As Good As It Gets

Absolutely brilliant

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Why you should see it, in a nutshell: Superb art, superb storytelling and superb message. Will take your tears and give you a new breathe of animation. From the very first scenes, you will be immediately charmed by the intricacy of the Japan alleyways, outlandish buildings and yes, store signs. Yet contrast with such detailed backdrop is the simplicity of the characters' delineation. But don't be deceived by the seemingly effortless art style, the characters' movements are incredibly vivacious, flexible and spirited. After a while, I was wondering how a few lines could be that animated. Visual theme 10/10 The plot surrounds the battle of two brothers, Black and White (Kuro and Shiro, originally) against the maleficent undercurrent of Yakuzas, aspiring to take over Treasure Town. But the film does not stop simply at being a predictable hero movie. In every flashing image you will see, it will unfold another aspect, another side of a character and raise the question about modern life morals, through a somewhat bizarre and dark storytelling.Tekkon Kinkreet is, by all means, a beautiful story about love. There are bloodshed fights, disturbing expressions, dark scenes and all, but after all, it will make your faith in humanity restored. The story of our two urchins, it reveals the ongoing battle of one between the good and the dark side. It is a universal inner battle and you have to have something to believe in. In Tekkon Kinkreet, it is love.Love appears in the benevolent side of Kimura, the just-got-a-pink- slip Yakuza. One of my favorite scenes is in Kimura's house, specifically on his bed. He complains about his wife's smoking habit, with a very caring tone. Then it diverts to the overview of the room. Hanging underwear, worn out furniture, moldy ceiling, you can see them in any tenement in our today world. It makes the story more credible and genuine. And the rest of the characters, each has a unique story to tell.It is such a shame that Tekkon Kinkreet is rated so low on many sites. But oh well, I like it and sure I did draw something out of it. So maybe you will, too.

I absolutely loved the aesthetics, it's as rich as looking at some Bruegel the Elder's paints. In fact it's even so rich it would need a life watching it to see everything. And it's sometimes so realistic you wonder if they used inlaying of photos. As for the story I was about to say it is a bit too Manichean to my taste but in fact I am a bit harsh here. As highlighted a friend, some characters are not. It's just that one of the two principal characters is shifting from his dark side to a better one, without giving you the feeling the reality is more complex than this. And above all this kind of story where the hero is fighting himself to become better has something of religiously moral annoying me. Though here he managed to do it thanks to brotherhood, which is a nice reminder that the self and ethics are both something highly socially constructed.

I wasn't very captured by the movie. The story sounded so promising. I even watched it despite the fact that I hated the art. I am a huge anime fan, and it just didn't do it for me. The relationship between Black and White was awesome, but I fell asleep because I found it so boring. I even watched the rest of it despite already not liking it. Even the art style has it's ups and downs... for something that I hated the art style for, it was animated very well. I did enjoy the colouring, and I loved the backgrounds. I suppose if you were to watch an anime for the colors and backgrounds, this would be a good one to pick.Oh well. It's not for everybody, or maybe even just me because my friend loved this movie to no end. (It's gonna be his birthday present.. :P )

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