AKIRA / METROPOLIS

ABOUT THE FILMS:

AKIRA, 1988, FUNimation, 124 min, Japan, Dir: Katsuhiro Ohtomo.  

A landmark in animation, this visually stunning film exposed the rest of the world to Japanese anime and left its mark on such live-action films as THE MATRIX. In a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo swarming with violent motorcycle gangs and antigovernment revolutionaries, Kaneda must stop lifelong friend Tetsuo, whose out-of-control psychic powers could destroy the city.

FORMAT: DCP

METROPOLIS, 2001, Sony Repertory, 107 min, Japan, Dir: Rintaro. 

Based on a classic manga by the late, great Osamu Tezuka (with whom Rintaro worked on such 1960s classics as “Astro-Boy” and “Kimba”), METROPOLIS is not a remake of the legendary Fritz Lang silent – although it’s not without similarities. In an enormous, retro-future city where robots and androids do most of the work, there is nonetheless great unrest. The government is a tool of the evil billionaire Duke Red, and the seeds of rebellion grow underground. Stir into this crucible of turbulence a young man, his detective uncle, a youthful assassin and an angelic blonde who doesn’t realize just what she really is, and the result is as compelling as it is eye-popping, and as unusual as the Swing-era music on the soundtrack. In Japanese with English subtitles.

FORMAT: 35mm