Rating: 4/5
<a href=”“https://boxd.it/pOvfW/detail”>Hooptober 8.0 | 28/34 | Asian horror 1/3</a>
A gnarl tree or structure supports an egg containing a creature with human hands and talons. Its closed eyes flutter.
A blonde man stands before an elaborate, abstract machine. He holds a cross-shaped gun.
From the sky descends a ball covered in statues in prayer. Altogether, it resembles an eye.
Who? Who are you?
A woman wakes up to a loud screech. Before her is a staircase. Beneath her, an egg. She ascends the stairs.
These tiny threads are our introduction to the world of Angel’s Egg. It is a world of symbol and allegory threaded through dream logic. The result is somewhere between serene and nightmarish.
Its characters are unnamed — besides the two, their world appears unpopulated. Whether that is true is a matter of interpretation.
Their connection forms over the woman’s egg. The man suggests she break it open, but she does not want to. Though she says she tells him not to follow her, she does not insist when he continues.
He tells a tragic Noah’s Ark story. The people in the ark wait for the dove’s return, forgetting the outside world, their pasts, and their destination.
The bird I saw — I can't even remember where or when. It was so long ago. Perhaps it was a dream.
I can enjoy dream logic/tonal movies so long as they sustain a thread to tether the viewer. At a lean 71 minutes, this movie spends just enough time in its slow-moving atmosphere. It never felt like it attempted to be experimental or artistic without reason.
1985 was a big year for Amano — he worked on this and the first Vampire Hunter D anime. The two share some animation style and gothic settings but feel distinct.
I liked this! I didn’t connect with the Ghost in the Shell movies like others, so I’m delighted this worked for me.