Is Angel's Egg an Overlooked Masterpiece? - Analyzed and Explained
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.พ. 2017
- Do you agree that Angel's Egg is an overlooked masterpiece? Email Criterion at suggestions@criterion.com and CC Jon Mulvaney at mulvaney@criterion.com. Let them know this film is perfect for them! You can also tweet @Criterion. Maybe we’ll see a release of this masterpiece yet.
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Chris Stuckmann analyzes Angel's Egg (Tenshi no Tamago), directed by Mamoru Oshii. - บันเทิง
The girl retained her faith through martyrdom and become a saint by it. The man still carries his cross, his responsabilities aren't over.
He's Jesus
I think the girl represents innocence and the boy responsibility.
Yeah, his mind has forgotten his past, (maybe it's just too traumatic)
but _his body still remembers_ the wounds of his execution / death
also it seems Interesting that the 'cross' he carries around with him is implied to be a weapon
@@DC-zi6se (just my observation): The girl's white hair represents purity, or innocence. The colour white has long had the symbolic meaning of purity and innocence.
He is Noah
Animating that hair must've sucked so bad. But it looks so good though. The realism of these characters is absolutely fantastic.
Yeah this is some high quality shit for the 80's, suprised it's not as popular as akira.
candiigurl7893
True, but it's basically all they had to animate since it has three minutes of still shots SSSOOOOO many times.
back when animation was done right. I also just recently rewatched Perfect Blue from the same era - Satoshi Kon's very first movie ever, and the animation is miles above most of the things that are released today even. All that lazy CG work, such an eyesore.
@@BothHands1 I mean Perfect Blue is also an incredible film, but it was made in 1997 and Angel's Egg was made in 1985. Those aren't even close to being in the same era.
chryco4
Well, to a certain extent you're right, but mostly i meant the time before CG, when anime was made by hand, frame by frame. If you split them into the pre-CG era, and the post-CG era, then they could certainly be grouped together. "era" isn't synonymous with "decade"
She also spent all that time collecting water just to drown. Something that she worked so hard to get ended up being something that was separately her demise later.
Not discussed is the obvious virgin birth thing and the little girl being 'mary' holding the egg in her dress she looks pregnant.. Looking at her from the perspective of Mary makes the whole movie take on another perspective.
Well I kinda made a comment on that, if it's of any comfort
wrong analysis.
Yup. I pictured the man as Noah and as Christ, and while watching the movie it was obvious to me that she also symbolizes the Virgin Mary.
Bla bla bla
@@finalfrontier001 not even the creator knows the meaning and here you are telling other people's analysis wrong.
My first watching of this film, I latched on to the imagery of the egg and the cross. The egg is organic, whereas the cross is clearly artificial. If the egg is organic faith, it seems clear to me that the cross symbolizes organized religion. This made the scene where the two characters ask each other "who are you?" extremely moving for me. Neither kind of faith recognizes the other, and they both remain lost in the angst of humanity: we don't know why we're here or what we're doing, and just seem to be going through the motions. Not only that, but because both kinds of faith cannot recognize each other there is the unmistakable feeling of them being isolated in spite of their physical closeness.
I also saw the scene where the man breaks the egg as being more selfish than your proposed interpretations (which were very good, btw- not knocking them). I saw it as the man having lost his faith and giving in to an overwhelming desire "to know." His folly then is not understanding that faith can only come through the absence of knowledge. Faith is what fills in the gaps and lets you keep moving, even without knowing why. So I don't think crushing the egg was to affect the girl as he did, but to satisfy his own selfish desires.
Also bravo on a Freudian interpretation that's actually based in relevant symbolism. There are so many Freudian analyses that cry wolf that I cocked my eyebrow when you mentioned the cross being a phallus, but it all came together when you mentioned how the girl "turns into" (in a very artistic way) a woman. There's a real argument to be made there and I'm pleased with how well thought-out it was.
10/10 video
i really like what you have to say about the egg and the cross both representing different types of faith
brandname6 Yeah, I really like the OP's comment, good stuff
best comment
I couldn't agree more. The moment he broke the egg I couldn't help but relate to him.
I don't understand how the cross is phallic except for being a stick, and what that would even mean anyway
So that's it huh? We some kinda *Is Angel's Egg an Overlooked Masterpiece? - Analyzed and Explained?*
RandomU5erName 😂😂😂
When will this meme die
Phill Boaretto It's a parody of one of Will Smith's lines in Suicide Squad
@@Tacticaldegree About four years after it stopped being funny.
Disappointing to see noone talk about the magnificent soundtrack that this film is blessed with... its literally half the story in my view
It is amazing
its on youtube for free
Which doesn't give anything to the creator or show that this is the kind of movies that deserve get more than they got now.
That may be true but no one knew what the fuck was going on until you watch a description video lol.
