Hacker Cinema
Metropolis
メトロポリス
2001 · Film · 107 min
Directed by Rintaro
In the midst of societal conflict in the futuristic city of Metropolis, Kenichi and his uncle Shunsaku Ban set out to uncover the mystery behind the first human-like robot, Tima.
3 positivefrom 3 commenters
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3 comments on Hacker News
If you liked his review of Spirited Away, you will also like his review of Metropolis. I liked that he enjoyed movies from all genres as long as they accomplished what they set out to do.
> The movie is so visually rich I want to see it again to look in the corners and appreciate the details. Like all the best Japanese anime, it pays attention to little things. There is a scene where an old man consults a book of occult lore. He opens it and starts to read. A page flips over. He flips it back in place. Considering that every action in an animated film requires thousands of drawings, a moment like the page flip might seem unnecessary, but all through the movie we get little touches like that.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/metropolis-2002
Have you heard of Akira, that anime from 1988? It's by Katsuhro Otomo. I'm a fan of his work. If you are too, then these two are worth seeing if you haven't already...
Otomo's 1991 Roujin-Z was made available for viewing on YouTube this past year. It's 1h20m. Link: https://youtu.be/itg4zKaUMgY
There's also Otomo's 1995 Memories. It's great. I haven't found a good version of it on YouTube, but a quality stream of it is available on Amazon Prime.
Otomo also worked on Metropolis (2001) and Steamboy (2004). They're both great.
Metropolis (2001), directed by Rintaro with screenplay by Katsuhiro Otomo (the Akira director). Phenomenal set illustrations, unusual character animation that intentionally harks back to the 1950s or earlier, and a fab soundtrack. The plot isn't the strongest and the aesthetic is divisive - I know some people really don't like it - but if it's your kind of thing, it's glorious.