Casshern

My friend Mike comes back from the dead (which is to say he disappeared for four years, and with the last anyone had heard being that he decided to go for an extended walk Forrest Gump-style, we had all come to figure he might have died), and he recommends to me this movie, Casshern. Says it's like Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow, only good. I still haven't seen Sky Captain, though I would like to, but everything he's ever recommended to me has been to my liking, and this is no exception.

It's a Japanese movie (that is supposedly going to hit American theatres this year). This sci-fi story takes place in the wake of a nasty, 50-year, devastating war that starts in the near future. The environment is totally whacked now, and anything too far from civilization seems to face oddball mutation problems which range from going blind over the course of years to having strange growths. This eventually culminates in death, naturally. There's a scientist whose wife has been afflicted, and so he ends up getting funding for his research on a cure. Zoom ahead in time a bit, and lightning does some strange things with his experiment, launching the story into the real meat.

I'm pretty sure the plot has a few holes in it, but honestly, I was too busy being awed by the movie to be able to really analyze the plot. The combination of sound, acting, computer graphics, directing, cinematography, and costumes (color was a huge part of the visual impact) all combined to form some incredibly strong images. Many of them were a bit abstract, but I felt the abstraction added to the experience, especially in one scene between the main character and his girlfriend.

Between touching moments, silly moments, and shiny fight scenes, this movie is definitely one to watch if you have any interest in direction or cinematography. If you don't, you should still check it out; I don't think it's a move everyone will dig, necessarily, but it's certainly an interesting experience. After all, how many music video directors get to make their own movie?

Now I am gonna do some manga chapter editing. Whee!