Skycrawlers, 4.5 stars
Mamoru Oshii’s Skycrawlers was my second and last piece of anime of the festival.
Skycrawlers happens in an alternate Earth, where waging of war is outsourced to mercenary air force companies. And that results in beautifully rendered scenes of aerial combat. In contrast to the spectacular scenery and machinery, the characters are sparsely drawn.
Slowly the underlying themes of identity and memory start to emerge, and despite the protagonists persistence in trying to drown them in wine and bowling, the plotline slowly pushes the glitter aside and demans attention from the audience.
Despite its constant presence on screen, I don’t think I’ll take up smoking while leaning on walls in a bomber jacket. No matter how cool it appears to be in a movie.
(Strangely enough, no poster image for the movie appears to have been released.)
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