Memories

It's an anthology. It's three stories of 45 minutes, 40 minutes and 15 minutes that have nothing at all to do with one another. In fact, the film's title only refers to the first story. This film is one part science-fiction thriller, one part bioterrorism comedy (THERE'S a category I've never put a film in!) and one part single-shot (99% of it, anyway) borderline-documentary.

Disney couldn't make a film this engrossing if the fate of mankind depended on it.

Those who have what I call the "It's an Anime" stigma should shake it off for "Memories". Rent this. Buy this. See this!

This was an amazingly beautiful film, filled with great music that only pushed each scene along wonderfully. I thought this was a great piece of film. I have had the pleasure of showing this to friends that have always looked down on what anime is, and walk away stunned. Some might find these stories slow, but I think if you have any real appreciation of anime, you will find this to be an interesting piece of work. It consists of three stores. Koji Morimoto's "Magnetic Rose", Tensai Okamura's "Stink Bomb", and Katsuhiro Otomo's "Cannon Fodder". I would say that Magnetic rose was perhaps the deepest of these three stores. Offering a beautiful mix of classical music, with a futuristic settings to offer a sense of contrast. Stink Bomb being the more lighthearted of the three. While still maintaining a grim reality, and almost eerie sense of setting, using a more modern day look, and music. Then Cannon Fodder, right from an Orwell idealized future, with the loud sounds, and marches. These movies all offer up something different, and wonderful, while still working there way along a nice line of thought.

Memories (3/3) - Cannon Fodder - 6.5/10

The most visually unusual of the three, Cannon Fodder also stands out because it runs for 20-something minutes, while the other two shorts are both approximately 40-45 minutes each. As much as I can gather, it's about the meaningless of war, all done with a futuristic slant that bleakly suggests the human race will never change, and firing increasingly advanced cannons will always just be a thing.

It feels satirical, but not in a truly funny way. It's kind of feel-bad and has a vibe that feels off, but that feels intentional, and I think it makes for an offbeat and sort of fitting end to the overall anthology movie that is Memories.

After seeing Akira it's natural to be curious of what Otomo's produced. This collection of short movies(all more than 20 minutes though) is a fun, action-packed and imaginative reminder why anime is among the best genres, and NOT restricted to kids(or in the case of these shorts, not really for kids at all).

The last short of the three is called Cannon Fodder. It features a very cool style unlike normal anime, some neat "camera" tricks and illusions of 3D, and a heavy but playful mood. It's quirky and good but not great.

The second short is called Stink Bomb, which is a crazy, fast-paced disaster/action story with a healthy dose of black humour. It's very well made, with insanely detailed tanks, helis, airplanes etc, and lots of explosions. The whole thing is funny and bizarre, and easily a classic.

The first of the three shorts, which in my opinion should have been saved to last, is Magnetic Rose. Here the humour of the two others is gone, and we have a very gripping and serious story set in a sci-fi environment. This is more like Otomo's Akira stuff; epic but with great characters. Some scenes are gut-wrenchingly emotional and disturbing. All set to a classic opera score, it is chilling and eerie and grand-scale in a way Hollywood never seems to get right.

If you like to watch the occasional anime, this is a very good choice. Don't know how easy it is to get a hold of, but it seems to be very popular at least in Japan.

Magnetic Rose has the air of a science fiction classic about it. The plot starts out simple : a space waste collection crew receive a mysterious SOS signal, and set out to attempt a rescue mission. But what they discover exceeds their wildest expectations, and the operation spirals out of control.

The short's ambiance is allegedly inspired by Ridley Scott's Alien, and the story by Katsuhiro Ohtomo is reminiscent of other SF classics when it approaches the psychology of dreams (Solyaris) and the dangers of AI (2001), but it also approaches the subject of virtual reality in a unique and interesting way. This might seem like an odd mish-mash, but in the end it all fits together perfectly.

The thick and menacing ambiance in this short is helped by beautiful, fluid animation of a rare caliber and an excellent soundtrack that deftly combines Madame Butterfly (a story element) with electronic ambiances and its own instrumental score. Once again, Yoko Kanno delivers a masterful composition.

I'm normally not a fan of Japanese animation, but this soars above the anime landscape in terms of quality and attention to detail. In fact, after having re-watched it, it's become a favorite of mine in the realm of SF. Magnetic Rose is published as part of the compilation "Memories", but I preferred to review it by itself.