JIN-ROH: THE WOLF BRIGADE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Hiroyuki Okiura's JIN-ROH: THE WOLF BRIGADE is an animated film with handsome images, haunting music and a nearly incomprehensible story. This is further complicated by the animators' proclivity to draw the characters so that they are only distinguishable by sex. The women all look alike as do most of the men. The movie works best when you ignore the narrative completely and let the background visuals and the magnificent score sweep you up.
As best one can tell, the movie is set in Japan sometime after World War II. The twist is that Germany appears to have won. The fairy tales are printed in German, and the cars are exclusively VW Beatles and Mercedes. The People's Democratic Movement, a.k.a. the sect, in its battle with the government forces, has turned the streets into an urban war zone. One of the many confusing subplots concerns internecine warfare among the various police and government forces who are fighting the sect.
The animators capture beautifully the buildings, the sky and all the inanimate objects. But the characters are drawn lifelessly as if they were little more than talking statues. Perhaps I could have gotten beyond the limitations of the animations if the story were better developed. (For an example of Japanese anime at its finest see PRINCESS MONONOKE, one of my all-time favorite films.)
The story's central event occurs when Constable Kazuki Fuse (Michael Dobson), in full riot gear, confronts a frightened teenage girl in the sewer. The impressive uniform of the policemen with its bright red night-vision goggles for eyes make the cops look like science fiction monsters. As the teen shivers, she begins to pull the string on the bomb that she is carrying for the sect. Although Kazuki should shoot her, he doesn't. Her subsequent death from the bomb's explosion will later cause him to have surrealistic nightmares that won't go away.
The problem with JIN-ROH is that it keeps feeling like you've just started reading the eighty-third edition of a comic book that you've never even heard of before. But all is not lost. Turn off your brain, and let the images and music flow in. Whatever you do, don't go down the rat hole of trying to make any sense out of it.
JIN-ROH: THE WOLF BRIGADE runs at least a half hour too long at 1:42. The film is in dubbed English. It is not rated but might be an R for graphic violence and would be acceptable for kids around 12 or so and up.
My son Jeffrey, age 12, who thought the movie was only pretty good, gave it ** 1/2. He liked the images but complained that you couldn't tell the characters apart and that the story, especially the ending, was confusing.
The film is playing in limited release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley it is showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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