Angel's Egg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Angel's Egg | |
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| 天使のたまご (Tenshi no Tamago) |
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| Genre | Drama, Fantasy, Surrealism |
| Movie | |
| Directed by | Mamoru Oshii |
| Studio | Tokuma Shoten |
| Released | 22 December 1985 |
| Runtime | 71 min. |
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Angel's Egg (天使のたまご Tenshi no Tamago?) is a Japanese anime feature film produced by Tokuma Shoten in 1985. A collaboration between popular artist Yoshitaka Amano and director Mamoru Oshii, it incorporates surrealistic and existentialist qualities but very little dialogue, making it a commonly cited example of progressive anime.[1]
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[edit] Plot
Angel's Egg follows the daily life of a young girl in a surreal world of darkness and shadows.
The girl, whose name we do not learn, is the keeper of a mysterious egg. She spends her time collecting bottles and artifacts in a gothic, dead city. A man, whose name also remains a mystery, arrives in the dark town one day riding a machine and wearing a cross on his back. The two meet and talk, though their dialogue consists mostly of the single, repeated question "Who are you?".
Meanwhile, shadow fish appear within the town, and then the many statues which line it come alive and begin hunting the fish with spears.
Inside the girl's vast cavernous 'refuge,' which contains many strange fossils and her collection, the man tells the girl a tale similar to Noah's Ark. He waits for the girl to fall asleep and breaks the egg.
The girl reacts in anguish and follows the departing man, only to fall into a ravine of water and die. Her dying exhalation under the water blossoms into bubbles of 'eggs' on the surface. A symbolic ending of apocalypse and rebirth is mixed with a gradual reveal of the story's world which is highly abstract and ambiguous.
[edit] Cast & Characters
Girl
The young girl portrays innocence in a world of darkness. She lives in an abandoned planetarium and guards the mysterious egg, a focal point of the movie. The girl, who lives alone, collects water in bottles, watching it as bubbles rise to the top. Voiced by: Mako Hyoudou
Man
The man is portrayed as a Christ-like figure, carrying a cross on his back and wearing bandages on his hands. He tries to protect the young girl once he meets her but ultimately steals the egg that she keeps. Voiced by: Jinpachi Nezu
Narrator
Voiced by: Keiichi Noda
[edit] Symbolism
Because of the minimal dialogue in Angel's Egg, much of the film's intended meaning is portrayed through visuals and symbols. Many of the symbols in Angel's Egg can be related to religion, specifically Christianity. Mamoru Oshii also directed Patlabor movies which also contained Christian themes and was a Christian himself, he trained in seminary for priesthood in his youth, but renounced the religion before working on Angel's Egg. [2]
Angel Egg
In Japan, Angel Egg (tenshi no tamago) refers to a typical tachigui dinner, a stand-and-eat practice Oshii is fond of and he has explored in his 1987 debut live-action feature Akai Megane, before developing it as the central theme of his 2006 animation movie Tachiguishi-Retsuden.
The egg
The egg can be seen as symbolizing the young girl's innocence. It is something which she protects and holds on to, but is ultimately stolen.
The man
The man in Angel's Egg physically portrays a Christ-like figure. He carries a cross on his back and wears bandages on his hands, both of which are strongly reminiscent of Chistian mythology. However, in this particular movie this figure is shown in a clearly negative light, first telling the girl that he would protect her and eventually stealing away from her the egg which she cherishes so lovingly.
The fishermen
Fishermen and fish are popular, reoccurring symbols in Christian mythology.
[edit] In the Aftermath: Angels Never Sleep
This was a 1987 Australian science fiction movie which alternates between live action footage directed by Carl Colpaert, describing a small group of people travelling through a post-apocalyptic world, and sequences from Angel's Egg dubbed into English. The dialogue during the dubbed scenes is much expanded, and deviates strongly from the original Japanese script - for example the man and girl are clearly stated as being siblings, while originally they appeared to be strangers. It was released by New World Video as a VHS in the PAL colour format (with an approximate runtime of 70 minutes) and some years later in NTSC by Anchor Bay Entertainment in the USA.[3]
[edit] Cast
- Tony Markes as Frank
- Rainbow Dolan as Angel
- Kenneth McCabe as Goose
- Kurtiss J. Tews as Psycho Soldier
[edit] Music
The music in Angel's Egg was composed by Yoshihiro Kanno who seldom composed film scores.
[edit] References
- ^ Angel's Egg (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
- ^ Biography for Mamoru Oshii. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
- ^ Angel's Egg at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
