A Detective Story

Wow, its been quite a while since I've watched anything so mysterious in the way it is portrayed.

A Detective Story uses old fashioned black and white images to portray a private investigator who dresses in an old fashioned trench coat and hat. The theme of this animation is reminiscent of that of Sam Spayed which was briefly mentioned by Ash.

Sick of spying on cheating house wives because of his clients, Ash was offered a chance to track down a "computer hacker" which he thought was a worthwhile chance for a four figure sum he could not turn down and the rest is history.

The ending was a little bit bland but still okay. For those out there who like old fashion stories this is the one for you.

The detective story is not typical for the Matrix Universe. It is a film-noir-esque private eye story, with a strong narrator and a very rich feel. Rich, in terms of its visual appeal. The snowing scenes, the grainyiness, it all stuns the eye.

But what about the story? It is interesting, even if it feels a little out of place. The agents hire a privat detective to track down Trinity. He finds out that they tried the approach before, but with hazardous consequences for the hired detectives. Still, he tries to locate her and eventually succeeds, through Alice in Wonderland references and hackers and chat rooms. Then things begin to get interesting...

All in all, this is a perfectly satisfying short animated movie.

8/10

I've seen three of the Animatrix episodes, and this is my favorite of all of them. The Second Renaissance provided a flimsy back story to the already flimsy universe. Program was a stylistically impressive number, it just felt kind of silly. I guess what gives this one it's special touch is the direction from Shinichiro Watanabe, director of the incredibly popular (and for good reason) series Cowboy Bebop. It has some of the best elements of Bebop: slick, sci-fi adventure, a no-nonsense, slightly apathetic hero working for hire, a bounty-head (more or less), and a chase scene, all wrapped up in an excellent film-noir packaging. Watanabe's Tarantino-style slickness comes through here full throttle.

Ash is a private detective who is down on his luck. Tired of investigating cheating wives for suspicious husbands, he stares at his empty bank account and empty fridge and he decides that this business is not for him. It is then he gets a call and payment from a mysterious employer who asks him to find the hacker `Trinity'.

Opening with a great atmosphere of noir detective thrillers, this film continues in this vein until it turns into a confrontation on the train with some agents. Part of the series of animations making up the Matrix companion piece `The Animatrix', I saw this as a stand alone piece recently at a festival of shorts and animations and it stood out for me thanks to this same style. However the substance is also engaging even if it takes liberties at times, the length of time it takes the agents to come down the carriage for example, or the sudden semi-understanding that Ash seems to have near the end. Despite this, the plot still works pretty well - certainly enough to hold the style in check.

Visually, the short is great. It creates a sense of period that isn't undone by the agents, guns or Trinity. It feels like it was charcoal drawn (it wasn't) and it really feels moody and dark. Also, out of all the entries in the series, this is the one that gets the look and feel of the agents down best. The voice work is good as well with good input from Moss; who's incarnation here manages to look feminine - a feat she failed to accomplish in the last two of the films!

Overall this is a good film even if it loses it's way substance-wise at times. It is dark and brooding and has a conclusion that befits the look and feel of the film. All round one of the best of the series.

A noir style matrix story?

I'm in.

I like this volume. It was also nice that the old fashion detective story and the black and white part of the episode were.

They did a good job, it was different.