Vexille - 2007

New Zealand International Film Festival
Vexille - 2007


One line review: Big screen high gloss CGI manga, recommended if you are a fan of the form.

Okay, I loves me some Asian cinema, but I get an allergic reaction to manga. Some prior exposure to doe eyed characters with sub 60's HB animation,
bad dubbing and incomprehensible scripting has tainted me for life. So it is pretty rare that I shell out to see manga on the big screen.

When I have the experience generally is "that was pretty to look at, but was trying way too hard to be profound". Final Fantasy - 2001, pretty but
blurgh story. Vampire Hunter D - 2000, (Howling Mad Murdock dubbed version) - pretty visuals but meh story. Renaissance - 2006, (as dubbed by
James Bond), not manga, but still same ball park, pretty to look at, meh story.

True to form, Vexille is pretty to look at. Very pretty. It allows me to use pretentious terms like Non-Photorealistic-Cartoon-Render, textured,
cinematic, hyper realistic and nuanced. Seriously pretty to look at. And the bonus is, in the NZFF it is being shown from 35mm film with old school
burnt in subtitles (oh yeah baby! Burnt to celluloid). Yeah, it is already out on DVD, and dubbed, in other parts of the world, but it will not look as
cool as it does on the big screen. Things kick off with lots of funky robots and plenty of explosions, which would normally be enough for me, but later
on they have all manner of cool cityscapes and a pretty nifty big bad monster.

So color me surprised. It is pretty to look at AND story to Vexille was not complete pants. Don't expect it to win awards, but it had some cool
big ideas without completely overwhelming things with profoundness. In 2077 a militaristic Japan has spent a decade with completely closed borders and
shielded from satellite eyes. When it becomes clear they are working on illegal robot technology, the Americans send in a commando mission that finds
things are not exactly as expected.

So there is some weird psychology and politics going on with the story. I get the 50's era Japanese fantasy movies. The Americans were throwing up
proxies for the commies in their 50's sci fi, and the Japanese were getting stomped down by a nuclear created beast, while defending themselves with a
wish fulfilling noble military and world leading fantasy space program. I get it.
Vexille on the other hand has Japan as an evil empire, that the Americans need to take down. With animated Euro looking military hero's and wide eyed,
pale and skinny women of no specific ethnic group. But, of course, this is a Japanese made movie, and the good guy Americans speak fluent Japanese. Okay then.
But not to worry, latter on they do manage to work in the more usual cliches of Matrix Morpheus and brooding-floppy-haired-trenchcoated-Asian-hero-dude.

Overall - recommended for the manga and CGI heads. Everyone else, you have to ask yourself will it be worth it for pretty visuals and robot mayhem?