| Angel's Egg | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Mamoru Oshii |
| Studio | Studio DEEN Tokuma Shoten |
| Release date(s) | December 22, 1985 |
| Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
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 uses almost no dialogue, making it a commonly cited example of progressive anime.
Parts of the film were used in the 1988 Australian sci-fi movie, "In the Aftermath".[1]
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Angel's Egg follows the daily life of an unnamed young girl in a surreal world of darkness and shadows.
The girl is the keeper of a mysterious egg. She spends her time collecting bottles and artifacts in a gothic, abandoned city. An unnamed man arrives in the dark town one day riding a machine and wearing a cross-like weapon on his back. The two meet and talk, though their dialogue consists mostly of the single, repeated question "Who are you?"
Meanwhile, the shadows of giant coelacanths appear within the town, and then the many human statues which line it come alive and begin hunting the fishes 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. The film ends with the "world" being revealed as a settlement on the edge of a hollow shell floating through outer space, though this is not elaborated upon.
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 as bubbles within them rise to the top. Voiced by: Mako Hyōdō
Man
The man is portrayed as a Christ-like (or even Antichrist-like) figure, carrying a cross on his back and wearing bandages on his hands. He tries to protect the young girl when he meets her, but ultimately steals and breaks the egg she keeps. Voiced by: Jinpachi Nezu
Narrator
Voiced by: Keiichi Noda
The music in Angel's Egg was composed by Yoshihiro Kanno who seldom composed film scores.
Angel's Egg did not do well with audiences or critics on its release. But in the early 2000's the film's reputation was spread on anime festivals and the film now has small but dedicated group of fans which calls it a masterpiece.
It holds an 7.7 rating on imdb.
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