Film Review: Innocence

Director Mamoru Oshii’s Innocence is by far one of the best movies I have ever seen, inside or outside the anime genre. Not only does it greatly surpass its predecessor, but its unique blend of 1950s noir, plausible futuristic biotechnology, and engaging philosophical discourse creates a stand-alone masterpiece.

[ Note: This review assumes that you have seen GITS in some other form; therefore, I won't be providing a synopsis, but there are plenty online to choose from... ]

THE LOOK

Innocence is dark movie visually, a clear stylistic choice that reflects and compounds the director’s jaded quasi-dystopian vision of the future. Like the more popular anime series that followed it, this film seamlessly blends 3D CGI models with fluid 2D animation, giving many scenes an added dimension of both space and believability. While a dark, ominous palette dominates much of the environment, it serves to emphasize the rare instances of color and action, whether they be gunfire, Batou’s HUD, or an elaborately gilded mansion. You might find yourself fiddling for the brightness settings on your machine, but unless you can’t see what’s going on at all, I’d recommend leaving the movie as it was intended; it’s especially effective during the more thrilling parts.

The movie is shot in a futuristic noir style, with Batou driving his vintage car along rain-splattered streets, then abandoning his wheels to walk through dimly-lit derelict back alleyways, hands thrust into the deep pockets of his trench coat. Though the movie follows both Batou and his less-cyberized partner Togusa, Batou’s lack of a family and superhuman strength present him as the lone private eye/outsider archetype, working on his case but also searching for something more.

The future is not presented as fully utopian or dystopian, but rather a realistic prediction of technological advancements based on present trends. The human mind (or ghost) has been fully cyberized, able to be transplanted into synthetic bodies of nearly any shape or form. There are no flying cars, no laser guns, no jetpacks; all technological improvements are logical and pragmatic. For example, Batou and Togusa are ordered to look into the production of “gynoids”, or sentient robotic sex-dolls. It’s true what they say, if man can conceive it, he will also find some way to have sex with it.

THE CONTENT

Innocence, like the first film, is chalk full of philosophical issues and maxims. This is one of the qualities that separates GITS from the more generic anime movies (no mechas in this one). That being said, you won’t find any mangacized craziness in the animation style (think the opposite of FLCL).

The scene where Batou fights a Yakuza cyborg is just as interesting as Kim’s discussion on the perfection of dolls; the philosophical discourse provides a much-needed break from the action so that viewer never has an adrenaline overload.

I’d highly recommend this one for those of you who have seen the first and were let down, or have seen the series and were blown away. In any case, it’s a great movie all on its own, and one of the few that I can watch over and over.