REVIEW: Appleseed: Ex Machina

NEW YORK, March 8 — Appleseed: Ex Machina is the latest sequel to the popular Appleseed franchise. I had the opportunity to view the limited theatrical release of the film at the Independent Film Center (IFC) Center (323 Sixth Avenue). The IFC Center only showed two midnight screenings of Appleseed: Ex Machina on Friday (March 7) and Saturday (March 8). I attended the Friday midnight showing with a couple of my otaku friends.

After the screening, I walked out of the small theater with mixed feelings about the film. It seemed pretty standard for the 3D anime genre (Appleseed and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children). The action and special effects scenes were amazing, but the computerized acting was stiff and unimpressive.


In terms of hardcore actions, Appleseed: Ex Machina does deliver the high intensity action scenes. Deunan’s firefights were completely adrenaline pumping. She would leap headlong into combat with guns blazing. The most energetic points of the action would be accompanied by slow motion. During the first few action scenes, the acrobatic gunplay and slow motion seemed very John Woo, but I felt something missing. I said to myself, "this film needs some white birds to fly across the frame in order to make it a Woo film." At about midway point through the film, Briareos had an amazing aerial fight scene and white doves fly across the screen several times. I almost shouted, "that's the Woo".

The character development and dialogue were very rough. The digital characters looked like lifeless dolls trying to act. The dialogue sequences seemed closer to puppeteering than live action acting. The humor was also a little forced. For example, the film had small comedic moments between the main characters, but the CGI expressions and physical acting failed to carry the jokes. The film was littered with these failed joke deliveries. In its defense, very few 3D animated films can capture the flow and grace of live action acting.


In a technical sense, there are a few visual improvements in the movie. The 3D skins were amazing. The textured clothing skins were very tactile. The leather materials looked like leather. The lighting was a huge improvement over the 2004 Appleseed film. Shinji Aramaki tried to implement a softer natural light instead of stark lighting in the previous Appleseed movie. They also greatly improved the cell shading used on the 3D models.

On another note, this film is stacked with a lot of talented creators. Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed and Metal Skin Panic: MADOX-01) directed, and John Woo (A Better Tomorrow and A Better Tomorrow III) produced. Masaki Yamada (Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy) did the character designs. They also managed to get Atsushi Takeuchi (Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, Naruto: Konoha Sports Festival, and Patlabor 2: The Movie) and some members of Production I.G. to do a few sequences and storyboards on the film.



Appleseed: Ex Machina - Trailer

Overall, Appleseed: Ex Machina was a very exciting and enjoyable film with some minor problems. If you want to just strap into a seat and enjoy an action packed ride, this is the movie for you. Most otaku will enjoy the amazing action and computerized sets. It was a feast for the eyes.

The official Appleseed: Ex Machina DVD release date is March 11, 2008. The movie will be available in both standard DVD and Blu-ray DVD formats.

Related Links:

• Appleseed: Ex Machina Official Site (in Japanese)
  
• SEGA's Appleseed: Ex Machina Official Site (in Japanese)
  
• Appleseed Ex Machina DVD - Warner Brothers Home Video
  
• ANN: Appleseed: Ex Machina
  
• Wikipedia: Appleseed Manga
  
• Wikipedia: Masamune Shirow
  

Exhibition: Helen Cho's "Ideal and Emergence"

NEW YORK, February 23 — On a gloom and cold Saturday night, I attend the opening of Helen Cho's "Ideal and Emergence" gallery show at the Derek Eller Gallery (615 West 27th Street). Cho is a Korean born Canadian artist who lives and works in Berlin. Her work is main illustrative with noticeable influences from both modern American pop culture and tradition European fine art traditions.


"Ideal and Emergence" exhibition was mainly populated by her ink on leatherette works. They make references to movies such as Gorillas in the Mist (1988) and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). They are displays of highly refined technical skills with line art. The precision and quality of her work are remarkable. Most of the leatherette pieces were monochromatic. The inks were all black, and the canvases were pale beige colored leatherettes with a slight hint of pink. Cho selectively added the red highlights to some pieces to break up the monochrome rhythm in her show. It also added a bit of flair.

In a back room, the Derek Eller Gallery also displayed two larger computer generated works by Alyson Shotz. They were full color symmetrical compositions of flower arrangements. They look like center pieces for a wedding. The computer generated colors and tones are very stiff and cold, which is very typical with Western printing standards.

As for the gallery opening, crowd was packed with a young hip New York crowd. The exhibition had a heavy turn out, and the space was crowded. I was initially impressed by the size and energy of the crowd. After I walked around the gallery for a bit, I found a huge ice bin of cold beer at the front of the gallery. Maybe, this had something to do with the large crowds.

Related Links:

• Derek Eller Gallery
  

Happyfunsmile Unplugged

NEW YORK, February 19 — On an extremely windy night, I went searching for the Aruba Bar Lounge (100 Park Avenue) in order to attend a Happyfunsmile performance. The bar was a hidden side room in the Peking Park Restaurant.


Aruba Bar Lounge had a strange atmosphere. The place was much smaller than the Forbidden City Bar and Lounge, Happyfunsmile’s home bar. It was also very darkly lit except for the stage area. The stage lights consisted of a strange mix of candy red and yellow-orange hues. The stage light gave the whole room a reddish glow.

Aruba Bar Lounge was a tiny room with a huge horseshoe shaped bar in the center. It was strangely cramped. The bar occupied most of the room, and the seating area was thin strip between the bar and the wall. This made it difficult to walk around the bar. The customers were literally up against the walls. The bartenders had a huge work space.

