Avalon (2001)

Director:

Mamoru Oshii

Writer:

Kazunori Itô

Release Date:

20 January 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Dare to enter a world of future videogames

Plot:

In a future world, young people are increasingly becoming addicted to an illegal (and potentially deadly) battle simulation game called Avalon...

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Winning | Battle | Warrior | Near Future

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Malgorzata Foremniak	...	Ash
Wladyslaw Kowalski	...	Game Master
Jerzy Gudejko	...	Murphy
Dariusz Biskupski	...	Bishop
Bartlomiej Swiderski	...	Stunner (as Bartek Swiderski)
Katarzyna Bargielowska	...	Receptionist
Alicja Sapryk	...	Gill
Michal Breitenwald	...	Murphy of Nine Sisters
Zuzanna Kasz	...	Ghost
Adam Szyszkowski	...	Player A
Krzysztof Szczerbinski	...	Player B (as Krszysztof Szczerbinski)
Marek Stawinski	...	Player C
Jaroslaw Budnik	...	Cooper (voice)
Andrzej Debski	...	Cusinart (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Elzbieta Towarnicka	...	Soloist at Philharmonic
Zdzislaw Szymborski	...	Man at Philharmonic (uncredited)

Directed by
Mamoru Oshii

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kazunori Itô

Produced by
Takehiko Chino	....	associate producer
Ryoichi Fukuyama	....	associate producer
Kazumi Kawashiro	....	co-producer
Tetsu Kayama	....	executive producer
Shinji Komori	....	associate producer
Atsushi Kubo	....	producer
Takenari Maeda	....	associate producer
Yasuki Miki	....	associate producer
Katsuharu Nagata	....	associate producer
Katsuhiro Ogawa	....	assistant producer
Naoyuki Sakagami	....	executive producer
Toru Shiobara	....	executive producer
Nobuyuki Tohya	....	associate producer
Shin Unozawa	....	co-producer
Shigeru Watanabe	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Kenji Kawai

Cinematography by
Grzegorz Kedzierski

Film Editing by
Hiroshi Okuda

Production Design by
Barbara Nowak
Takashi Watabe

Costume Design by
Magdalena Biernawska-Teslawska		(as Magdalena Teslawska)

Production Management
Masato Araki	....	production manager
Janusz B. Czech	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Makoto Kamiya	....	special assistant director
Isao Kaneko	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Hiroyuki Hayashi	....	digital art director
Yoshihisa Kato	....	imageboard designer
Tom Miller	....	property master
Tanake Watabe	....	art designer
Waldemar Weiss	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Shuji Inoue	....	sound designer
Tom Myers	....	sound designer
Tom Myers	....	sound re-recording mixer
Randy Thom	....	sound designer
Randy Thom	....	sound re-recording mixer
Kazuhiro Wakabayashi	....	sound director
Stuart McCowan	....	assistant sound designer (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Nobuaki Koga	....	visual effects supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Piotr Obloza	....	gaffer

Animation Department
Atsushi Takeuchi	....	mechanical designer

Editorial Department
Reiko Saitoh	....	assistant to editor

Music Department
Tomoyuki Asakawa	....	musician
Tom Boyd	....	musician: oboe soloist
Kenji Kawai	....	music arranger
Kenji Kawai	....	music producer
Kenji Kawai	....	synthesizers/percussion
Shigeru Otake	....	music coordinator
Jerzy Swoboda	....	conductor
Elzbieta Towarnicka	....	musician: soprano

Other crew
Seiichi Tanaka	....	title designer: main titles
Kazue Yoneda	....	production assistant
Akiko Yukawa	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Deiz Production
• Bandai Visual Company (presenters)
• Media Factory (presenters)
• Dentsu Productions Ltd. (presenters)
• Nippon Herald Films (presenters)

Distributors

• A-Film Distribution (2002) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Monopole-Pathé (2002) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (200?) (Netherlands) (video)
• Blue Dolphin Film Distribution
• Buena Vista Home Video
• Central Partnership (Russia)
• Cinévia Films
• Des Films (France) (DVD)
• Herald Film Company (Japan)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (Germany)
• Madman Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (all media)
• Miramax Films (USA) (subtitled)
• One Movie (2006) (Italy) (all media)
• SBP (Argentina) (DVD)
• SBP (Argentina) (VHS)
• StudioCanal (France) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Motor/lieZ
• Omnibus Japan
• SpFX Studio
• deiz

