Avalon (2001)

Director:

Mamoru Oshii

Writer:

Kazunori Itô

Release Date:

20 January 2001 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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 | Near Future | Battle | Warrior | Winning

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:
Zdzislaw Szymborski	...	Man at Philharmonic (uncredited)
Elzbieta Towarnicka	...	Soloist 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)
• Studio Canal (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:

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

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:

Ash:You're not ready yet for class A, you still have a lot of work to do in class C and B.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Assault Girls (2009)

Otherworldy and Beautiful, but not for all.

Avalon is a beautiful movie, but not for everyone. If you mainly like action or fast-paced movies you may be turned off by some of the slow scenes during the movie. Avalon has action though, and explosions galore. Some of the story is a little ridiculous and hard to follow, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing at all.

This is the only film I know of that was a co-production of both Japan and Poland. Directed by Mamoru Oshii, but filmed mostly in Poland and in the native Polish language.

While watching this movie you get a feeling of a very unique quality. It was filmed (or altered in post) to resemble an old Sepia toned film, but still with the high-resolution of today's film standard. This adds a very bleak and depressive visual style to much of the movie. That's a good thing, because this is not a happy movie in the least.

Avalon relies heavily on CGI throughout the movie, due to the "cyber game world" that the movie is largely dealing with. Much of the CGI effects are quite interesting to watch. You can often tell they are CGI effects, but it's obvious that it's a computer dominating world with players inside it.

Another effective element to the film was the excellent music score by Kenji Kawai. This has to be one of the most beautiful and engaging film scores I've heard in a long time. It ranges through many different forms, even to the operatic. Very layered and complex, yet easy on the ears. Recorded with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, tons of people played the various musical instruments in the recording of the score, according to the end credits. I would compare it in a sense to Christopher Young's otherworldly and haunting score for the first two Hellraiser films. It's a shame that the soundtrack to Avalon is currently only available as an expensive import CD.

Even if you dislike the film, you must watch it once just for the amazing music...it really is that good.