It's recommending it to everyone.
@@thesaviorofsouls5210 it's from 1985, so it doesn't matter if people watch it for free, just be happy it's even getting attention considering this movie was unknown before the internet.
Psst, its free anime!
Sorry If there's any mistake on my grammar. I am from Asia and my English isn't very good.
I actually find and watched the whole movie just to watch this video.
At first I didn't plan on finishing the movie because I feel like I don't have the time for it. I just want to quickly check it out and maybe watched a few scene to see what kind of animation this is. But the first 5 minutes of the film got me glued to the screen, I couldn't stop, I couldn't turn it off, I don't even want to sleep anymore (It's 5 am in Taiwan when I wrote this comment).
This film really understand how powerful silence can be, the imagery in this film is extremely beautiful and haunting, I feel like my soul was trapped in this world. It makes me feel incredibly lonely, yet strangely warming. Probably because of the relationship between the girl and the man, a distant yet warming bond in such a dark, cold, lifeless and hopeless world.
It's an unforgettable, mesmerizing, breathtaking journey.
The ending also makes me really sad, for many personal reasons.
The best thing I can say about this film is that I can't stop thinking about it.
Beast of the Far East
Your English is amazing!
Eat, Sleep, get Stuckmannized
Repeat.
josué hernández hi, I'm peat repeat, and I repeat everything I say
There's a LIVE ACTION 1988 release of this movie from Australia titled:
'In the Aftermath; Angels never sleep.' The girl is the narrator and the
Boy's sister, and the Noah's ark monologue is replaced with one of
ACROBATIC WHALES!... It's on TH-cam. I'd kill to hear his thoughts on
it.
Kept you waiting huh?
Actually there is a film like this in live action, Stalker by Andreí Tarkovsky. Same theme, same likeness. Another masterpiece.
@@koalakultofficial cringe
Oh my god, that's awesome you thought of that because Tarkovsky is exactly who I thought about when thinking of explaining this movie to my friend. This movie has a striking similarity in the pronounced slow, ambient pacing and contemplative nature that I remembered from Tarkovsky (although I thought of Solaris more so than Stalker).
With all due respect sir, Stalker is far, far, FAR, BEYOND Angel's Egg
@@lordsabre66 I don't know if I agree, mainly because I don't think they're really comparable. They do for sure handle similar themes, but they approach the themes very differently, so much so that I think they are hard to compare at all.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the similarities.
I interpreted it as an encounter between a faithful and an unfaithful person. One is pure and naive, the other experienced and cynical.
She refused to let go of her faith even without any proof, and ignored all of the unfaithful guy's questioning of it.
He got tired of trying to convince her and just exposed her to the truth: that the egg was empty, her faith was based on nothing.
Unable to accept this fact she died by drowning and then became a martyr because she refused the "temptation" and believed until the end.
Her actual self was replaced by the idealized saint version, from which even more eggs, even more faith, emerged.
So the unfaithful guy watched as she become integral part of the floating eye that is religion itself. And we can assume all the other saints were once like her.
Yo this is a awesome analysis
yeah the resistance to temptation was such a theme, in a sense like the story of prometheus that the man is then left, abandoned by god, because he attempted to reach the unknowable
this is a great take!
When you start to think about the moral of the story it starts to get kinda scary 😂
That is depressing and scary, like, the girl was praised for being faithful despite her faith being placed on something wrong, having faith is good, but at the same time the man was punished for showing the girl reality, which even though it was painful and wrong since having faith in such a bleak world kept the girl alive, it was still sad that he was punished for accepting reality in some sort of way.
Faith is good but recognizing your reality is so too, it is a scary and pretty message at the same time.
Wow. This was terrific. I always appreciate your capacity for being unlike any critic on youtube in your content.
Anthony Lopez Ralphthemoviemaker, Bobby Burns, YMS are great critics as well, Every Frame A Painting, Channel Criswell, and Lessons From The Screenplay are other great movie channels that I think you'll enjoy
AyVee1138 Ralphthemoviemaker is so damn entertaining, I don't know if I'd call it a format, but his video style is terrific. It's a shame TH-cam won't pay him for ads due to his content, which really isn't offensive to anybody over 8 years old anyways.
Sharktooth really? I'm sure he gets ad revenue, i always see ads play in front of his videos, and I barely see any age restricted videos of his. Oh and Red Letter Media! Idk how I could've forgotten about them, their half in the bags and re:reviews are amazing
Can we just take a second to appreciate the look of the movie? It's so Dark and Gothic. Really love that the artists adapted the artstyle of Yoshitaka Amano.
Damn I miss 90's anime. They were so dark, beautiful and had their own unique designs. Everything is so same-y nowadays. Japan really needs an anime revolution.