Other Companies

• Chór Filharmonii Narodowej  group cast members: choir (as Warsaw Philharmonic Choir)
• Daybreak  music coordination
• Filharmonia Narodowa  filmed at
• Orkiestra Symfoniczna Filharmonii Narodowej  group cast members: orchestra (as Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra)
• Skywalker Sound  post-production sound services
• Teru Uchida Strings  orchestra (strings)
• Warsaw Philharmonic Chorus  choir
• Warsaw Philharmonic Hall  music recorded at
• Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra  orchestra

Also Known As:

"Gate to Avalon" - Hong Kong (English title) (video box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

Japan | Poland

Language:

Polish

Color:

Color | Black and White (Sepiatone)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Canada:PG | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:R | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Italy:T | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Filharmonia Narodowa, Jasna, Sródmiescie, Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland

Company:

Deiz Production

Trivia:

The Orchestra seen at the end of the movie is the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, who along with the Tokyo Pop Orchestra performed the score of the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ash starts searching for The Nine Sisters, she enters some keywords and the results show up on the monitor of her computer. However, the reflection on her glasses doesn't match what happens on her screen.

Quotes:

Murphy:Have you ever been shot? Do you want to feel real pain in a real body?
Ash:Does it have to be this way?
Murphy:When one of us dies and that body doesn't vanish, the other one will know.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Assault Girls (2009)

hard but worth the effort

Avalon can be seen as part of a trilogy, the first installment of which would be Ghost in the Shell, the last, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence. Avalon contains many direct references to Ghost in the Shell, and shares a lot of its motif of philosophical search for the self. They also share the cyberpunk imagery, and the fact that the main heroine is an impassive female warrior. I mention all this because I think it's inadvisable to watch Avalon if you haven't watched Ghost in the Shell (and pondered on it a bit). Avalon can be extremely heavy at times. This movie does not make you think; watching Avalon is like trying to decipher a zen poem, which I think can be done, but not through intellectual decoding.

In Avalon, a lone hunter in a virtual reality game shares her life with a basset dog, and all her activities seem to be centered around getting better in the illegal, dangerous game and getting food the dog with the money she earns there. The game is illegal because you can die playing it; "really" die in the concrete, bleak urban world that Ash, the main hero, lives every day. However, apart from the possibility of virtual death, the game offers a secret - the highest level, Avalon. The legendary Avalon is the "Isle of the Blessed", where King Arthur lies in eternal sleep. In the movie, it is a mystery, which haunts Ash ever since the deaths of her last player team.

The search for Avalon is depicted in the most beautiful cinematography. The plot is very symbolic and should be considered so; the search for the gate to Avalon can mean many things, and the nature of the quest changes as Ash is getting closer. However, like Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, the movie is heavy and long, and the characters engage in philosophical discussion every time they can. With all its beautiful cinematography, interesting acting (very automaton-like, but intentionally so), and a set of intriguing philosophical questions, this movie suffers from heavy-handed imagery and symbols, sometimes. Hard science fiction pushes the science as far as possible; Avalon is an example of hard cyberpunk, where the confines of the conceptual world dreamed up by the director are explored fully and unremittingly.

If you are ready to take a film not as only entertainment, but also a challenge to your thinking power, Avalon, like all Oshii's movies, is a thrill. However, beautiful, intellectually rewarding science fiction does not have to be longish and heavy, as Avalon is at times. Watch Ghost in the Shell before it, watch Ghost in the Shell: Innocence after it, and approach this movie at your most relaxed, for it to be a rewarding rewarding experience; it can wear you down, otherwise.

One more thing: if you're Polish, watch the Japanese dub with English subtitles. The Polish lines were translated literally from the Japanese, and they are very often almost gibberish (and the Japanese voice-acting is better, too). Also, do not let the fact that the movie's virtual world seems to be set in your local K-mart detract from your watching experience.