Ranked #6170

Ai

Many people who go to watch this experimental film are probably expecting an anime. However... This is not an anime... It's a work of abstract art and is in of itself something that you can not get if you don't study art or do not have an avant-garde artistic sense. If you don't understand either of them, don't rate it. It's like trying to get a pop lover to rate the works of Stockhausen. They are two completely different things.

------------
Story: 8
It's obvious that this is very well crafted. People confuse abstract with complicated ideas, but this is a very straight forward portrayal of love and the development of that emotion over time.
The fact that someone can grasp that idea or even convey it without dialogue(plus this being 1962) is quite a big feat. Still... no emotional attachment so you can't really call it a good story.

Art: 5
Judging it by today's art or story telling standard is illogical since this work does not go by any conventional standards. However, there really isn't anything special that I can see in the art. Characters are probably representational of something as is set design, but it's too distant too interpret for me. It gets a 5 since I know it exists, but Kuri failed to make it apparent to anyone but himself.

Sound: 8
The sound is the most fascinating part(and it was not done by Yoko Onno, but instead the experimental composer Toru Takemitsu). To explain what's so fascinating about the sound track is to explain experimental music altogether(look up musique concrete).
More understandable is the reverb and other effects added to the word Ai. This is very much a representation of the situation that the two "characters" are in and in effect tells the viewer the story and the characters emotions.

Enjoyment: 7
This is most subjective, but if you have a minimal interest in avant-garde art a 7 is about right. Hardcore fans will go on to give everything a 10 and most others probably a 1 or a 2.
read more

Love is something one craves for, chases after, holds onto, eats and shits, submits and gets submitted to and finally puts a leash on says Kuri in a single utter "AI" and with lots of perplex imagery.