Angel’s Egg

🍸 At least 8 months and 24 days ago

Walking blind into the movie theater—I must confess—I was not ready for what played on the screen. Having just finished worked and hurriedly arriving to my local AMC, so I could rendezvous in time with my friends, the mental and emotional space that Angel’s Egg required in general, and that specific night, was not something I could easily extend. It is one of those experiences that feel richer in retrospect. I hear some call it “Type-II fun,” where the enjoyment of the event is intensified through memories, rather than whatever was felt in the duration of.

Being dubbed as “the guy that watches them old boring movies’' against my own volition, Angel’s Egg’s pace and progression had made me itchy to move and do something else, like those kids in social studies, where they lock them up in a room with some form entertainment and then with none, seeing them spinning in chairs and electrocuting themselves when there are no stimuli. I was that kid.

The art is unique and almost every frame could be hung on a wall, where that one friend of yours would ask you, “What anime is that from?” And sure, the story offered bits of the lore and its message its trying to convey through fish that are no longer there, the men that fight shadows; our male antagonist that arrives on some post-nuclear holocaust kind of a vehicle—the world had reached its end. Only this girl’s egg, representing nature’s attempt to revitalize itself is brutally crushed and destroyed, because War Never Changes. With a heavy implication that we will fight each other, and continue fighting each other, even in times when there is nothing left to fight for.

The message is great, the delivery though is something I wish to re-evaluate within the next 5 years, after I had felt that a sufficiently long enough cooldown period had lapsed. Similar to what I thought in Against Interpretation, Angel’s Egg relies heavily on after-the-fact analysis, even though the art style was delightful, it did not last long enough to help the inertia of the story, which dragged on for my taste. Hopefully, I can change my mind in the future.

P.S. My absolute favorite shot was at the very end with the big eye, with nature longing for its return, having an army of Greek-looking statues in full elegant armor praying with two hands, fingers interlocking. I keep thinking about it.

Sandy awards ★★★☆☆