por cierto si te mola el mundillo de Jin-Roh, ahi abajo encontraras otra de las pelis basadas en el The Red Spectacles, la precuela de esta misma..ke disfrutes ;9
Info de www.destroy-all-monsters.com:Fans of last year's Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade may or may not be aware that it was not Mamoru Oshii's first foray into the dystopian society portrayed in Hiroyuki Okiura's film. In fact, the Kerberos Pazer Cops, the organization that officer Kazuki Fuse belongs to, appeared three times before, in a manga series and two live action films. These two films, The Red Spectacles (1987) and its prequel Stray Dog (1991), have recently been issued for the first time in the U.S. by Bandai Entertainment, owing no doubt to the success of the anime.
The first of these films, The Red Spectacles, is an interesting piece of work, especially if you work backwards from the anime. While that film was largely coherent and linear in its narrative, The Red Spectacles is experimental in the extreme, mirroring in many ways the paranoid fantasy of Godard's Alphaville. In fact, it can even be seen as a direct ancestor of Oshii's later work Avalon, at least from a stylistic point of view. Shot mostly in stark sepia-tones (aside from the brief introductory action sequence, which is in full color), The Red Spectacles pinballs rapidly in tone from paranoid thriller to slapstick comedy, and just about everything in-between.
The story, such as it is, concerns former Kerberos officer Koichi Todome (noted voice actor Shigeru Chiba) and his efforts to re-locate the remaining members of his squad. Following an unsuccessful rebellion by members of the Kerberos, who refused to lay down their arms when their organization was disbanded by the government, Koichi's squad was hunted down and arrested. Only Koichi escaped, who has returned after a three year absence. While the first 20-minutes of the movie are relatively rational, things quickly diverge into wierdness when Koichi is ambushed by an army of mimes at his hotel. Upon his narrow escape, the film descends into an absurd labyrinth of oddities, including an underground soba bar (where the patrons dine on hot ramen away from the government's prying eyes) and a hilarious bathroom assault in which his victim exclaims 'Do brothers or friends not exist in a small bathroom?' Indeed not.
If this sounds unappealing to you, you may as well stop reading now. For those willing to sit through the film's head-scratchingly bizarre turns, the end does promise a return to rationality, and an explanation for all the wierdness. This isn't to imply that the film is entirely without narrative. Bunmei, an obviously officious and cruel governmental functionary provides tension as he tries to find out just what it is that Koichi carries in his briefcase (assumedly it's his Kerberos armor). Koichi's former comrades also return, but whether they're true to the cause, or have been absorbed into the administration are questions to be answered. There will undoubtedly be a fair number of people who enjoyed Jin-Roh, and will pick up The Red Spectacles expecting more of the same. These folks will be disappointed in the extreme. Even hardcore art-cinema buffs may be turned off by the film's often amateurish execution. As Oshii's debut live-action work, though, I have to give him credit. Having recently finished production on his early effort The Angel's Egg (1985), which is similarly obtuse in it's refutation of narrative convention, it's clear that that work had an effect on Oshii's approach to storytelling.
The Red Spectacles is minimalist cinema, to be sure. There are few sets; many of the scenes are filmed either in darkness or in generic locales, giving very few clues as to geography. One of the chase scenes features no scenery whatsoever...the participants simply run in place and a spotlight alternately highlights the groups as the camera shifts in place. The effect is jarringly odd, and actually quite funny. The one piece of set decoration produced for the film is the image of a young girl, reproduced onto posters, photographs, and even screen projections at a theater. The idea is that of a Big Sister...a pair of watchful eyes that follow you everywhere. Of course, Oshii's beloved bassett hound imagery appears, but I'll leave that up to you to find.
My advice: approach this film with an open mind and you won't be disappointed. There's no action film buried in here, despite the cool cover. But if you let the film take you where it wants to lead, you'll likely have a good time. If nothing else, you and your friends will have something to talk about afterwards.
