ANGEL'S EGG Review: What's in There?

Get out of the rain, girl! And why are you carrying an egg? By the way, what's in that egg?!

Angel's Eye
The film opens Wednesday, November 19, only in movie theaters, via GKids Films. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Written and directed by Mamoru Oshii, who would go on to worldwide fame for his visionary Ghost in the Shell some 10 years later, Angel's Eye is a very different kind of beast in its narrative form -- it's more experimental than narrative -- yet shares the filmmaker's philosophy on life and the relationship between humans and the natural world.

After beginning his career as a storyboard artist and then a director of the anime series Urusei Yatsura, Oshii helmed two feature films based on the series. The second, Beautiful Dreamer (1984), though a comedy, manifested characters who pushed into new territory, questioning their own reality, which laid the groundwork for Angel's Egg, which also repurposed concepts that Oshii had developed for a Lupin project that was cancelled.

Changing studios, Angel's Egg was Oshii's first film for the new company. It strayed far afield of traditional narrative structures and any sort of reality, following an unnamed young girl who wanders through a desolate land, protecting a large egg under her clothing -- but up high on her body, so we know she's not pregnant.

She spends her days, silently foraging for food and supplies. One day, she is startled by a large, imposing tank. A young man comes out of the tank, fully armed, prompting her to flee and hide. Soon after, the taciturn young man comes upon her sleeping form. When she awakens, he gently returns her egg, which went missing during her hasty flight, and admonishes her to be more careful about her precious cargo. He asks her: 'What's in the egg?'

That is the central issue of the movie. Initially, she doesn't say very much, and neither does he. Eventually, they both share wildly fantastic stories that bump up against each other, instead drawing from a variety of sources, including The Bible. Their stories reflect their differing philosophies on life: why's she's a protector, whey he's always searching. They make a certain kind of sense, yet they still make for a very odd couple of sojourners.

As a creative collaboration between writer/director Oshii and artist Yoshitaka Amano, Angel's Egg is awash in hand-drawn beauty. The spare settings, and the forward momentum, combine to enable the imagery to seep easily into the soul. The two characters keep moving through their own world of stark beauty and troubling signs of wonder.

Frankly, after one viewing, I don't fully understand what every image means. But I don't really care; it doesn't detract from my enjoyment. It's gorgeous and distinctive, and I want more. Happily, Oshii has created even more ambitious and accomplished work over the past 40 years. Angel's Egg shows where he (basically) started from, and it's quite a dreamy ride.