Innocence

The Palme d'Or is one of the most prestigious awards in the world of film, coming from the highly respected Cannes Film Festival. For a film to get nominated for the prize is in and of itself a great merit that deserves praise. Within the few of several animated films that bring about a huge influential force within the industry and art itself, there's only been one Japanese animated film that was ever nominated for the said award. Regarded as even more dense and rich in philosophical detail than its predecessor, Mamoru Oshii's follow-up to the widely successful Ghost in the Shell, Innocence, is a visualfeast of intricate design and narrative. With a nine-year difference between the two films, it could be said that Innocence was a highly anticipated sequel. Yet with as much consensual praise it garners from film critics, on top of it a coveted Palme d'Or nomination, what exactly makes this film any different from your above-average anime? In the same ways, it delivers like the first film, with Oshii's slow but methodical approach in setting scenes to build up suspense and evoking a rising curiosity to the viewers. Ghost in the Shell 1995 exemplifies scenes like the long, calming pause before the conflict arises, or the climactic chase scene with the Puppetmaster to emphasize the Major's internal existential crisis. This way, the slow-burner aspect of the film is justified as it allows the viewers to immerse into Kusanagi's thoughts as a human-slash-cyborg. This film delivers none of those. The snail pace of Innocence isn't really something that is as appealing as the first film's, and as a matter of fact it hinders the possibility of giving the film progress. Imagery...and long, establishing shots that take 30 seconds onwards without giving proper character conflict makes this time for the viewers to ponder completely baseless. The film does not allow us to relate or get into Batou's mindset, nor does the meandering moments help. It's something that makes the visuals and the narrative so out-of-sync it becomes flat-out boring. The first half fails to captivate the audience with the "suspense" it should contain, and I couldn't really immerse myself into the film when all I see is Batou feeding his dog. The plot itself isn't bad—a string of murders by sex robots occur, but a particular one leaves a message that falls under Section 9's prying eyes. But if this two-hour film was a mini-series divided into two episodes, most would have dropped it after watching the first one. It drags on needlessly and unnecessarily, and only a few interesting moments happen. Not to mention the innumerable quotations from other forms of literature that makes me wonder if Oshii was writing a script or a reference list. The story only really starts to kick in by the second half of the film, where we get into a convoluted but intriguing hacking sequence and from then onwards becomes a thrilling action-packed final act balanced with excitement and the same feeling that made the '95 film so interesting. Whereas the story failed in execution but had enough steam to keep it going, the character aspect of the story had less appeal but were delivered well enough. Batou comes across as a ruthless character that the viewers would have a hard time relating to while Togusa sets a foil, becoming his voice of reason. We also see how these characters react as the intensity of the plot builds up, but it honestly doesn't have the approach GitS (1995) nailed with Kusanagi's unique characterization. More or less, Kenji Kawai's helm in Innocence's soundtrack remains the same, although it becomes much less as a topic of discussion, just like the first film. It doesn't overpower, but it doesn't do anything to stand out as well. On the other hand, the sound effects and the voice acting remain one of Ghost in the Shell's strong assets. CG animation, for the most part, does not blend well with anime—especially in a time like 2004. However, Innocence makes it all look natural, and its aesthetic (yet baseless) sequences help complement the otherworldly feeling the film's story and theme addresses. Whether it compares to the first film or not is up for debate, but in my opinion the animation utilized for Innocence and GitS 1995 are apples and oranges. The Ghost in the Shell film series remains an overrated part of anime, both inside and outside the community. Don't get me wrong, I'm not stripping them of its merits—what GitS has done remains a groundbreaking move for anime cyberpunk. However, it is not without its flaws, and is nowhere near perfect. What is considered as a thought-provoking, introspective and philosophical form of visual art lauded by many is surprisingly straightforward, and doesn't really have that many meta-narrative interpretations that can be attached to it. Does it deserve the Palme d'Or nomination? Maybe so, but I'd like to think Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence just happened to be there, and if I was given the chance to pick another animated film that best represents the medium in terms of style and substance, I would.

Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is a rather base-breaking film. People either love it for its heightened philosophy and art, while others detest it for a lackluster plot and characters. I, however, am one of the /other/ people who found a middle ground: it contains a lot of thought-provoking concepts, accompanied by a strong soundtrack and consistent voice-acting, but lacks in an actual plot, character development, and solid art quality. [Story - 6] The story itself is rather simple, yet intriguing to a point - it follows two (really, just one) of the supporting cast members of Section 9 a couple of years after the events ofthe first film. This time around, they're involved in a case of rogue 'dolls', which soon unravels into something far more sinister. The film does also continue the themes of its predecessor (such as 'Do robots deserve the same basic rights as humans?' and 'What are the ethics of overwriting their hardware?'), but it however does not flow as smoothly as before. This time around, the philosophy is so suffocating that the actual story being told is rather bare-bones, and plot development can be jarring to see after a long while of discussion. While I do enjoy the philosophy a lot, I was rather annoyed with how it could not be interwoven with the plot more skillfully. [Art - 7] The artstyle used here is a mix of traditional 2D animation with multiple CGI renders splattered throughout the film. I'm gonna get this over with: I REALLY did not like the CGI at all. If I had to assess it in thirds, it'd be '2/3 of this is absolute garbage' and '1/3 of this is tolerable but would have looked WAY better in 2D'. One infamous scene representing the former of the thirds is when a 'cyber-dog' is rendered in CGI: I have no other way of saying this, but it looks like it was a reject scene from Toy Story. That being said, the reason this got a '7' and not a '5' was the traditional 2D segments. Fortunately, this is still rather prevalent in the film, and still quite up to snuff with the original. The few combat scenes come together rather well, even when CGI is used to assist it. The colour/lighting palettes are as subtle and moody as ever, and the character design is rather fitting. I particularly found the technology used throughout the film rather 'cool', and I'm thankful that it still turned out okay. [Sound - 8] The sound in this film is also on par with the original. While the soundtrack may not be quite as memorable, it was still rather gorgeous and perfectly suited for the film. I particularly enjoyed the one soundtrack playing when the two protagonists discuss the case with a forensic analyst (can't remember the name though). The seiyuus did a good job as well, considering most (if not all of them) are reprising their roles from the first film. Special shout-out goes to Batou's and Togusa's for doing their best to inject a variety of emotions into the script they had received. [Character - 5] The characters here are probably the weakest link in the film. I did try to go into this film without expecting a lot since the first film had proved that the creative team preferred a more 'brainy' approach, but I'm still rather surprised. Perhaps it's because of the overwhelming concept discussion in here, but I felt like the characters here were even less fleshed out than in the first film. While Batou and Togusa are somewhat shown to be more than Just Cops with their own beliefs about the world around them, I feel like they needed a lot more screentime than what they got for us to truly care for them, and thus how they express their views on the film's proposed ideas. Togusa's struggle doesn't seem to be rather clear to me, and Batou's 'stoicism' is rather exhausting to see after the first film (despite having several scenes where he clearly opens up and/or expresses himself). The antagonist here is rather.....lackluster: A former soldier who now hacks in the comfort of his reclusive mansion, he doesn't really do much once met in person. Perhaps it's because of his 'condition', but since all he did was, again, spout out philosophy, I never really felt like he was a threat and just thought that 'he was a weirdo.' Another reason that the film is lacking in character is because of the notable absence (for at least the first 3/4) of the former protagonist, Major Kusanagi. While I already knew that she wouldn't be prevalent in this film, and I found that it did help to strengthen the Batou-Togusa dynamic, I /still/ think she would have made this much better. Even though she isn't superbly fleshed out in the film canon, she is probably the best way to express the series' concepts of struggle, and it's a shame she only got to do that in the last 20 minutes or so. [Enjoyment/Overall - 7/6] Nonetheless, I still walked away from here not being completely let-down. It's rather light on the plot/action, but it has quite a lot of thought-provoking material for those who prefer to digest that (myself included). I would actually only recommend it for that alone, as I feel that this was an ultimately unnecessary (but somewhat enjoyable) experience in the GitS franchise. Proceed at your own caution if you do decide to check it out.

