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Angel's Egg (Movie).

Although the film is almost dead silent, silent to a fault at times really (in my opinion), I much preferred the eloquence of the deeply symbolic images over the endless philosophical rambling of films like Ghost in the Shell 2.

Some symbology came through loud and clear (in that one could atleast attempt to dissect it)-- the men chasing the shadows of the fish representing the futility of people searching for a god (seemingly Christ for Oshii) that they can't find (or who doesn't exist), the male character being a Christ figure of sorts (with the cross he is carrying), the egg being a symbol of innocence, or rebirth, or faith, the eggs floating to the water's surface representing, perhaps, spoiler[that the girl's death is also perhaps a way into the future .... ]etc.

the huge superstructure/machine spoiler[with the girl in it as a statue at the end], or the final very long pull out shot, as well as just on the film in general.

I thought the male character not really to be a Christ figure of sorts, but more of a seemingly devout seeker of Christ.

the huge superstructure/machine and the final very long pull out shot, as well as just on the film in general.

rather than an ark like Noah's, there's that superstructure/machine, of which delivers the pure souls to the next world or whatever

I mean, you can really see him in two different ways-- a seeker, who doesn't know the answer, and does something horrible to another person to find out an answer that he never really gets in the end, OR he is the teacher, the one who knows, who goes to the girl to give her the hard, truthful lesson that she must learn. I think both possiblities hold some water, interpretively.

The seeker-Christ figure was very interesting for me in re: to the superstructure, because it seemed to me that, just as we've read him in two ways, you can read his relationship to the "ark" in two ways as well-- that either:
1) he's unable to board the ship because he doesn't have the proper faith, but instead chooses to spoiler[break the egg open] and find out the truth (an Adam sort of character, to a certain extent, choosing knowledge), or
2) he's sending them there, because he knows the truth and is revealing it to them.

The more I think about it, the more I feel like the purpose one assigns to him makes everything else in the interpretation revolve around it-- as if he were a lynch pin of sorts for the entire movie.

The men attempting to slay the shadow-fish could figure into this as well; the fish would seem to be a portent of the city finally flooding, and the men attempting to kill them would seem to be acting in desperation trying to keep them away, but to no avail.

In thinking more on the superstucture, it could also be simply Oshii's metaphor for religion itself; it's grandiose and transcendental, but to become a part of it, one must become an unperceptive statue.

This is an interesting idea. You know, I had been thinking of the "shadow-men" as sort of seekers of some sort-- the fish being a symbol of christ or christianity. I had been thinking of it as they're looking for faith/religion, but I hadn't really thought of it as an attempt to stop the flood. That's also very interesting, and makes sense in a certain way. Another thought that had occured to me was that they're looking for something they can't find-- in that, the fish they are hunting are only shadows-- they're not real... i.e. that they're sense of religion isn't valid/truthful (thus, they're chasing shadows).

I had been looking at the final, very long pull out shot as a if spoiler[the island were actually a space ship or something floating in space]-- I know, that sounds absurd to me too, but I couldn't quite tell what I was looking at. The idea of it being spoiler[an island caught in the midst of, essentially, a biblical style flood] is much more in line with a lot of what is said in the film. I suppose, though, even if it were spoiler[a space ship, the imagery still holds true philosophically-- it _looks_ like an island lost in an endless sea/flood, whether it's a space ship or really is an island.]

I hadn't really thought about it until now, but the fish-hunters are the only other "living" people we see in the movie. In some way, that makes them more important to me than I'd thought before..... in that they probably have some relationship to the seeker-Christ figure and the girl-- metaphorically speaking. For example, if they are hunting for a shadow-fish, something not real, to skewer it and make it dead is rather ...anti-religous (if you take the fish as a Christian symbol). This, in comparison to the girl who has a true and utter faith in the egg she carries. And then, even one step further (or one step aside, on a paralell yet different path) you have the seeker-Christ who either knows what is in the egg or wants to find out.

This creates two different kinds of "developmental" arcs in re: spirituality--

fish hunters--> girl--> Christ figure OR

fish hunter--> girl's path
............. --> seeker's path

Anthony P wrote:

In thinking more on the superstucture, it could also be simply Oshii's metaphor for religion itself; it's grandiose and transcendental, but to become a part of it, one must become an unperceptive statue.

This makes some sense too. That seems to fall in line with a bit of what we were saying earlier too.

Man, I can't believe I'm saying this after how boring I thought the first half of the film was (when I watched it months ago), but I really feel like I need to watch this film over again after I've had the chance to think about a couple of the ideas this thread has brought up.

Had some thoughts about the egg she carries versus/in re: to spoiler[the eggs she makes].

After reading over the thread again, one thing we hadn't touched on was the eggs that come from spoiler[the girl after she dives/falls into the water]. I thought this was also very interesting. I felt like it was representative of her transformation into.... well, whatever she is when spoiler[she appears in the monolithic structure at the end]. The thought has occured to me that those eggs are somehow the beginnings of a new "Angels Egg" for whomever the next person is, on her path-- that the scene with the eggs floating to the top of the water like bubbles is also one of the other big things that tie's the movie into a big circle.

This thought about the eggs reminded me of the earlier discussion we had had about the super-structure capping the movie as well. Does anyone have any thoughts about the eggs? And if the egg the little girl is carrying _is_ much the same as spoiler[the eggs she makes at the end ](which doesn't seem so far fetched to me, as the movie is called Angel's Egg, and eggs are a running theme in the movie)-- what does that say about the egg she's been carrying? As in-- perhaps that gives the viewer a clue to deciphering some of the things that the egg may represent.......

It's an interesting thought to consider that the seeker/Christ-figure may have acted much the same with other people before the little girl, each of them carrying their own eggs, and each of them spoiler[creating their own eggs at the end]. The movie does point to this in some ways-- particularly in re: to the superstructure appearing (or is it receding?) at the beginning of the film, in much the same way that it does at the end-- with the seeker-figure watching it from the beach.

I also don't think it's possible to really pinpoint and label every underlying theme in the film, nor is it neccessary.

My love for ths film comes purely from the aesthetics. I also don't think it's possible to really pinpoint and label every underlying theme in the film, nor is it neccessary. I'd rather not analyze it too literally.

I just think there's really something to be missed though, if one isn't exercising one's "mental/critical faculties" while watching this film.

This film has so much to offer when analyzed-- largely because it is so ambiguous and not very direct.

Angel's Egg is more "symoblic"/easier to talk about on intellectual terms (which is part of why Mindgame is an easier/more accessible viewing experience)

There's a lot to be "mined" in Mindgame.

There are, of course, very immediate/painful scenes in Angel's Egg. Still, much of the movie grabs me because the symoblic density of some of it's images is so incredible-- fish swimming through the streets are cool aesthetically, but for me, even more, it's the heady concept behind the fish that really grabs me when I watch it. Same thing goes for the floating eggs, or the superstructure, or the "flood."

Still, I know we're sort of comparing apples and oranges. It's such a wonderful pleasure (and a privelege) though, to get to do it.

You know, I bet there's some analyses of Angel's Egg on the web somewhere, I think I'll see if I can find some. I know someone out there has probably seen this movie fifty-some-odd times and wrote a twenty-page analysis.