Must-see with wonderfully subtle and modest storyline
22 August 2004
This has become one of my absolute favourite films.

I rented the German dubbed version, which is quite nicely done, apart from some sentences that seem to short for genuine German conversation (our phrases are usually 20% longer than, say, English phrases ... something seemed to be missing in the dub).

The story is nice and a little mysterious, but it is very important to realize that the film tells quite a bit of it with images alone - no dialogue, no narration. Just these absolutely stunning images.

I almost screamed in joy in the scene early in the flick where Shua and Jay sit, handcuffed together, him holding a gun to her face, in front of a beautiful Christian church glass artwork in this museum ("time capsule room"), and just the image tells the audience so much (and yet so delightfully little at the same time!), making this a scene without any dialogue was the best the film makers could have done.

There is so much imagery. They really figured out how to blend excellent Gothic and oriental architecture with the industrial cyberpunk setting of the slums around the city Ecoban, and they made not only every second of it count, no, they give you gratuitous flights and motorcycle drives through the wonderful, desolate landscape that you sometimes wish would never end.

All in all, a film with a definite 10/10 visuals, a 9/10 story, German dub quality 8/10, a soundtrack that's easily a 10/10, and subtle but decent sound effects, 7/10.

The best movie, in my opinion, that I have seen this year.
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