

Shelf Life - From Me to Yu

Indeed, my dad is a big fan of drag racing, and I'd love to watch Redline with him (it is not drag racing, and dad hates Indy cars because they drive around in boring circles, but there is no circular Redline track...). When I was home over Christmas, however, even Tintin was vetoed as dad refused to see any movie that was animated or subtitled.

Indeed, my dad is a big fan of drag racing, and I'd love to watch Redline with him (it is not drag racing, and dad hates Indy cars because they drive around in boring circles, but there is no circular Redline track...).

...but ultimately banal animation demos like Dead Leaves or Wings of Honneamise. I prefer an emphasis on character, story and theme.

It appeared to be overloved by posters...

I loved watching the exaggerated facial expressions, artful display of both dentistry and eyewear, overbearing macho-machismo of testosterone run amuck.

This show embodied on 2-D the same spirit 1 could enjoy when viewing a Nascar race from a dirigible. I only wish our local guy, Carl Edwards, had been animated in contention for that extraterrestrial ultimate win instead of an Elvis Presley impersonator.

Good call, Erin. I agree with you about a show for a change.

eyeresist wrote:

...but ultimately banal animation demos like Dead Leaves or Wings of Honneamise. I prefer an emphasis on character, story and theme.

Whoa whoa whoa, how was Wings of Honneamise "banal"?

erinfinnegan wrote:

eyeresist wrote: ...but ultimately banal animation demos like Dead Leaves or Wings of Honneamise. I prefer an emphasis on character, story and theme. Whoa whoa whoa, how was Wings of Honneamise "banal"?

I was wondering how many posts were going to go by before someone commented about Wings of H. ^^;

I dunno, the more I keep hearing about Redline, the less I want to see it. And it's for such a stupid reason too.

eyeresist wrote:

...but ultimately banal animation demos like Dead Leaves or Wings of Honneamise. I prefer an emphasis on character, story and theme.

Whoa whoa whoa, how was Wings of Honneamise "banal"?

I think "See my review on ANN" is the quickest, most effective answer to this. I am aware that it's a controversial opinion.

eyeresist wrote:

I think "See my review on ANN" is the quickest, most effective answer to this. I am aware that it's a controversial opinion.

Is there a link somewhere...? Unless you're "T Strife" or Theron Martin.

Royal Space Force - The Wings of Honnêamise (movie)

Rating: Decent

The only compelling reason to watch this movie is the virtuoso animation of Hideaki Anno. The action and effects sequences really are beautiful and amazing. As a drama, however, this is not recommendable. There are over a dozen male characters who can be barely differentiated; there is a "romance" which involves no real emotional interaction, culminating in Our Hero attempting to rape the girl (for no explained reason), followed by a "comedy" scene in which he apologises, but the girl sincerely replies, "No, I'm the one who should apologise for hitting someone as wonderful as you over the head." There is also a little girl who never smiles (for no apparent reason), who finally has a laugh with Our Hero (for no apparent reason). The alternate world of the film is differentiated by unusual fashions and drinking glasses, and Our Hero likes his "mook" strong and black - that's pretty pointless world-building. The film ends with a long montage of stuff, which I think shows events from the hero's life followed by the history of this world's civilisation, culminating in space travel. The effect is to dismiss the personal aspect of the hero's narrative at the end of the story, in favour of a pretentious "art" statement that is really superfluous.

erinfinnegan wrote:

eyeresist wrote: I think "See my review on ANN" is the quickest, most effective answer to this. I am aware that it's a controversial opinion. Is there a link somewhere...? Unless you're "T Strife" or Theron Martin.

I believe the one that may be found on his MyAnime list.

The film ends with a long montage of stuff, which I think shows events from the hero's life followed by the history of this world's civilisation, culminating in space travel. The effect is to dismiss the personal aspect of the hero's narrative at the end of the story, in favour of a pretentious "art" statement that is really superfluous.

Seeing Honneamise thrown out in the same breath as "Dead Leaves" and "banal" was too much for me. Dead Leaves really was all style and no substance. In the DVD extra the director says "Please let your brain go transparent" to an audience before a live screening of the film. By contrast, I suspect the creators of Honneamise wanted you to think really hard about the film.

I hardly think that any film that attempts a pretentious art statement could be considered "banal". Just to make sure I also looked up a definition of banal... "so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring" according to my dictionary widget. I think the final montage is not obvious or boring, although it does employ the outdated "intellectual montage" filmmaking technique.

The point of the ending is not to dismiss the hero's personal narrative, but to highlight that he's some kind of "every man". The rape scene is a big topic, but Noah theorizes that it's to show the protagonist is deeply flawed.

My first objection to the rape scene is that it comes out of nowhere, doesn't seem to relate to what we have learned of the character so far, and seems unconnected to any "character journey". My second, greater objection is to the heroine's ridiculous response to his apology. Was it a misguided attempt at comedy, or a sign of the writer's total failure to understand human beings?