Reviews by:
@theplokoonyreview
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Angels Egg plays out like an abstract art gallery, not even for a second does it conform to a traditional or even logical narrative. It doesn’t bother itself with character and plot development, everything is done for the sake of creating symbolism and putting forward stunning frames of animation. It’s a different type of presentation, providing no answers to the cryptic questions posed for the world
and characters, yet the precision and purposefulness within its delivery make it feel significant. The movie may seem like a self indulgent, drawn out and disengaging slob to some, but I see it more as humble in its presentation, it doesn’t want to force a single interpretation on the viewer so it stays open ended, while still pertaining its significance through the introspective qualities of the dialogue and purposefulness within the artistic decisions. Something that cannot go overlooked is the beautiful animation. It’s easily comparable to an abstract painting, not only because it’s highly interpretative but also because every frame of this movie has the artistic and symbolic qualities akin to one. However, this isn’t a happy painting, the world is enveloped in a never ending and empty darkness while the hauntingly gothic towns are devoid of any warm colours and life. It delivers a feeling of isolation, in fact there are roughly 20 minutes dedicated to watching the girl carry an egg around the city. These 20 minute develop the colourless world, while displaying her attachment and reliance on the egg entirely through these nightmarish visuals. This movie may feel directionless, but over its runtime both the questions surrounding the world and egg are given multiple possible interpretations. This segment gives time to let both of these elements sink deep into the audiences mind, so when these elements are twisted and changed to further the symbolic qualities of the film, the audience can better understand what’s happening and lead them to their own understanding of it. This movie creates a universally understandable portrait that conveys all the emotions it wants to deliver, but then so much subtle,
seemingly disconnected and impossibly cryptic symbolism is created within these confines that it creates for a completely interpretative work that is fun to think about since all the pieces are evidently present, but putting them together is something the audience needs to do for themselves. The characters act more as vessels which audience explores the world and symbolism through, but they’re still incredibly well handled for an interpretative piece. Of course, traditional characterization is thrown out with the trash, this is a movie where it’s actually a benefit to have characters who aren’t grounded at all. It’s like watching what I would imagine 2 gods interacting, higher beings with higher purposes that don’t feel any need to explain themselves or their actions.
As for their actions, they can be slightly traced back to their minimal personalities, but that’s not what makes them so fascinating to interpret. It’s the actions themselves, these actions are built up to be essential to the character, but how they’re essential to the character isn’t for the show to explain. So many shows and movies want their characters to sound mysterious, but often it’s too obviously written and the lack of subtly in the writing makes the mysterious characters a bit too straightforward as a result. Angel Eggs on the other hand is a very personal piece, the writer wants to deliver his personal turmoils through these characters, however he does this in a very unorthodox way. Their stripped
of any relatability as they quietly walk through the world they’re in, then precisely and purposefully speak their minds in a way that only makes sense to themselves.
The sound design is also incredibly noticeable, the orchestra absolutely booms, testing the capabilities of the stereo system being used. Maybe it was just the version I watched, but sometimes I even got surprised by the quick and sharp sound of the violins and piano. This is only some of the ost however, some pieces have a mystically ominous tone accomplished by a dramatically haunting choir filled with a sense of dread, with string instruments matching the dramatic quality. It’ll sometimes even linger off into silence just to come back, joined once again with the choir. This fit incredibly well with gothic architecture and dark colour palette, the sense of dread and emptiness the world gives off synchronizes with the soundtrack to make the atmosphere all the more potent. The last piece of noticeable music was much more reflective and laid back, it still utilized the ever-so talented choir but the focus switches to the piano, with the choir and chimes fading in and out. The piano itself has a very simple cord, but this cord matched perfectly with the characters as they walk through the deserted
city. It was much more meditative than the rest, while there’s a meek but noticeable twang at the end to it. It makes it feel like something is wrong, but at the same time it also sounds beautifully melancholic. It provokes a sense of dread, but also a peacefully meditative quality due to the softness of the notes.
There’s a few random negatives had. First off, the soundtrack is almost a masterpiece but sometimes felt unnecessarily loud, hurting the movie since it seemed like it was trying to put emphasis on something. It didn’t fit with the melancholic atmosphere, this movie seems to want to be a completely interpretative experience and the increasing sound of the music disrupts methodical mindset you need to be in to enjoy the movie. It also brought a sense of urgency to the slow pace created, contradicting itself and at times forcing me out of the immersion.
Also, this movie can get repetitive, but there’s a reason behind it and it isn’t as big of a problem as I thought it would be. While it’s playing, a lot of symbolism shown doesn’t make sense, it’s all dragged out as a testament to characters or its symbolism, which is artistically interesting but as far as entertainment value, it gets tedious. However, when the movie ends with a big symbolically significant
twist and the distant, eerie landscape fades into black, I realized something. It’s incredibly thoughtful, all the symbolically significant events are drawn out whileb eing accompanied by mesmerizing visuals. These aren’t easy to forget, and trying to piece them together to understand what it all means was a fascinating task, being too cryptic to completely make sense of it but leaving enough hints and allusions that there was evidently something beneath it all. This movie may improve on a rewatch, but as for this initial experience the entertainment rating will come down since it did test my patience. Angels Egg is unlike anything I’ve seen so it’s difficult to put a rating on it, in fact since this is my first experience with this type of film I might end heavily under or overrating it. With all that being said, this movie stuck with me. It’s a delicate yet incredibly well maintained interpretative piece. It doesn’t ask much from the audience, but what it has to offer is immense due to how confusingly, yet refreshingly open ended it is. It’s inaccessible by design, making it hard to engage in fully. However, through this it also becomes an incredibly thought provoking experiences, thinking about how all the cryptic yet intentional artistic decisions fit together is fascinating.
Entertainment rating: 7/10
Critical rating: 9/10
Final rating: 8.5/10
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