80s my dude. Also, there was same-y anime before as well, but it was forgotten. When people talk about 90s anime, they talk about stuff like Cowboy Beebop and Evangelion which are some of the absolute peaks of the medium, and later down the line we’ll do the same for the 2010s. People will remember the 10s for stuff like AoT, Jojos, Your Lie in April, Your Name and A Silent Voice, HxH, Steins;Gate etc. Nobody’s gonna be talking about shit like smartphone isekai unless it’s ironic
it was 85.
Yeah shut up prick
Full of fan service nowadays
@@Amaling it goes like this too you guys only watching popular one's and missing underrated gems for ex beast stars a modern-day masterpiece, Sonny boy ( unique art work) I've hardly seen anyone talking about this,dorohedoro,odd taxi ,good bye eri(it's a manga though)keep your hands off eizouken,ever heard about puparia?...and there are a lot
I just rewatched this movie, and I noticed strangely enough, a lot of 'pregnancy' iconography. The girl's always carrying the egg inside her dress on her stomach and cradling it as though she's pregnant. Later, when in the water, she holds onto her stomach again before unleashing the eggs. I actually got a subtle feeling of 'mary and joseph' when seeing them together traveling around with her 'pregnant' belly.
im actually surprised how much imagery of pregnancy there is, and how little most analysis videos catch onto that
Before watching it, after seeing press images, I honestly always thought she was pregnant..surely not a co incidence
Also the eggs on top of trees clearly represent ovaries
We hear a girl asking this question:
*Ad starts*
*Joe Rogan ad pops up*
hotel? trivago.
I didn't get any ads
Then a donkey yelps! 😂
It's official, Chris Stuckmann is now a philosopher of cinema
Nah..
KissMyAsthma Oh cmon the guys not a film genius or anything even close. He's a student of film, like many of us
he is a filmosopher
Julian Webb True, he's no genius, but compared to some reviewers (Jahns) he's very intellectual.
Sharktooth A can of chicken noodle soup can write more intellectually than Jeremy Jahns. But yes i agree
I immediately paused this and watched the movie. Wow. That actually struck me deeply. As someone who has struggled with faith, previously following Christianity and experiencing very dark, depressive emotions while thinking on and dealing with my own outlook on religion and other existential questions, only recently losing said faith, I found the implications and symbolism present in this movie to be equal parts haunting and beautiful. I believe that the ambiguity of the movie is much like faith itself, in that everyone approaches it differently while also being presented with theories and beliefs that are more widely accepted to guide you. My personal interpretation isn't exactly set in stone, I may understand the movie completely differently upon a second viewing, but I do believe that this is the exact intention of the creator, to allow the movie to be infinitely open to interpretation. Here goes:
The movie is not just about blind faith, but also realisation and maturity. The repeated question "who are you" is piercingly abstract, and I believe the journey of the two characters to be about them discovering their inner, true beliefs.
The water is actually more deceptive than how you perceive it to be, as I think that the girl collecting this symbol of purity and storing it in a hollow vessel (the ark) is a direct reference to her filling her head with sweet lies and optimism. The water is the teachings of religion; seemingly perfect and welcoming, but inevitably, in the end, it is revealed as a deception and a perversion of the truth to ease mentally and also to provide a purpose. Not only does she drink the water, further implying that she is taking in and is trusting of this "pure" substance, but she collects the water because she is in need of a purpose, a purpose in life that only religion tries to explain or address. This is why I became very emotional when the girl drowned in water, as it is these lies that she has surrounded herself with for all of her existence revealing itself as just that: lies. This brings me to "realisation and maturity". Once the girl sees her own reflection, she becomes a fully grown woman. I saw this as her realising that there is no purity or truth in religion (again, with her drowning in the water) and suddenly becoming a more mature, fully formed person because of this realisation. She sees the true form of herself, realising her real beliefs, making her a fully matured person. Then, when she drowns in the teachings that she has followed blindly, she seemingly lets out a cry in her final moment; she feels betrayed. Betrayed by the falsehoods that remained so prevalent in her time of being alive, that she was so adamant in following. I'll finish with my thoughts on the very ending (I could write/type pages upon pages on everything presented in this movie, but I'll try not to). When this "eye of God" emerges from below (also note that it ascends from below where the water is and doesn't descend from above. Just some food for thought) the girl is memorialised in stone, seemingly in a high position, reaping the reward of her faith. Not only does she show a clear terror towards the stone humans earlier, but the girl is not presented in her true form. She is shown as the girl who followed her religion blindly, while her true nature was the woman who felt that she'd been betrayed by it. The cold, lifeless stone representation of her is yet another lie, a misrepresentation of reality.
Think on the theme of reincarnation. If this is actually a present factor in the movie (which I believe that it is) then this is certainly NOT that girl, it is a false creation that betrays the truth. And that final image...damn. That may well stay with me for the rest of my life. There is nothing beyond the physical world, and even that has been ruined, overturned, and made impure. The amount of depth in that one image is something that I don't think has been presented through any other medium in existence.
