It didn't feel disjointed to me. The imagery, music, atmosphere, narrative, and dialogue all came together to form a cohesive and complete artistic statement. What elements felt out-of-place to you?
I didn't say anything felt out of place. And yes, it all comes together for a complete artistic statement. That doesn't mean it's a good film. It doesn't work as a film for me.
I mean, Jehixus in the OP said it best - "theres very little else in the movie but symbolism". It may be a cohesive artistic statement, but what is the statement actually saying? What are we being shown beyond imagery centered around birth, life and death? Where is our arc? Character, tone or narrative, I struggled to find one.
It is a sequence of answers, the director not letting you see the thematic questions that provoked them. Watching the film, I can but glide across its surface. I try to pick apart the detail, to ask "what is this showing me? What is this telling me? Why is this here?" and nothing comes from it.
The strength of the film medium is that it can demonstrate the passage of time unlike any other, yet that strength is not exploited in the slightest here. The effect is like that of going through an artist's gallery of images all centered around the same theme. These are not metaphors and images that use the film medium to convey something. They are images better absorbed at length, contemplated, wrestled with on the viewer's on time. That is not how a film works, unless the director specifically wanted the viewer to have his finger hovering over the 'pause' button through-out the viewing.
I guess I just feel the entire thing was done with the mindset and method of a painter, rather than a director. Even with the haunting soundtrack.
Fair, but you still haven't explained why you think it's a bad movie. Or mentioned a single poor aspect of the film, really.
edit - I don't mean to come off as hostile - though it's probably inevitable given how I feel about the subject - as I'm genuinely curious to hear your thoughts.
But that's the problem. I don't think a single element of the film is poor. In fact, I think near enough every element is sublime. Amano's gorgeous artwork. The haunting music. The minimal narrative. The constant repetition of egg/birth/death imagery.
It just doesn't work as a film.
Hopefully the first part of this post expands on that a little. It's extremely difficult to talk about. I may have to re-watch it to crystalise my thoughts. It's been about two years since my last re-watch of the film.
Did you just compare an obscure anime art film to Avatar?
I compared a film to a film. Let's not be snobs.