No one can ever know to understand. They can only hope to understand. What is life, what means reality? Why does man pursue the creation of artificial life? Where do we draw the line between human and machine? What classifies the perfect species? Ghost in the Shell: Innocence might very well fare as a compendium of philosophy due to the manifold questions it not only brings up but most often also provides the viewer with unique - maybe obscure at times - in any way thought-provoking arguments. The movie depicts a state of cold surreality in an eerie and sterile environment. The distinction between the organic andinorganic, between actual experience or artificial memory is of central significance. "The imperfect nature of human perception causes the incompleteness of reality." As we perceive the world, we create our personal reality which holds neither absoluteness nor can it be considered concrete. However, because it is a product of the mind and hence incomplete, we consider it real, our own - instead of an externally imposed artificial scenario. Yet, there's no way to distinguish one from another. "You'll only ever realize later on. It's impossible to know you're in a dream when you’re dreaming." Would we want to wake up from a dream if it was so much more beautiful than that which we consider genuine, just to seek truth? "The mirror is not a tool for realizing the truth, but for obscuring it." And so is our consciousness. There's no verification of the truthfulness of the impressions that affect us, the memories we have, the interpretations and conclusions we come to. We are obscuring reality to make it fit our individual creations. They definitely dwell on this subject matter. Not least due to the creepy dolls that lurk everywhere. "The doubt over whether that which looks alive is actually alive - on the contrary, the doubt that things without life might be alive" is something that's continuously played with - and the transition to another intriguing theme. The definition of life - or rather human. "When people think 'Humans are different from robots', it is no more profound than thinking 'white is not black'." Why does man try to create machines in the image of the ideal human body? None other than a cyborg makes the quite unorthodox and controversial approach to answer this by creating an analogy between children and dolls. A child playing with a doll is essentially the same as parenting. The child substitutes the doll. The macabre intellectual argument is taken even further. The 'content' of a child is different than that of a human, yet it is human-shaped. Therefore parenting is closest to the creation of androids which is the intent to conquer nature that created us. A very factual and coherent argumentation - but devoid of emotion. That is obviously where the machine is lacking. And Togusa, closest to being a human in the whole movie, reacts emotionally. Interestingly enough, about the only time the atmosphere transcends the abstract sterility of the plot is when Batou returns home to his dog. In an absolute contrast to the usually dialogue-driven story we're reduced to our visual perception and enjoy their reunion. While at first it may not seem special enough to be mentioned, the dog clearly stands out. It is perhaps the most lively and intimate creature we're presented with. Hugging Batou from behind, scratching him with his paw in eager anticipation of the food, Batou carefully putting its ears around the feeding dish and in the end sleeping in his lap - unconditional love in a setting that otherwise shows an utter absence of this emotion. The science that explains and defines life ultimately produces fear - "…the fear that humans might merely be the sum of simple clockwork tricks and components, in other words the fear of the phenomena called 'human' is essentially vanity." Is the imitation of a human complete by putting a soul into a doll? Or is the existence of such a doll superior? The hacker Kim who has turned himself into a complete machine argues that either no consciousness or infinite consciousness makes a species complete and that can only be realized in dolls. "If there were such a thing as a truly beautiful doll it would be flesh and blood without a soul." While the cyborgs might be the most complete form of existence, they are treated as inferior to man which is allegorized by the girl sacrificing the 'life' of dolls in order to be found. They are ignorantly treated as things despite the absence of a clear definition for life (which could disqualify them). "You cry for bird's blood, but not for fish blood. Fortunate for ones with voice. If the dolls had voices, They would have screamed, 'I didn't want to become human!'" This is by no means shallow entertainment or easily digestible. The story moves solely by its highbrow dialogues which are in a way mentally exhausting, yet quite rewarding. Whereas the first movie impressed with detailed hand-drawn sceneries, this time around they made heavy usage of 3D CG. Although it was flawlessly executed and did not necessarily feel out of place, I could have lived with less of it. The love for detail remains nevertheless and it certainly adds to the somewhat sterile - almost clinical - atmosphere of the futuristic setting. Highly recommended.

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