Thank you for bringing this movie to your viewers' attention, Chris. It has been an unforgettable experience and one that will stick with me for life. Again, thank you.
lessthanoff thanks, I'm not sure if there is actually a "correct" interpretation to the film, so it's as valid as any I guess :)
The water was a tuff cookie, but I believe it's simply to represent the passage of time: when the Soldier asks if she had been there for as long as there were bottles, she smiles and denies, but it could be still another reference to the Ark story, in which it was supposed to rain for (40 days?), after which land would reemerge (in other words, the 'dove' - the bird in the Egg - would come forth)
"the exact intention of the creator, to allow the movie to be infinitely open to interpretation" Or that of Everett's, that all the interpretations are superposed in the movie's wavefunction XD But it's true: we tend to assimilate movies and stuff according to a pattern preset by the author, but the truth is books, videogames, whatever made for entertainment is what we want it to be - the fundamental reason why I believe copyright is utterly pointless (some foood for thought ;) )
Also, good luck recuperating from your brush with religion (if that's the case) :)
I think this is an excellent interpretation of the largely faith-inspired aspects of the animation, taken from the wisdom of one who has gone through similar experience. Very well done, sir :) I think the water representing lies is spot on, and i think the scene when the man asks if she'd been there as long as the bottles, is again another representation of the distracting nature of a sort of religion from the physical reality of life; including the perceived passage of time. In a place where nothing was sacred, the child was pure, devout, and naive with innocence enough to fully be so. The ending is still elusive and perturbing. When the girl is mounted as another lifeless statue in ode to her beautiful faith in a seeming lie...or something else. It seems so sad.
Neo-Gothic is a perfect setting for this. Horror and Mystique and post-apocalyptic sadness
Mrmightyturtle Going further with your interpretation, the scene where she finds a bottle with red liquid inside, quickly empties it and runs to the nearest fountain to fill it with pure water, only to find something inside the bottle afterwards (a plant? some sort of sea animal?) and abandon it before she spots the fishermen statues - could the red liquid represent another religion, that she doesn't want to consider? Maybe the thing inside the bottle could represent new knowledge that she may be afraid of? Is it connected to the fishermen? Are they of a different faith? Is the red jam she eats after this scene in any way significant, or is it just an unexpected piece of realism, showing her as a being that must eat and drink, and is therefore mortal in a literal sense? There's also the scene where she sees herself submerged in water and gets frightened afterwards... The movie opens itself to so many interpretations, yet seems internally consistent in its tone at the same time. Truly remarkable.
I find your interpretation of the water as a "lie" interesting. One could easily see the water as pure and _not_ a lie, as it never poisons her when she drinks it. Even in the end when she "drowns" (as we never really see her die), is she dying because it's a lie, or is she completely absorbed in the purity of her purpose by releasing the eggs (new life) and thus, because of her integrity and faith, achieves immortality on The Eye?
I think that is one of the things I really love about this film, as it tends to pull out of us what we _want_ to see in it and interpret, which then says more about ourselves than the film itself.
I fell asleep one time while watching Angel's Egg. I was watching it with headphones on. Can you guess which part of the film gently nudged me awake?
Very very late reply, but was it when the girl screamed by any chance?
@@zteevydood870 No way
Most likely when she screamed
I just had to comment that I also fell asleep, and the scream *did not* wake me up 😂
Ah man. How's the hearing aids?
"Fillianore... Help me please..."
The red hood's come to eat us...
To eat our dark soul....
Fillianore...
All he needed was to complete his lady's painting.
That is actually how I came to know about this movie, through Vati's video
So thats it huh? we some kinda angel's egg?
Ben Smith Productions so thats it huh? we some kinda salty people?
Hamza Naeem fucking hell, actually always see this in this comments section
The joke is dead. Bury it.
Simone Salvatore Like DCEU
Ben Smith Productions Its okay bruh. good to see there are still nice people around here
12:47
Just wanted to add that the island looks like a feather.
PERsecond hackz no it look like a boat or a ark
ludwin cruz Hmmm, I see more of a feather honestly
PERsecond hackz I hear that this anime base on Noah ark. the bird egg
After i watched the film, i got the feeling of the two characters being in purgatory:
A lonely, scary and barren world with little colors or life. As the girl drinks the water she gets a glimt of something from her life before. or maybe are about to leave her purgatory all together. As she is about to remember/free herself, she is pulled back into purgatory by her attachment to the egg (false religion or another form of chains binding her to purgatory).
