Avalon

Gloomy portrayal of the near future in an imaginary town in Central Europe, shot in Poland (Polish is also spoken). The town is dirty and chaotic. Computer games have lost their innocence: they are addictive and large sums of money can be won.Ash lives alone. She doesn’t have any contact with other people, only with her dog. Her only activities are cooking meals for the dog and playing games. She is a professional Avalon super warrior, a player on the toplevel, that is only accessible under very specific conditions. Once a player is inside, they can only stop by winning the game. Otherwise the player can die. Ash ignores all warnings and decides to play anyway.Unlike earlier films by Oshii Mamoru, including the wellknown Ghost in the Shell, Avalon is not an animation film. It’s an action film in the style of, for instance, The Matrix, but then without the murderous tempo of the genre. Oshii belongs to the group of Japanese filmmakers who do not feel restricted to the basic tenets of the genre film, but who plays with them to transcend the genre. For instance, in Avalon, the storyline is not token and elementary, as in most other sciencefiction films, but well constructed and poetic. The film has good special effects and a very credible heroine.