Simon Tomlinson's Rating and Review:

Director - Mamoru Oshii
Starring - Malgorzata Foremniak, Jerzy Gudejko and Bartek Swiderski

Avalon is the legendary island where the souls of departed heroes come to rest.

In the near future bored and disillusioned young people take to playing a virtual reality war game. The game is called ‘Avalon’. Some players form gangs known as parties, to assist each other gain more experience points. They can even make a living from the game. The most famous of these parties is 'Wizard' who dissolved for unknown reasons. The game does have its dangers though; sometimes it can leave a player brain dead needing constant medical care. These victims are known as ‘Unreturned’.

Ash once a member of Wizard is now one of the leading solo warriorss inside Avalon. Her life revolves around the game and she spends little time with anything else. After playing the game one day she bumps into Stunner. A former member of Wizard, he tells Ash that Murphy another member of Wizard had become unreturned. Stunner explains to her that Murphy had gone after a hidden mission in Avalon known as ‘Special A’, his search was also his downfall when he became unreturned.

Ash begins to seek out the truths of Avalon and learns of a hidden character in the game, ‘The Ghost’. The ghost is a silent young girl who is the only pathway to Special A, but it is said anyone who goes after her never returns. Undeterred Ash realises in order to confront the ghost and access Special A she must form a new party, but the wheels of this have already been set in motion.

Mamoru Oshii better known for his work on ‘Ghost in the shell’ has worked a minor miracle with this title, blending live action with CG animation to great effect. The camerawork is all very tinted to offer a sort of surreal texture to the film, this all works very well as the film unfolds, but initially it’s a bit disturbing. The music also plays a major part in the film, with Kenji Kawai’s subtle score adding to the tense atmospherics. The story is one of intrigue and deception and is extremely well scripted. Malgorzata Foremniak plays the enigmatic Ash with great passion and genuinely deserved the lead role in this title. The rest of the cast whilst playing their parts well are never really focussed upon, making sure our attention stays with Ash. Some comparisons can also be drawn with the US film ‘The Matrix’ both with certain plot elements relating to the reality scenario and also in some cases with the actual visuals and background scenery, but don’t worry the emphasis here is on story and not action.

I personally found Avalon to be an intelligent and thought provoking title with a highly polished veneer. Everything in the film is integral to the plot from the score to the dark visuals and they are all combined perfectly.