For over four decades, Mamoru Oshii has stood as one of the pioneering auteurs of Japanese anime and science fiction cinema, with his cerebral, meditative style and meticulous, philosophically rich worldbuilding attached to both lauded anime classics (Ghost in the Shell) and cult-favorite live-action experiments (Avalon).
With his early avant-garde anime film Angel’s Egg newly restored and playing in US theaters during its first official stateside release (and his equally experimental live-action debut The Red Spectacles soon to follow) we were given the opportunity to put five questions to the master. Oshii-san’s responses offer morsels of insight into the now-inimitable process of making Angel’s Egg, its relationship to his filmography and worldview, his well-documented enthusiasm for video games, and what he really thinks about the religious or utopian emotions that drive so many of his films’ tragic dreamers.
Read below, including his answers in Japanese, as the film begins its U.S. theatrical release. Special thanks to Sylvia Savadjian and GKIDS for making this interview happen.
The Film Stage: You’ve detailed in the past how the concept for Angel’s Egg came from an unrealized Lupin III film. Once it went in a drastically different direction, how were you able to convince producers to back a film so unlike other anime?
Mamoru Oshii: I didn’t do anything in particular to convince them. It’s quite common for a stalled project to be reworked into something entirely different. Most of my works are adaptations or transformations of my original projects, created in response to each producer’s requests at the time. As a director, this film is an extension of my previous work and forms the basis of my own ideas. In a sense, every new film is simply an adaptation of what came before.
押井：特に何も説得しませんでした。頓挫した企画を翻案して全く別種の企画として提出することは珍しいことではなく、私の殆ど全ての作品は当初の企画を、その時々のプロデューサーの発注に合わせて翻案しアレンジしたものに過ぎません。監督にとって、今回の映画作品は前作を継承するものであり、自作を発想する根拠となります。そういって良ければ、あらゆる映画は先行する映画の翻案に過ぎません。
Could an anime like Angel’s Egg be made today?
I believe it would be impossible today. The detailed drawing tasks in this film would be tedious for most modern animators. They prefer engaging in creative, original work rather than refining craftsman-like techniques. Moreover, the current anime production environment no longer allows for a project like this to be made. The beauty of this film lies in the fact that every detail was created by human hands—something fundamentally different from the precision produced by today’s digital technologies.
不可能だと思います。この作品の緻密な作画は現在のアニメーターにとっては苦痛でしかないでしょうし、彼らは職人的な技の世界でなく、個性的で創造的な作業を好むからです。また現在のアニメ業界はこういった企画を許す環境には程遠いでしょう。
この作品の持つ魅力の多くは人間の手業によって生み出されたものであり、デジタルが可能とする緻密さとは異なるものです。
Mamoru Oshii, courtesy of GKIDS
Have your views on the world, such as they are presumably reflected in Angel’s Egg, changed? So much of your work has to do with understanding the nature of the world (materially, philosophically, etc.) as well as predicting the future of our world in ways that have often proved prophetic.
I don’t think anything has changed. Every anime or live-action film I’ve directed seems to ultimately lead back to this title.
おそらく何も変わっていないと思います。私の監督したあらゆるアニメ映画、および実写映画は結局のところ、この作品に回帰しているように思われます。
Many in the West view Angel’s Egg as a film about Judeo-Christian faith and its loss, though it seems to me that the theme of transcendence (and its failure) is common to both the spiritual and political dimensions of many of your films. Do you believe transcendence or utopia are possible in the world we live in, and would you desire them if they were?
I don’t deny the existence of religious emotion, passion, or faith. Such passion has driven me to make films, though I don’t endorse any particular religion. I’m not an atheist, nor do I deny the existence of beings beyond humanity—but I believe that religion and faith are two entirely different things. Politically, I’m not a utopian, and I reject all forms of “millennialist” ideology.
私は宗教的な感情や情熱、信仰心の存在は否定しないし、その種の情熱に駆られて映画を監督してきたと思いますが、いかなる特定の宗教も肯定しません。
私は無神論者ではありませんし、人間を超えた存在も否定しませんが、宗教と信仰心は全く別のものだと考えています。
私は政治的にはユートピアンではないし、「千年王国主義」的なあらゆるイデオロギーを否定します。
You’ve indicated a fascination with the virtual worlds of video games alongside the worldbuilding of science fiction, fantasy and avant-garde cinema; even Angel’s Egg, with its uncanny world of strange rules, quests and Yoshitaka Amano art, evokes a game world in a way. Which games, and which films and filmmakers, are you paying the most attention to today?
I’ve been playing the game Fallout 4 for eight years. It’s my ideal game—almost as if it were made specifically for me. I also have deep respect for all of Hideo Kojima’s works.
“FALLOUT4”というゲームを8年間プレイしています。私にとって理想的なゲームであり、私のために制作されたゲームだと感じています。また小島秀夫監督の制作したあらゆるゲームをリスペクトしています。
Angel’s Egg opens in theaters nationwide today, November 19. Learn more.
“Mamoru Oshii Restored: Origins and Inspirations,” including the new 4K restoration of The Red Spectacles, will begin at NYC’s Metrograph on Saturday, November 15. Learn more.