I quickly found a seat at the bar and ordered a few drinks. I started looking for the band. I couldn’t find any colorful wigs or Japanese Happi coats, which have become distinct parts of a Happyfunsmile performance. After a few minutes, I took a closer look around the bar and began to recognize Brian Nishii, Rodrigo Morimoto, Akiko Hiroshima, and Kaori Ibuki. They were dressed in their normal casual street attire. I barely recognized any of the band members without their bright outfits and neon colored wigs. Happyfunsmile decided to perform a stripped down show.

The stage area was extremely small. Only a handful of band members could fit in the stage area at one time. The rest of the band hung out at the bar. The musicians had to rotate every couple of songs throughout the night. Happyfunsmile performed some amazing acoustic versions of their songs.


At one point, Brian and Rodrigo took the stage to sing a duet. Brian tried his impression of Michael Jackson a la "Smooth Criminal", while Rodrigo went into his suave crooner mode. They sang a few tunes together. During the set, Akiko and Kaori sat behind me at the bar, and they began to sing background vocals. At first, I was a little surprised at the voices coming from behind my barstool. The main band played in front of the bar, and Akiko and Kaori sang behind my chair. It created a weird surround sound effect around my seat.

The whole night was very strange. The oversized bar, the tiny room, the strange lighting, the stripped down performance, and the surround sound effects combined to create a surreal experience. The whole scene was straight out of a David Lynch film.

Related Links:

• Happyfunsmile - Official Website
  
• Happyfunsmile - Myspace
  
• Aruba Bar Lounge

Exhibition: We Make Our Art Our Life, We Make Our Life Our Art

Sakoto (left) and Terumi Yamamoto (right)
NEW YORK, February 15 — Sakoto and Terumi Yamamoto, two amazing Japanese artists, held a joint exhibition at Harlem’s Tribal Spears café lounge (2167 Frederick Douglass Blvd). The show was called "We Make Our Art Our Life, We Make Our Life Our Art". It consisted of individual works and combined collaborative pieces. All of the pieces were created in Japan, and they were shipped to New York on Tuesday. Yoko Myoi, a noted puppeteer and performance artist, was the curator of the exhibition.


"Memory" by Sakoto and Terumi Yamamoto
I met both artists at the gallery opening, and they were very polite. They did not speak English, and my Japanese is vulgar at best. Yoko politely translated for us, and I got acquainted with these extraordinary artists.


Relief Sculpture by Sakoto
Sakoto is a trained sculptor and ceramicist whose work was stunningly beautiful. Her pieces were ceramic relief sculptures with metallic and glazed highlights. The western influence in Sakoto's work was clearly evident. Her careful ornamentation can easily be compared to Romanesque relief sculptures from the beginning of the 10th century. However, the tone and touch of the artists seems uniquely Japanese. The careful line and the triangular compositions stem from a primarily East Asian culture.


"In and Out" by Terumi Yamamoto
Terumi Yamamoto is an avant-garde calligrapher. Her work was very close to 1960s Minimalist painting in spirit and form. Her brush stroke had the elements of Chinese/Japanese calligraphy, but her forms were not restricted to traditional Kanji. She utilized large sweeping organic shapes, and the simple black and white composition was striking. Yamamoto used contrast and space like Jasper Johns. I found her work to be absolutely amazing.

During the gallery opening, there were several performances. There was live music and a puppet show. However, the real treat of the evening was Yamamoto's live performance of her calligraphy. She had paper and ink set-up on the floor of the gallery, and she took requests for Kanji. The audience shouted requests, and Yamamoto painted live pieces of calligraphy. For many artists, their creative process is very personal and intimate. It was brave of Yamamoto to share her process with the audience, and I was honored to be apart of it.


Terumi Yamamoto performing live calligraphy
It was a great evening with amazingly creative people. Sakoto and Yamamoto had a successful gallery opening. Yoko Myoi did an amazing job with the gallery show.

Related Links:

• TRIBAL SPEARS and GRASYA presents "We Make Our Art Our Life, We Make Our Life Our Art"
  
• Sakoto
  
• Terumi Yamamoto

Tibet House Benefit Concert 2008: Celebrating the Year of the Earth Rat

NEW YORK, February 13 — On a wet and gloomy night, I attended the annual Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall (West 57th Street and 7th Avenues). The concert benefits several charities such as The Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey, Batonga, and Farm Aid.

This year’s concert was a little bit more somber than previous years. The absence of Patti Smith, a regular performer for the Tibet House Benefit, was apparent. In previous years, she brought the raw punk energy to the benefit. She did not play this year, and I missed her presence.

The performers included: Philip Glass, Ray Davies, Band of Horses, Nawang Khechog, Ashley MacIsaac, Marisa Monte, Drepung Gomang Monks, and others.

There were some good performances. The highlights included performances by Ashley MacIsaac, Nawang Khechog, and Ray Davies.

The first high point was delivered by a Canadian fiddler, Ashley MacIsaac. MacIsaac’s performance was filled with high energy. His instrumental music, a mixture of Irish folk and pop, was a hit with the crowd. His fiddling was very percussive, and it quickly energized the concert hall. As his tempo picked up, MacIsaac started a mean Irish jig, and the crowd went into a roar.

The next notable performance was given by Nawang Khechog. I’ve seen Khechog several times, and he never disappoints. He was exceptional tonight. On his second song, Khechog collaborated with the drummer to produce an amazing composition of percussion and horn. He played the Tibetan Ceremonial long horn with grace and mastery. He is a uniquely talented musician.

The benefit ended with a powerful set by Ray Davies, formerly of the Kinks. His set included hits like "Lola". Davies closed the benefit with "All the Day and All of the Night". As he rocked out, Carnegie Hall was electrified and the audience roared out of their seats. He rocked it hard, and the audience loved it.

Related Links:

• Tibet House
  
• Carnegie Hall