Screened as part of NZIFF 2002

Metropolis 2001

Directed by Rintaro

Japan In English and Japanese with English subtitles
107 minutes 35mm

Director

Screenplay

Otomo Katsuhiro. Based on the manga by Tezuka Osamu

Art director, CGI Art director

Hirata Shuichi

Sound

Mima Masafumi

Music

Honda Toshiyuki

Voices

Imoto Yuka, Kobayashi Kei, Okada Kohki, Ishida Taro, Tomita Kousei

Elsewhere

Based on a classic manga by the late, great Tezuka Osamu, 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 andriods do most of the work, there is great unrest. The government is the rool of an evil billionaire and the seeds of rebellion grow underground. Stir into this crucible a young man, his detective uncle, a youthful assassin, and an angelic blonde who doesn't realise just what she really is, and the result is as powerful as it is eye-popping.

"An exhilarating reminder of how remarkable Japanese anime can be. An outstanding cinematic achievement and a masterpiece of modern animation." — Ken Hollings, Sight & Sound

"A hallucinatory tour de force... So intricate, so sublime, that the ordinary world seems to be the one missing a dimension." — A.O. Scott, NY Times