In the story, it shows us the others caught in purgatory. Mindlessly chasing after there own obsessions that binds them to this world (fish in there case). The girl tells us they are chasing something that is not there. She can see the faults of others, but not in her self. Blinded by her own illusions (egg)
The man i thought of as the one who frees the people lost in purgatory. He has the chance to free her almost at once, but needs to understand what it is that binds her. So he asks about the egg. She resists and the story is continued as the man gets closer and earn the girls trust.
The story of Noah could be many things.My best guess is: Could be he was "created" at this time to free the pure, and the souls who died in the great flood. When he is presented with the "bird" he sees what is holding her and realizes what he must do.
"The great eye" could be a form of "the fairy man who guides the dead". The water surrounding them in the end could be "Styx, the river of souls" and she is freed as the man observes.
After watching your review though, i feel i'm off the path with this observation. But it's still a fun idea.
I like this one too
Nah that was pretty sharp I also felt it was purgatory when I first watched but the arc part really makes it hard for that to be the case
Watching this was such an experience. Angel's Egg is a Kubrick level masterpiece.
To me it's more of a Tarkovsky level masterpiece.
interlinked Media more of a Luis Bunuel level.
You are a idiot and do t know anything about movies, Kubrick lol shit movies actually terrible.
Wow you people are fucked in the heads get a grip on reality.
@@andrewjackson2011 Considering you're calling people "fucked in the head" and to "get a grip on reality" for praising a film director and their work, maybe you should be the one to step back and re-evaluate your life. Jeez...
Wow that opening scene really hypnotized me! 😍😍😍🎥🎥🎥
The entire movie is like this. All of it feels like a waking dream.
Antonio Camunas I think the correct word you're looking for is stuckkminized
That's the Chris Stuckmann I love. Analytical, smart and interesting.
I interpreted it a bit different, perhaps the film is not so much about the girl as it is the man, it seems as if all the statues on the giant orb indicate the events in the film have happened many times before as the man waits for the orb to land. However it seems each time it happens eons pass between each occurrence as he mentions the vision of the egg being like a faint dream, to which he no longer remembers its significance as well as where he is and why. Initially I thought the man was tempting the girl into breaking the egg to test her faith, but perhaps it is the other way around, and god is instead tempting the man to give in to blind faith. Perhaps it has occurred many times before indefinitely in time because over and over the man sought out something he could grasp to indicate his as well as the world's suffering would be over, yet he failed every time, unwilling to give in to blind faith. The girl serves to show how those who give in to blind faith become one with god, prolonging his purgatory as the giant dark orb of the faithful dead appear to mock and test him above a chess board like a game.
Is he a dark entity, is it man? Not sure but he is stubborn if that's the case.
I have the same thoughts in mind
Dude, I had never thought of this, this is brilliant thank you.
Great read!
You've studied theology? Props, man. I respect that. I watched this movie while studying religion in undergrad. Absolutely fell in love with its mysterious and allegorical atmosphere.
I'm also reasonably confident that this movie had some influence on Dark Souls.
there is a angels egg DLC in darks souls 3
I was thinking of some of the environmental artwork in Hollow Knight
The egg thing in dark souls might also be a resemblance from berserk's egg. Dark souls admits they were heavily inspired by berserk. I'm not sure about the timeline of when berserk and angels egg came out. But in both animes the eggs look quite similar. They could be inspired by one another too.
The ruined pillars and stairs are the ones we see in Things Betwixt in Dark Souls 2.
I also just spotted how it may have been referenced in the recent horror movie "Skinamarink".
That really was nice.
The Japanese interpretation of Christianity is always fascinating, it generates such interesting imagery and concepts. The way the concepts of religion are filtered through the local culture is amazing.
If only I could say the same about western media. For example, hamfisting Jesus into the DCU Superman movies and into the Mass Effect games was really poorly done.
Japanese culture is not compatible with christianity research it listen to the arguments from the japanese. and good for them christianity is a leach on progress
:/
its not a "japanese" interpretation of Christianity.....it's an ex-christian who happens to be Japanese putting his feelings about religion into an artistic scifi anime film...
Is Zod's Snapped Neck an overlooked masterpiece?
WolverinesNation92
It's pretty well-regarded. It's even getting a Criterion release.
You are not even close to being funny.
The greatest script ever written in 20 minutes...masterpiece.
When you people make that joke... are you haters that just come to these videos to make fun of him or fans that find it funny and don't care that he really hates those jokes?
I really want to know.
Gonzalo I just watched his review of 'A Cure for Wellness' and he came off as a pompous douchebag. So yeah, I don't like him.
I'm not a religious person, but I understand the biblical connections. It also tore me to tears to see the man take from her what was precious, but I knew it had to be done, one way or another.
This movie is excellent, but you need to understand some scripture, to get this movie.
Why had it to be done?
@@blablablablablabla4366 Because the she was too attached to something that was likely never going to mature. In a sense the Egg represents herself as someone who didn't want to grow up.
