Angel’s Egg is a movie depicting a little girl and a younger man who reside in a derelict and eery world. A world devoid of others like themselves, with only shades of fish and automaton-like men who chase them ceasely, to no avail. The girl is left to her own, wandering throughout this dark and abandoned world, clutching under her blouse her most precious possession- a small egg. Eventually, the man, the only one with color and light to him in the whole world besides the girl arrives borne upon massive tank-like vehicles. The relationship that they form provides the only context that the viewer can rely on, as they observe and discuss the silent, desolate world that they reside in. Through their shared knowledge of the situation they have found themselves in, the world is brought to clearer context: a scourge which brought the world they remembered to an end. A massive bird, sent as the harbinger of this plague. The world which they have since long forgotten in the ceaseless monotony thereafter. Yet in this stillness, the man is troubled. The girl’s most precious possession, he fears, it is the bird which may spring from it that strikes something into his heart. The only emotion he shows throughout, the flash of humanity that dictates the course of his motives to come.
Angel’s Egg is a brilliant showcase of how animation alone can tell a story, and you needn’t view it with no sound or subtitles to realize this. While plenty is left untold and even unclear in both the devoid narration and minimalist dialogue, the scenes which come together in tandem with the journey of both the man and girl throughout this fiction allow the viewer to have a unique grasp on the universe. The film shows and tells you only the barest trace of what you need to know, and there is clear purpose in what is not described. There are things that the audience will not understand, and things that will be clear as day, in a excellently choreographed direction by director Mamoru Oshii. The plot is simple enough, and the motives of the two characters crystalline: It is the way that the world reacts to them and their actions which grip the audience and leave a suspension of belief, if you will. This movie wants you to think about what is happening, not seeking to merely tell a story-- it doesn’t want to show its hand, and it conceals the answers to the most pressing questions that arise perfectly. This theme carries throughout the film to its conclusion, and the phrase ‘untied loose ends’ is in fact the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks to its conclusion. But that too is perfectly intentional, with the movie ending on the bizarrely formed planet drawing further and further from the audience and fading to black. To use a word; “kino”.
My biggest, albeit minor complaint with the film was that it lacked the polish that it could have had to make it truly fantastic. But that is understandable, given both the year that the film was created (1985) and the conditions of the now renowned studio DEEN. While it was staffed by immense creative and artistic talent, it created Angel’s Egg as its first major debut to the animated movie scene, and in the dropping frames and bizarre movements of small things, like the girl’s hair, as well as a relative lack of sound immersion outside of the most obvious things like voices and loud noises, the audience is incapable of feeling a true sense of placement inside the fiction, and for that I need to dock the overall product in some respect. However, in the lush art, intensely imaginative storytelling, and uniquely poised characters I have to hold this movie with very high regard. I’d give this a 9 out of 10 overall, and very much recommend others who enjoyed this film to give the director Mamoru Oshii more credit and viewership.
