Tekkonkinkreet (2007)

This movie was introduced to me when I saw Paprika a while back,it was one of the previews before the movie. I thought it looked imaginative and interesting, but when I watched it I was somewhat disappointed. I still find it enjoyable, but it's completely different from what I thought it was about. So apparently it's about these two orphans named Black and White, who make up a gang called the cats who run the city of treasure island. With that I thought it was unconvincing that just two kids could be so dangerous, but when we get into the jumping scenes it's not all completely unbelievable, and it happens right away so that's good. Another thing to note is the animation style, it's definitely different from most anime's I've seen, luckily it's not the detriment to the film in anyway, and if anything it adds to it. The themes that this movie tries to convey is what irritates me, for them being so bluntly obvious. The characters names: Black and white, seriously? Your going to the basics of thematic righting? Black being the absence of emotions the chaos if you will, and white the purity the innocence. Even later when Black has a yin-yang on his shirt, they couldn't have made it so blatantly obvious what they're trying to say: that one can't exist without the other. I guess this wouldn't be as bad if I felt for these kids, but they're aren't that interesting. I mean white acts like a special child; which suppose to mean he sees good within the rubble, and Black is so depressing and pathetic. There are moments where I do like them, for instances when they play around and fight those other kids in the beginning of the film, they looked happy and I felt that. The supporting cast is not all that great either, there's a yakuza member who has no real point to having a story arc; although the scene with his boss is really good, which by the way the mob boss is one of the few characters I liked. The cops: pointless, the old man: why? That purple guy named snake: well he was essentially to the plot and his minions were cool in action. Finally the scene with the demon black is really pretentious, I mean it an evil inside him; hasn't that become a cliché long before this movie? Talking to Black about how he'd be so much better without white, and I already know how's this is going to end so it's watch watching at this point, and then it finally ends somehow with the two at the beach like White always wanted. So overall, this is an average anime film, but a not so great film in general. Please note I wanted to like this film; and I do to an extent, but the overall obvious thematic elements and lack of interesting characters makes this not anything special.

This movie is quite something, I didn't know what to expect when i bought the DVD online, But i did make the mistake of allowing my 8 year old little sister to watch it with me without first watching the movie myself, Not that she didn't enjoy it but some scenes were inappropriate with sexual references, Gore and Disturbing Scenes. But luckily she was too young to understand most of it. (the UK age rating is 12 but i would disagree and bump it up to a 15)Anyway, This movie was quite a beautiful movie, with stunning scenes which are very detailed, The English Dub is surprisingly great (Most dubbed anime tend to be quite bad) The music is beautiful, So beautiful in fact, that i felt compelled to buy the soundtrack. The story is Gripping and Emotional and sometimes a bit confusing but once you think about it then you get to understand it easy. The characters are very likable (especially the younger brother, White) The animation style is unusual but it has a certain "je ne sais quoi" =DAll in all this is a very attractive movie and a Moving one too, every time i see it i really feel emotion and at one part (you will see when you see it)it actually makes me well up with tears.I highly recommend this to everyone over the age of 12 (but i suggest parents to watch it before letting your children watch it XD)

What is fascinating about Japanese anime is that it's something even adults can enjoy. Among them, Tekkon kinkurîto is a high-quality film with a well polished finish in terms of philosophical and inner psychological depth.Tekkon kinkurîto was originally serialised by Taiyo Matsumoto in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits between 1993 and 1994, and was made into a film in 2006 by Michael Arias, the same producer of "The Animatrix" (2003). The title, Tekkon kinkurîto, is derived from the author's personal experience of not being able to pronounce "Tekkin konkurito" (reinforce concrete) as a child but he said "Tekkon kinkurito" instead.An orphan as well as a street kid, Black (Kuro), lives almost like a homeless person, using violence as one of his means for livelihood. He also lives together with a younger, brother-like kid, White (Shiro), in a broken car as their home. White always wears funny clothes, and looks a little mentally retarded, but he is also a good fighting supporter for Black. The two, together known as "Neko (Cat)", Black and White can fly around like a cat in a town called "Treasure Town (Takaramachi)".Black is smart, physically strong, and good in fights, but shows his mental weakness occasionally, and he can only live as his true self, attaining hope using violence and protecting his buddy, White. White is innocent, strong, and sometimes shows a grown-up face. It looks like he portrays himself as a sensitive child who sees the world through a lens called "innocence". The two are anchored together, missing the pieces of each other down by protecting one another, connected like a shadow and light.Treasure land is an imaginary town, modelled after Osaka, Japan, where it is portrayed as a nostalgic old town with heart-warming people. However, this retrospective town is being corrupted by local yakuza joining up with a new entrant corporation, scheming to open up a new leisure town by demolishing Treasure Town, and with these emotionless killers, a restlessness envelops the town.Each one calls Treasure Town "My town", where Black struggles to save the town through his violence and his unique viewpoint whilst leaving White behind for his own safety.Black and White, people who love the good old days and who want to create a new era, darkness and light, and quietness and violence. Through various two-sided lenses, audience will see each characters' value. Anime also exists to take you back to a half-remembered mind you are missing as an adult. Wonderful!

I saw two films here. One i cared about, and another one that made me bore.the city:there are strong visual ideas behind the good Japanese animations. This is a feature that has two sources, according to my interpretation: one is very notion of image int art and Japanese culture. Japanese art produces now and for many centuries before images which are as complex as pleasant, they have abstract concepts, but they are visceral in the way they touch the viewer. So, art in Japan (when really good, and really Japanese) has this double component, of being highly intellectual and highly attached to the public it hits, no matter where that public comes from. That's why it's been relatively easy the process of turning Japanese culture into an universal matter (at least the 'image'(s) of the Japanese culture). The thing that amazes me is how quite different Japanese creators from different areas and different forms of expression tend to be highly coherent between them, even if not directly related. The other source comes from a certain form of expression which, once, cinema explored. i'm talking about expressionism, and the direct influence that the German films from the 20' had in so many creations afterwards. Metropolis might be the most visible face of this influence, but films like Der Golem have today still a strong impact. This film is basically a product of these two (main) influences. We have a city, which is magnificent, coloured but dark (and, as the two main characters, 'black' and 'white'). This city is worth exploring. It's powerful, and it's visual. It's visual in a false two dimensional perspective. That's because the images are more based in texture, color, and framing, than on 3d distances, point of view or perspective. So it has more of Metropolis than of Blade Runner. But it is false because the Japanese are very strong in reducing the means without loosing content. Which is to say, the deepness is all there, even though the image is apparently flat. So, this is a city worth visiting, and, no doubt, the strongest point in this film.storyline:this was, on the other hand, quite disappointing. It made me bored to follow the threads here. Black and White, the film revolves around the connection between them, and we have some other lines to follow around. The old moral gangster, his almost-sun who is forced to kill him, and the superior forces (those who live on the sphere above everything. The concept was quite simple, a kind of ying-yang (as in fact is shown along the story in the shirt of our Black), trying to understand how opposites get attracted (and repulsed) and how the bounding between those opposites creates a 'perfect' relation. But there was too much noise. The kind of 'noisy silence', 'dark coloured' city we had, is totally gone in what concerns narrative devices and storyline. There is only one point of interest, because it's visual and worked with the possibilities of the medium. The visions of White, which he draws, become often animations, with a totally different expression from the rest, allowing us to take it as something really drawn by hand. Those were powerful moments. But the rest wasn't pleasing or interesting to follow, and in the final minutes, the whole thing falls apart, precisely when the city is gone of our site, and the whole graphic expression changes into something that doesn't fit.My opinion: 3/5, check it for the city...http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com