The fish is a metaphor for Jesus
Early Christians used the stylized drawing of a fish in order to communicate with each other and find other christians despite the roman persecution.
The reason is that in ancient Greek fish was called ictus (in roman alphabet) , acronym of Iesus Christos Theu Hyios Soter (Jesus Christ son of God, the Saviour)
why do you say this?
jimmy boy is a little bitter...but i think the fish is a metaphor to christianity or religion
Going with the fish as a symbol for christians, it could represent christians being hunted down by romans. This could mean that you cannot hunt down peoples belief by force, all they do is destroy the world around them. It fits into the overall theme of the movie quite nicely.
it means what you want it to mean the film is a different experience for everyone
astronauticalsubzero - sure, but hearing what it meant to other people is useful in deciphering what i think it means to me. No harm in discussing it, anyway.
HERE'S SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT: [BEWARE! I WROTE AN ESSAY...]
It's interesting how the little girl, a female, was not only guarding the egg [which has been known to be a symbol of birth and life], but HOW she was guarding it: on her belly, more specifically on her pelvis- the part of a female's body where babies are conceived and developed. The little girl was guarding the egg like a mother would her child. During the last scene, when she grows into a woman after falling into the water, she's holding on to her belly in the same manner, as her hand gradually moves upward to her throat, while the eggs are coming out of her body. It's almost as if the girl was destined to be the guardian, or "Mother", of the egg until it was time for her to conceive what was inside it.
And notice how the man broke the egg after his experience seeing the dead animals- specifically the bird. It's like this action was a reaction to his experience- an subconscious knowing or "gut feeling" of what was going on and what he had to do next. Just before her death, the girl birthed multiple eggs after only ONE was destroyed. If that weren't enough: from the water, is a visage of what looks like an umbilical cord, or even a tree, that holds what looks like the VERY SAME BIRD seen at the start of the film. And on the Eye, in the collection of statues, is one of the very same girl who died.
I can bet the monument is a collection of human beings who went through their own "tests of faith" then died, but were immortalized by taking their place on the Eye. The Eye could be a sentient representation of each of their ideas and experiences of faith, coming together to form what could be considered "a god".
It's almost as if the egg didn't represent a physical "life", but an idea of "life" that pertains to the intangible essence of a human being. My guess? Each one of the people represented were once prompted to fulfill a purpose and once that purpose was fulfilled, more were "birthed". Each fulfilled purpose makes a contribution to what "god" and "life" really are and mean. It's the same cycle repeating over and over again…
That aside, this analysis was great: it was deep, thoughtful and considerate of the characters; both in how they interact with each other and their environment. And lastly, it makes you think. Great job, Chris. I expected no less. Keep up the good work.
Yeh, noticed the same thing, also seeing as the writer was fairly religious there is a fairly obvious 'Mary' reference here. The eye, probably representing 'God' see's the sacrifices people make for their belief and makes them part of itself in the way of the statues all over it. I also thought there may be a reference to the girl being a martyr in holding and protecting the egg, it gets destroyed and when she dies it creates more eggs (representing belief).
zairuku like unwrapping a present, within a present, within a present.
candiigurl7893 I like your analysis. I think it fits with many views of "god". There are some who believe that we are simply living life to experience things. Those memories and experiences will merge and contribute to a collective "mind" of sorts. I recall there was an interpretation of The Divine Comedy in which Dante(the protagonist) meets God and asks him the meaning of life. God apparently tells him that the meaning of life is to find your purpose and to fulfill it. I think it was implied that each person's purpose was unique to the individual.
Perhaps the girl's purpose was to guard that egg. And she stuck to it until the end...and thus she served "god" in that way.
Delving more into the religious symbolism-- these 'birds' seems to be Angels. If you observe the birds skeleton, it clearly bears a human skull, and the body is eerily similar to Human anatomy, only a bit bird-like.
I agree with practically everyone on this thread, and I'm super glad I got the same idea in my first watch of this (not on a religious stand foot but on an existential foot lol. I recognized the religious allegories but I didn't make ALL of the connections at first ). But how come no one has mentioned the very first opening shot? I think the two hands are pretty important to note. To me, I see them as the film commenting on itself. The first frame starts with a cupping, angelic-looking white hand, almost motioning the shape of a ball or an egg. I may be reaching here, but on second viewing it looked like it belonged to the little girl as a grown women, but then as the scene continues it becomes apparent that the hands aren't connected to any body and seem to just *be*. Then it goes on to only be one hand and the hand moves as if it's observing itself, or in other words the viewer observing the film observing itself. Once that happens, the film makes it very clear that the arm doesn't belong to anyone by turning the arm in a 360 spin. The camera moves in a little bit, and the arm turns into a different (skin) tone, showing a more domineering hand then before closing into a fist. That hand, imo, looks more like the male character in the film, and seems to be the film telling us at first the film has a very ethereal and detached feel to it, but once the viewer truly knows what it's looking at it, they realize that it's truly an image of people, our existence, and the prospects of faith and religion. Then, the next scene shows the image of the bird in the egg which is the film presenting its "core" to the audience. They're genius introductions into a great film.
