NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Avalon (2001 film)

Avalon (アヴァロン, avaron) is a Japanese/Polish Science Fiction movie by Japanese filmmaker Mamoru Oshii. It was released in 2001. The name of the film originates from the island Avalon in the legend of King Arthur. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (554x800, 365 KB)[edit] Summary Polish theatrical release poster for Avalon (2001 film). ... Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer Mamoru Oshii (æŠ¼äº•å®ˆ Oshii Mamoru; born August 8, 1951 in Tokyo) is a Japanese animation and live-action film writer and director famous for his philosophy-orietned storytelling. ... Malgorzata Foremniak (born 8 January 1967) is a Polish actress. ... Kenji Kawai (å·äº•æ†²æ¬¡ Kawai Kenji, born April 23, 1957 in Shinagawa, Tokyo) is a Japanese composer with several film scores to his credit. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Poland. ... is the 102nd day of the year (103rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer Mamoru Oshii (æŠ¼äº•å®ˆ Oshii Mamoru; born August 8, 1951 in Tokyo) is a Japanese animation and live-action film writer and director famous for his philosophy-orietned storytelling. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... The Last Sleep of Arthur by Sir Edward Burne-Jones Avalon (probably from the Celtic word abal: apple; see Etymology below) is a legendary island somewhere in the British Isles, famous for its beautiful apples. ... A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting shield wearing Kastenbrust armour (early 15th century) by Peter Vischer, typical of later anachronistic depictions of Arthur. ...

Overview

The film is set in a bleak future, where the population is hooked on an immersive virtual reality video game called Avalon. Despite its popularity the game can be deadly, leaving players' bodies catatonic in the real world. One player of the game, Ash (played by Polish actress Małgorzata Foremniak), hears of a secret level hidden within Avalon. The film follows her quest to find the level. Virtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one. ... Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a universal phenomenon. ... Malgorzata Foremniak (born 8 January 1967) is a Polish actress. ... In computer and video games, a level (sometimes called a stage, course, episode, round, world, map, wave, board, phase, or landscape) is a separate area in a games virtual world, in modern games typically representing a specific location such as a building or a city. ...

The film's colour palette is mainly sepia tones, helping to blur the line between the real world and that within the game itself. Sepia tone is a type of digital photo in which the picture appears similar to a traditional black-and-white print toned with sepia. ...

The film is typically Mamoru Oshii styled in its pacing and editing. It is relatively slow paced, reinforcing the mundane nature of the world Ash lives in and highlighting the excitement of playing the game. The film also features a basset hound, a breed of dog common in Oshii's films, since he has one, named Gabriel (ガブリエル, gaburieru). Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer Mamoru Oshii (æŠ¼äº•å®ˆ Oshii Mamoru; born August 8, 1951 in Tokyo) is a Japanese animation and live-action film writer and director famous for his philosophy-orietned storytelling. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The film's score is by regular Oshii collaborator, Kenji Kawai. A film score is a set of musical compositions written to accompany a film. ... Kenji Kawai (å·äº•æ†²æ¬¡ Kawai Kenji, born April 23, 1957 in Shinagawa, Tokyo) is a Japanese composer with several film scores to his credit. ...

Reception

Even though the film was produced and directed by a Japanese crew, it is a half European-half Asian work since Avalon was co-produced by a Polish film company, starred Polish actors and was filmed mostly in Wrocław, Poland with Polish dialogue. Motto: Miasto spotkaÅ„ (the meeting place) Coordinates: , Country Poland Voivodeship Lower Silesian Powiat city county Gmina WrocÅ‚aw Established 10th century City Rights 1262 Government - Mayor RafaÅ‚ Dutkiewicz Area - City 292. ...

In Europe, Avalon was selected for the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and won awards at other European festivals. It was awarded Best Cinematography at the Catalonian International Film Festival 2001"in Spain. Cannes Film Festival logo. ...

In the United Kingdom, it won the "Best Film" award at the London Sci-Fi Film Festival 2002.

However, the film received only limited release in North America (with most of its fanbase created via the circulation of bootleg DVDs imported from Asia) until Miramax released it on DVD in late 2003. The North American version has added narration to make it easier for Americans to understand the plot; although the option to view the film without the English overdubbing is provided, the subtitles still display the added dialogue. The British region-free DVD has literal English subtitles which explain the King Arthur connection better and does not display added dialogue. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Miramax is a Big Ten film distribution and production company. ... DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 2003 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Such viewer help was not used in European countries, like France, where local editions only feature optional subtitles about the Polish sung opera piece, in the Polish spoken original version only.

Story

In a distant future there is a new form of video game. In a kind of virtual reality, players fight with modern, medieval and fantasy weapons in a world marked by war. Especially in higher levels the spirit of the player may stay inside the game, and the body stays vegetating in hospitals in the real world. Virtual reality (VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one. ...

When Ash gets challenged by a better player, she makes up a team to get to a secret game level named "Special A".

The game

Avalon is a forbidden online game set to virtual reality graphic level. Ingame earned credits can be used in real life as currency. Just like in modern FPS online tournaments seen in North America or in South Korea, semi-professional players get money prizes. Image File history File links Avalon_film_screenshot. ... Image File history File links Avalon_film_screenshot. ...

