[EVA] Perfect Blue/Anno in the Desert

[Luna1883 at aol.com]

-----ANNO/EVA RELATED----

a while back there was this somewhat fatuous blurb about a trip to the sahara 
between anno and miyazaki that in turn elicited some speculation about anno's 
trip (aborted?) to the great australian desert. well, the north african 
intinerary and attendant snapshots was documented in "quick japan" (or a 
sister publication). the feature basically says that anno and miyazaki wanted 
to follow the final flight of the author of the "little prince", antoine de 
saint-exupery, who died in1943;  and also pay their respects to a certain 
oscar-winning epic (and booker prize-winning novel) about the high-flying 
life of aldulterous mapmakers in the sahara during WW2--a quietly beautiful 
film that asked very pointed  questions about the concept of identity 
(national and otherwise), apart from revealing to everyone  what a ghibli is 
(and confirming juliette binoche's reputed divinity).  

what is extraordinary is that miyazaki and anno flew a vintage plane
(a 2-seat sopwith-camel biplane like the english patient's, i hope) across 
the  desert. (lets hope anno wasnt the pilot). anyway, there is a picture on 
top of a dune with miyazaki wearing a sensible hat and grey suit, pointing 
straight ahead, and anno in a black pullover, no hat, doing an ultraman pose! 

the idea of anno and miyazaki collaborating on a full-length feature set in 
the desert is too delicious to even contemplate--the rumors may well be 
true--and just as well. these two "won't be sticking around to be covered by 
the sand. they have places to go still." as the two people most responsible 
for taking anime out of the hands of the otaku  in order that it may 
evangelize (gomen!) the larger, non-otaku world,  it isnt too far a stretch 
to say that whatever ghibli and gainax create together may well be the zenith 
in anime's ongoing evolution--it would even be more interesting to note how 
working with each other could possibly change how they would  work on other 
studio projects independently. as anno said in the weeks preceding the 
release of EVA on TV, "to live is to change";it is instructive to note that 
he intentionally quips miyazaki's last words in the "nausicaa" manga. the 
first line of carl gustave horn's insightful essay "to the revolution now: 
studio ghibli and studio gainax"  pp. 18-26 in "japan edge" 
(cadence/shougaukukan books 6/99) on the miyazaki/anno juggernaut can be 
taken at face value:  "at the end of the century, two generations of radicals 
rule japanese animation (and japan) together...as father and son."


----perfect blue related------

gchen wrote:
<<Also, check out an 1978 film called "The Eyes of Laura Mars" starring Faye
Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones... very similar film in terms of what's
going on...[in perfect blue].>>

not to belabor this point, but comparisons have also been made between kon 
satoshi's "perfect blue" and roman polanski's "repulsion" (1965) and dario 
argento's "stendhal syndrome" (1996). although seeing a paranoid and very 
stunning catherine deneuve (^_-!!!)  is worth the rental of the polanski, 
similarities to perfect blue are much more acute in the latter film, from an 
italian director who has achieved cult status among japanese cineastes. anna 
manni (asia argento, the director's daughter) a young policewoman on the 
trail of a spectaculary disgusting serial killer discovers that she is 
suffering from a rare disease called La Sindrome Stendhal, that causes 
hallucinations, split personalities, and self-mutilation. apart from ennio 
"godfather" morricone's score, there is a close-up scene of a bullet passing 
through a woman's cheek in extremely slow-motion (ala edward muybridge) that 
would qualify for SIHSB (shit i haven't seen before). not for minors, of 
course. 

also, "perfect blue" would not have looked the way it did if satoshi kon did 
not see ishii sogos' "enjuru dasuto/angel dust" (1994), a very stylish little 
thriller set in tokyo in the not-too-distant future about a serial killer who 
routinely injects  young women on the JR with a toxin, and setsuko, the young 
female profiler sent to catch him/her. the cluastrophobia created by the art 
direction and the plot twist in which the killer is revealed is so "perfect 
blue" that it would be nearly impossible to miss the homage. the mind game 
between her and rei, the presumed killer, is methodical and creepy--like 
frank sinatra's in the "manchurian candidate."