-M. St
This is legitimately the most exposure this film has had since its release. Thanks, Chris! I wonder if my tweet requesting you to see it peaked your interest?
lol is it really? Is this movie really THAT underrated?
Also very important to give HUGE props for Yoshitaka Amano, who is the artist behind the artwork and who also co-written the film with Mamoru Oshii. he is one of the best japanese artists in my opinion.
Movies like this are great because there is no right interpretation, you have to find your own like looking for meaning in a dream. It truly is one of a kind.
Chris these analyzed videos are so entertaining
I was lucky enough to see this in an Anime class I was taking while studying in Japan. Even though I had to write a paper on it, I could never explain what it was. It has a hypnotic effect that keeps you watching even though your brain is telling you it should be boring. It had a big impact on most of the students in the class. Even though I could never explain why, this film has the ability to completely consume you while you're watching it. I'm so happy you spent so much time making this video. It helped me understand why this movie is so amazing and why it had such a strong impact on me even as I struggled to understand it.
The heavy adult themes and the insane artwork reminds me of Kentaro Miura's unfinished "Beserk" manga series. Nothing could ever rival these 2 pieces of art! RIP!
Blew my mind when you mentioned her being a statue on the all-seeing eye of God at the end and becoming a saint. So many parallels to becoming one with God when we die or exaltation and the whole Catholic approach to holy statues.
Angel´s Egg is available on TH-cam, so check it out!
I thought the title said "Overcooked Masterpiece" at first...
Trevor Aven 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
you know overcooked masterpiece is a pretty good way to describe this movie.
Trevor Aven Reading your comment made me realize it didn't say overcooked...whoops
Angel's Hard-boiled Egg
lmfao
For me, the best thing about Angel's Egg is just how precisely ambiguous it is. Everybody draws a slightly different meaning (or multiple meanings) from every little detail, and that makes it almost magical. A hundred years from now, people will still be analyzing, concluding, and comparing their own experiences with the film, just as they were when it first got released. That, in and of itself, makes it a masterpiece, to say nothing of the sheer talent and care that went into every frame. One of my favorite movies for sure.
I watched this movie last year and my brain was disfunctional. I'm so glad you analysed it. Love this movie by the way.
fucking hell demo, chris beat you to it lmao
He's probably trying to kill himself again or something.
DEMO will do a better job.
rip demo
whos demo?
Nibbles I think they're referring to DemolitionD, who's youtube channel is DouchebagChocolat.
Yoshitaka Amano did such an amazing job with this movie, his art style is so unique and lovely
YES!!!!!
I really like the soundtrack, it so haunting, mysterious, and eerie.
I think this is the best review Ive seen so far.
Ive come to take an interest to this movie because of a review ive seen popping up on my home feed so i decided to find a copy and watched, then watched reviews to compare their analyses. I have watched four (including this one) and by far I can say this is more in depth and somehow most correct (if there really is a correct one) meaning of the movie. Although I would like to add other points I have noticed:
First is the conversation that took place when the girl left the egg in the plaza and the man handed the egg back to the young girl, he said "you should always keep important things inside you" (non verbatim). This could be a clue that tells us that the important one isnt the one we can see but is whats inside us, also this can be the reference for the scene when the girl drowned and a lot of eggs seemingly came from her dying breath, which means to say that the eggs that needed to be hatched were the ones inside her afterall, not the one she was holding.
Although I would also like to contest that the eggs that floated werent on the same place that the young girl drowned. Apparently its in the abandoned city. I wonder why.
I would also like to point out that the egg seems to be sinister according to the man. In the scene when he said that he remembers a tree like the one depicted on the wall, he said that this tree "seems to suck life from the ground" which gives an undertone that the egg is evil or something for me.
I also noticed that the fossil they saw which they said is "the bird" seemed more human to me. Which made me think that maybe the egg hatches into an angel. Based from the title angel's egg. Because I really dont know what a bird might relate to in religion except from the dove that the people from the ark were expecting to come back.
I would really like to think that the ending is happy because she is finally free of her task is now deitified but my heart goes with the man stuck on land. I also have a feeling that this is merely another turn of a repeated cycle. Like the man failed again which now caused not only one but many eggs to sprung up. Why i thought this way is because the opening scene showed us an egg and then the giant eye appearing, then the story progresses, but in the end a lot of eggs are then again shown followed by the eye giving me an impression that the whole thing is just starting over again. Also because the man doesnt seem so happy about it. Im just sad for the man. He seems stuck in the desolate landscape.
