Hacker Cinema
Angel's Egg
天使のたまご
1985 · Film · 71 min
Directed by Mamoru Oshii
AnimationFantasyMysteryScience Fiction
In the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.
4 positive1 negativefrom 5 commenters
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5 comments on Hacker News
I'm a fan of most of Oshii's work, and Angel's Egg is a particular favourite, but it's not hard to see why it's rarely recommended. The film has very little narrative and it leans heavily on visual symbolism.
I'm seeing quite a few recommendations for good shows in the comments, under an article about GITS and Mamoru Oshii, but surprisingly no one has brought up the two other fairly well-known (?) works: Angel's Egg and Urusei Yatsura 2. The first one just got the news about a 4k upgrade next year and first time Western release, while the other has few reasons to be a stand-alone movie of the same manga besides the main cast. Both are sometimes incredibly trippy and heady with the hypnotic 90s look, which seem to be much fewer in the modern anime but I haven't really kept up with new stuff these days as well as animation styles certainly evolve over time.
I have this policy of never watching two different animes on the same day (to gave it time for it to "settle") but I broke this rule after watching Angel's egg. The atmosphere in that movie was so dark I decided I need to watch something colorful and light so I watched Ponyo, but I was still under the influence of the Angel's egg and I came up with alternative explanation of Ponyo where everybody dies (sea fish dies when it is put in a bucket of fresh water, kids dies in flood and go through the "tunnel" to the "other side" where everybody else is already waiting)
I really _really_ tried to enjoy The Shadow of the Torturer but I couldn't fall into rhythm I guess. As English is my second language, I had to struggle to know if a word was invented or just obscure English (I found that the author uses a fucktonne of the latter after I finished it). And I hate needing a glossary to read a novel (looking at you Tolkien).
It struck to me like an 80s animated movie: extremely rich from a technical point of view but, well, not a good history and even boring for some people (think about Vampire Hunter D or Angel's Egg. For the record, I love these movies).
Meh, I'll give it another go, after I finish Blindsight from Peter Watts (2006). Thanks for reminding me of that saga!
Someone else mentioned Satoshi Kon, and i strongly second that. Every film he made was amazing. Also, if you want to see Mamoru Oshii (director of ghost in the shell) getting real artsy in his debut, check out Angel's Egg: https://youtu.be/YopWyb75G7o
For me at least, that movie's like a bug bite i can't stop itching.