Oshii describes his game as a "military RPG" (ミリタリーロールプレー, miritarīrōrupurē). However, it mixes elements of Role Playing Game and First Person Shooter (FPS); it borrows from the Wizardry series Oshii played extensively during three years he was unemployed in the 1980s. This article is about games in which one plays the role of a character. ... A first-person shooter (FPS) is a computer or video game where the players on-screen view of the game world simulates that of the character, and there is some element of shooting involved. ... Wizardry is a series of computer role-playing games, developed by Sir-Tech, that were popular in the 1980s. ...

From the RPG genre it borrows the character types such as Fighter, Thief or Bishop, and the level-up system based on experience points and featuring upgradable skills such as Dexterity, Luck or Strength. With the FPS genre it shares the real time fighting mode, including selectable firearms, such as semi-auto pistols (Walther PPK and Mauser C96), sniper rifle (Dragunov SVD) and rocket launcher (RPG-7). With these two genres, it shares the common principle of player hierarchy. In Avalon, players are ranked after three levels, Class C, Class B, Class A. Elite Class A players are rumored to be able to play a hidden extra mode featuring different rules and named Class SA (for "Special A"). The Walther PP series pistols include the Walther PP, PPK, and PPK/S. They are blowback-operated semiautomatic pistols manufactured by Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen in Germany or under license from Walther in France and the United States [1]. These pistols feature an exposed hammer, a double-action trigger mechanism... An National Revolutionary Army soldier with a gas mask and a Mauser M1932. ... The Dragunov (Драгунов) is a Russian sniper rifle, more formally known as the Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova (Снайперская винтовка Драгуно&#1074... An RPG-7 captured by the United States Army. ...

Like in modern real life online games, players can join an informal team, called "party" and play the game as allies. Also, depending on the player's personality, some users would prefer to remain a standalone player, which enhances overall difficulty but, in other hand, preserves independence and a sufficient discretion required for sniping technique. Teammates can have a real time vocal communication through a microphone and share vital information only heard among the party.

To complete levels within the game, players must defeat powerful end-of-level bosses similar to those found in classic video games.

Players wear headsets which immerse their senses in the game world. The design of the headset and chair installation are influenced by the cult French SF short film, La Jetée. SF is a two-letter abbreviation which may refer to: // San Francisco, California, a city with a population of more than 730,000, located on the West Coast of the United States. ... La JetÃ©e (1962) (literally The Jetty) 28-minute science fiction film in black and white by Chris Marker. ...

As an interesting first, this movie features the appearance of lag, a gameplay error due to network transfer slowdown often encountered in online games. Lag is a common term used to describe a symptom often encountered in computing and especially networked systems, where results of actions appear much later than expected. ...

Similar films

The film's concept of a virtual reality world is similar to those in The Matrix, eXistenZ, The Thirteenth Floor and .hack. The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano and Hugo Weaving. ... eXistenZ is a 1999 psychological thriller/science fiction film by Canadian director David Cronenberg. ... Movie Poster The Thirteenth Floor is a 1999 film released to cinemas in Germany and the United States (as The 13th Floor). ... .hack is a Japanese franchise that encompasses two multimedia projects: Project . ...

Similar lines of contemplation on what "reality" truly is appear in very subtle clues. A previous viewing of Ghost in the Shell and its sequel (also by Oshii) would probably give a greater depth to the understanding of this enigmatic film.

Visually, the film is close to titles like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Brazil and the Animatrix anthology's animated short A Detective Story, where somber colors are used and technologically-advanced equipment has anachronistically old-fashioned interfaces. Film poster for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. ... The Animatrix is a collection of nine CG and anime shorts set in the world of The Matrix, partly written by the Wachowski brothers. ... A Detective Story is an animated short film set in the universe of The Matrix. ... An anachronism (from Greek ana, back, and chronos, time) is an artifact that belongs to another time, a person who seems to be displaced in time (i. ...

The sepia tones of the film, and much of the atmosphere and style are reminiscent of Tarkovsky's 1979 film Stalker. Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (Андре́й Арсе́ньевич Тарко́вский) (April 4, 1932 - December 28, 1986) was a Russian movie director, writer, and actor. ... Stalker (Russian: Ð¡Ñ‚Ð°Ð»ÐºÐµÑ€) is a 1979 film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. ...

The films visually closest to Avalon are probably Japanese. The first one is Oshii's 1987 live-action film debut, The Red Spectacles, which has similar sepia tone visuals, an ambiguous dystopian European-style background (à la Dark City), and retro-fiction design and references to La Jetée. The second one is the 2005 short film, Images of the Last Battalion, by Kishita. This student work includes extensive visual special effects and editing influences from Avalon, and it is thematically based on the Kerberos saga, another work by Oshii, whom the young director paid a tribute. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Dark City is a 1998 science fiction film written by Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer, and directed by Proyas. ... Kerberos Panzer JÃ¤ger MG42 Barrel Change (theatrical poster). ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ...

The scene with Ash in the tramway is a live action recreation of a similar scene appearing in the 1999 anime feature film Jin-Roh, which Oshii wrote but did not direct. This scene is based on Oshii's own teenage experience, when he used to spend entire days spinning in loop in the Yamanote line. ^[1] Jin-Roh ) (Chinese for man-wolf), taglined The Wolf Brigade in the English speaking release, is a 1999 anime feature film directed by Hiroyuki Okiura. ... The Yamanote Line (山手線) is one of Tokyos busiest and most important commuter lines. ...

References

Contents

Overview

Reception

Story

The game

Similar films

References

See also

External links

Contents

Overview GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Reception

Story

The game

Similar films

References

See also

External links

Overview