This is hands down the best film I've seen in a while. I was skeptical when I first got it. The blurb on the cover read, "Though math whiz Kinji Koiso is a social zero, his avatar flourishes in the online space of Oz, until he accepts an e-mail request to solve a thorny equation, creating a conduit between the real and virtual worlds that may destroy both."
"Oh no," I thought, "another Matrix."
Well I was wrong. First off, this is not at all like the matrix. Folks aren't really entering the computer world anymore than folks enter into World of Warcraft. The world of the film is about 20 minutes into the future to steal from Max Headroom. Oz is like WOW mixed with Facebook. It has everything and everyone is linked into it. It's a beautiful looking place, sort of a playful heaven with a center flying saucer topped with a giant cat head and two nearby flying whales.
Our hero does a little side work for Oz, but he's just a self described code monkey. He is busted out of boredom when a lovely girl comes to him and asks if he'd like to make a little money over the weekend and take a trip into the country. Though shy, he's not CRAZY, so he says yes and soon he's whisked into a huge birthday celebration for the girl's great grandma. The entire clan is there, and this being Japan I do mean clan. They have a proud history though they don't shine as much today. Still, nearly everyone is doing well one way or the other. One's a fisherman, another's cop, and such. It would be fun, except there was one thing not mentioned. His "job" is to pretend to be the girl's boyfriend for the weekend.
After being accepted by the old woman herself the rest of the family greets him warmly. There's a little angst when the black sheep of the family shows up, but for the most part everyone is having fun. Then comes that email. When he solves it, he actually accidently cracked the security of Oz and a rapacious villain named "Love Machine" starts taking over. There are no avatars entering into reality, but is chaos as Love Machine takes over essential services from Oz and turning off gps for example. So in this regards is more "War Games" than "Matrix."
This is a film with heart which is amazing since it comes from Mad House studios which is more noted for technique than sentiment. I just loved this film. It's incredible to look at and I loved the characters. This film won the Japanese version of the academy award and it deserved it. It definitely should be seen to be believed!
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