Quietly beautiful, very tempted to give an extra half star. But that extra would probably be director bias. Who would have expected a Camus reference right out the gate, firmly planting its feet in an existential sandbox. The first chunk and last chunk are intriguing bookends but there is a momentum missing throughout. There are breaths of the film which feel more inclined to slow cinema, especially the opening credits and very end, but the slowness is less akin to, say, Angel's Egg, and more lackadaisical a la our protagonist.
The story's unveiling is obfuscated through breadcrumbs of exposition and terminology. This lack of exposition is usually welcomed, but here I found a strange push-pull of impact with each reveal. Kannami's constant unexpressive responsiveness yields an almost anesthetized tone. It offset levels of engagement and created distance from the story. The palpable immersiveness of the strongest Oshii works was missing.
Quietly beautiful, very tempted to give an extra half star. But that extra would probably be director bias. Who would have expected a Camus reference right out the gate, firmly planting its feet in an existential sandbox. The first chunk and last chunk are intriguing bookends but there is a momentum missing throughout. There are breaths of the film which feel more inclined to slow cinema, especially the opening credits and very end, but the slowness is less akin to, say, Angel's Egg, and more lackadaisical a la our protagonist.
The story's unveiling is obfuscated through breadcrumbs of exposition and terminology. This lack of exposition is usually welcomed, but here I found a strange push-pull of impact with each reveal. Kannami's constant unexpressive responsiveness yields an almost anesthetized tone. It offset levels of engagement and created distance from the story. The palpable immersiveness of the strongest Oshii works was missing.
