| Avalon | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster (Poland) |
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| Directed by | Mamoru Oshii |
| Produced by | Tetsu Kayama Shigeru Watanabe |
| Written by | Kazunori Itō |
| Starring | Małgorzata Foremniak Dariusz Biskupski |
| Music by | Kenji Kawai |
| Distributed by | A-Film Distribution |
| Release date(s) |  January 20, 2001 April 12, 2002 November 8, 2002 |
| Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | Japan Poland |
| Language | Polish |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Avalon (アヴァロン Avaron?) is a Japanese/Polish science fiction movie by Japanese filmmaker Mamoru Oshii. It was released in 2001. The name of the film originates from the island Avalon in the legend of King Arthur.
Contents |
Overview
The film is set in a bleak future, where the population is hooked on an immersive virtual reality video game called Avalon. Despite its popularity the game can be deadly, leaving players' bodies catatonic in the real world. One player of the game, Ash (played by Polish actress Małgorzata Foremniak), hears of a secret level hidden within Avalon. The film follows her quest to find the level. The film's colour palette is mainly sepia tones, helping to blur the line between the real world and that within the game itself. The film is typically Mamoru Oshii styled in its pacing and editing. It is relatively slow paced, reinforcing the mundane nature of the world Ash lives in and highlighting the excitement of playing the game. The film also features a basset hound, a breed of dog common in Oshii's films, since he has one, named Gabriel. The film's score is by regular Oshii collaborator, Kenji Kawai.
Reception
Even though the film was produced and directed by a Japanese crew, it is a half European-half Asian work since Avalon was co-produced by a Polish film company, starred Polish actors and was filmed mostly in Wrocław, Poland with Polish dialogue. "Shooting it in Japan was impossible," Oshii advised interviewer Andrez Bergen in a major article that appeared in Japan's Daily Yomiuri newspaper in 2004. "I didn't think of using a Japanese cast. I considered shooting in the UK or Ireland, but the towns and scenery in Poland matched my image for the movie." [1] In Europe, Avalon was selected for the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and won awards at other European festivals. It was awarded Best Cinematography at the Catalonian International Film Festival 2001"in Spain. In the United Kingdom, it won the "Best Film" award at the London Sci-Fi Film Festival 2002. However, the film received only limited release in North America (with most of its fanbase created via the circulation of bootleg DVDs imported from Asia) until Miramax released it on DVD in late 2003. The North American version has added narration to make it easier for Americans to understand the plot; although the option to view the film without the English overdubbing is provided, the subtitles still display the added dialogue. The British region-free DVD has literal English subtitles which explain the King Arthur connection better and does not display added dialogue. Such viewer help was not used in European countries, like France, where local editions only feature optional subtitles about the Polish sung opera piece, in the Polish spoken original version only.
Story
In a distant future there is a new form of video game. In a kind of virtual reality, players fight with modern, medieval and fantasy weapons in a world marked by war. Especially in higher levels the spirit of the player may stay inside the game, and the body stays vegetating in hospitals in the real world. When Ash gets challenged by a better player, she makes up a team to get to a secret game level named "Special A".
The game
Avalon is a forbidden online game set to virtual reality graphic level. Ingame earned credits can be used in real life as currency. Just like in modern FPS online tournaments seen in North America or in South Korea, semi-professional players get money prizes. Oshii describes his game as a "military RPG" (ミリタリーロールプレー, miritarīrōrupurē). However, it mixes elements of Role Playing Game and First Person Shooter (FPS); it borrows from the Wizardry series Oshii played extensively during three years he was unemployed in the 1980s. From the RPG genre it borrows the character types such as Fighter, Thief or Bishop, and the level-up system based on experience points and featuring upgradable skills such as Dexterity, Luck or Strength. With the FPS genre it shares the real time fighting mode, including selectable firearms, such as semi-auto pistols (Walther PPK and Mauser C96), sniper rifle (Dragunov SVD) and rocket launcher (RPG-7). With these two genres, it shares the common principle of player hierarchy. In Avalon, players are ranked after three levels, Class C, Class B, Class A. Elite Class A players are rumored to be able to play a hidden extra mode featuring different rules and named Class SA (for "Special A"). Like in modern real life online games, players can join an informal team, called "party" and play the game as allies. Also, depending on the player's personality, some users would prefer to remain a standalone player, which enhances overall difficulty but, in other hand, preserves independence and a sufficient discretion required for sniping technique. Teammates can have a real time vocal communication through a microphone and share vital information only heard among the party. To complete levels within the game, players must defeat powerful end-of-level bosses similar to those found in classic video games. Players wear headsets which immerse their senses in the game world. The design of the headset and chair installation are influenced by the cult French SF short film, La Jetée. As an interesting first, this movie features the appearance of lag, a gameplay error due to network transfer slowdown often encountered in online games. The scene with Ash in the tramway is a live action recreation of a similar scene appearing in the 1999 anime feature film Jin-Roh, which Oshii wrote but did not direct. This scene is based on Oshii's own teenage experience, when he used to spend entire days spinning in loop in the Yamanote line. [2]
References
- ^ The Age of Innocence, Andrez Bergen. Daily Yomiuri, March 2004.
- ^ Avalon un film de Mamoru Oshii booklet by Bertrand Rougier, published by Studio Canal and Mad Movies and bundled with the 2002 French DVD Collector Edition, EDV384
See also
External links
- Avalon (2001) at the Internet Movie Database
- Nine Sisters: Avalon, a UK perspective
- Official Polish website
- アヴァロン (varon) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-21.
| Japanese Cinema |  |
| Live action films by Mamoru Oshii | |
| The Red Spectacles (1987) | StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops (1991) | Talking Head (1992) | Avalon (2001) | Killers: .50 Woman (2003) | Onna Tachiguishi-Retsuden (2006) |
