We've officially arrived at our last film of this year's festival. This one is based off of a light novel series that was going from '88 all the way until 2006. The film came out in '92 and was brought to us by the letters IG. As in, Production I.G. That's right, the Psycho Pass, Suisei no Gargantia, & Blood+ studio. Story: Three travellers are walking through the desert, hoping to find more water, when they encounter the corpses of a group of people. One small child is still barely alive and is shown a small kindness before she goes into the good night. Our protagonists continueon to an abandoned city called Azec Sistra. A city populated by the dead and being targeted by a gang of looters.
The biggest issue with the film is that it drags. We get a long stretch with them just walking through the desert, a long stretch with them wandering through Azec Sistra. Even the climactic final sequence involves long stretches of talking and flashbacks. There's barely even any action as our heroes have blades that are mostly decorative. You can definitely get by with some of that to build the world, set up the atmosphere and such. But what we see of this world is just a vast expanse of desert and the atmosphere is just a bit dreary. Which doesn't need that much set up. I get taking some quiet moments for atmosphere in a film like Glass no Hana where there are shifts and those quiet moments are building up to something but not so much in a film like this.
There's also this general feeling that everything interesting happens outside of this film. We don't know how our heroes got together. We don't know what their ultimate goal is beyond just finding water. We don't even know why Lakshi cut her hair and left her old home. We know the villagers were pressuring her brother to have her do something, but there's no hint as to what it was. It could have been something reasonable like "Please ask your sister to stop stealing our dogs. She does not need every dog in the village to cuddle." It could have been something kind of shitty but understandable like "Please convince your sister to marry that rich noble who will provide our village with the resources we need in return." Or it could have been something insane like "Just let us sacrifice your sister to our God of prosperity. You know the great God Lovecraft demands the life of a young girl of colour. Just be cool and respect our stupid, toxic religious beliefs."
And yes, I could read through the light novels and get some of those answers if not all of them. However, this film is not nearly compelling enough to make me want to get further into this world or these characters.
About the most credit I can give it is that some of the scenes illustrating the restlessness of the spirits in the city are quite effective.
Characters:
The same issue plagues the characters as permeates through the story. They just aren't interesting. Boice is a big, strong dude whose defining trait is that he's a bit taciturn. Tieh is a gentle healer. You know, like the vast majority of healers you get in any fantasy work ever. Lakshi is a good-hearted and naive type of character. And their villains are pretty much assholes who want to raid the city because the Temple probably has a good treasure. They also want to rape Tieh, mistaking his androgynous appearance for him being a woman. So, pretty much a hive mind of being terrible.
Art:
The artwork is definitely the best part of the film. While it isn't the best I've seen, Azec Sistra is pretty well detailed and there are some strong background details. If the action sequences weren't boring, this element would actually be good.
Sound:
The acting is passable. I know that Seki Toshihiko, Takayama Minami & Yara Yuusaku can deliver stronger performances but I would also be pleasantly surprised to hear them do really well with the material they have to work with. Oshima Michiru's soundtrack is a bit bland in this. Which isn't something I can recall being able to say about any of the other soundtracks I've heard from her. I mean, she did compositions for Fullmetal Alchemist, So Ra No Wo To & Rokka no Yuusha. All of which had strong soundtracks.
Ho-yay:
We do have a bunch of guys referring to another as a "beauty" but they also think he's a woman so it barely qualifies.
Areas of Improvement:
Less wandering, more substance. Yes, atmosphere and world building are important. But this film forgets that you need a hook to get your audience interested in order for those factors to work.
Give us the context behind why Lakshi left. Okay, they show fragments of her flashback at least three times, maybe more. If it's really that important, give us the reason she left beyond the vague "the villagers wanted her to do something she didn't want to do." Otherwise don't waste our time with the same goddamn flashback of her cutting her hair over and over again.
Characters with personality, please. You'd think with how much time they just spend wandering and looking at things, we could get some dialogue to give them a more complex level of characterisation. Which would also help add some investment.
Final Thoughts:
This film has quite a few problems. It's slow. Its characters have nothing to them beyond clichés. There are way too many flashbacks. However, I hesitate to call it bad. I just don't think it has quite that level of problems. So, I'm going to give it a 4/10. If you want to watch a walking tour of a dead city with the world's dullest tour guides, go for it. It may be worthwhile if you're a fan of the light novels. I wouldn't know since I haven't read them and, after watching this, I doubt I ever will.