My translations are all so pointedly negative because jap anime does have its reputation for dark endings like these. Maybe ill never know whicj is real but the story is definitely a masterpiece!
That the 'bird' has a human scull is key to the whole movie. A bird represents thruth from heaven or from god. Now you can derrive everything else from there.
At least the core of it. The drowning scene is when the girl reunites with her higher self. or some sort of universal spirit which is the real source of life. When the eggs pop up you can see waves going up a tree. There was a 'tree of life' earlier in the movie it's actually an evolution chart. The waves going up symbolises some sort of life spirit going up the whole path of evolution. At least that's my interpretation. The orb is the 'planet that eyes'. or I's.
I like your adding of the conversation they had. As a person who study Bible, I would say that interpretation of “something important inside” would be a main point for Christian faith, as what inside is what we indicate our most important: our soul. And I think the reason that the egg came back to the city because they still of the “world”. There a separation between the “world” and “Heaven”. As the man has helped her fulfilled her utmost dream which is hatching the “true” egg she has now been awarded for her suffering and faithfulness. So she now in a different world than the eggs which i believe is her offsprings. It the same thing when our beloved one came back to God we can no longer see them since they have been in a different place with God the Father. But we can have a chance to see them again by walking our path with Christ like this girl with the help of the man.
And I don’t think the man failed cause when he saw the girl being awarded there’s lots of feather around him which normally indicates a “victory” gain. He chose to stuck on the land because there still lots of “blind” faith like her that need to be corrected. So he much caring for the people on the ship. If you paid more attention, their ship is the only one existing in that vast space, which means it coming to the end when the man duty is finished after bringing all the faithful ones to be honored as well, which turns the “world” once again to its beginning. There’s nothing else except God and his faithful people. True happy ending eh 😊
Chris... just want to point out the fish depicted is a Coelacanth. Thought to be extinct but resurfaced in the 1930's.
Might be a clue to something? :-)
Yeah, fish is a symbol of new life, hence Early Christians took it as their symbol.
Coelacanths dwell in the shadowy depths, if they represent new life, there are in a sense zombie fish of darkness, a Lazarus species.
I rewatch this review after watched his "How I Left the Jehovah’s Witnesses to Pursue Filmmaking".
Same, but this was funnily enough recommended to me haha
I have the DVD, cost me an arm and a leg but worth it. I completely agree with your analogy! Brilliant to see other people know this movie, I saw it when I was very young and it left a HUGE impact on my life
I just sent in my suggestion for a Criterion release.
Angel's Egg is one of my favourite ever films, anime or not. It is just utterly amazing, strange, and gorgeous.
Because of your recommendation, I watched this movie today and it felt very similar to Tarkovsky films. You should check some out.
Ben Bates Wow. I thought the same. Is crazy how much it resembles Stalker
Stalker is a must see for anyone that loves Cinema.
indeed, this film has that Tarkovsky-style melancholic feeling. reminded me a lot about Solaris too.
Thoughtful analysis ... just to try and enrich some of your insights I would like to add that Fish, Egg and Water have deep symbolism in Christianity...
Greek word for fish ICHTHYS can be read as an acrostic for the acclamation Iesous CHristos THeou Yios Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour) which was used by early Christians as a sign of recognition and was graphically depicted on the gathering sites such as graveyards, tombs of martyrs who suffered death under the Roman persecutions (and for that deemed holy), catacombs...
Egg, in addition to Fertility and Rebirth, in Christian tradition represents Resurrection, Easter or Pascha, passing of Christ and his followers from death to life and that transition is par excellence expressed in Water of Baptism.. Even Old Testamental Flood narrative seen in New Testamental light can be interpreted as God's baptismal cleansing of old world sins and preparation for the coming of the new world, Christian one...
So I would like to connect this with your lucid observation that the anime tackles the concept of Reincarnation and Forgetfulness of one's Self... First of all the scene with statues of fishermen coming to life, trying to catch the "Shadow Fish", is Not metaphor for fideistic (faith is independent of reason) "blind fate", because the mere sight of them instills fear in the Girl (we may call her Angel), but of persecutors and tormentors of Christ and the Christians, hunters who are trying to catch "Jesus Fish". She says "Even though the fish are not anywhere... Still they chase after them", because the world shown in the movie is post-flood or pre-flood world (all the same, because I believe that by Mamoru Oshii's standpoint Noachian Deluge was just one of the many "risings of water"). World oblivious of God and its past, there is no Christ and Christians to hunt, but shadow puppets hunting shadowy ideals in everlasting interplay of periods of remembrance and periods of unconsciousness. To further strengthen the point, according to Jungian psychology water is the commonest symbol of collective unconscious. So the persecutors of Christ still persecute, but they do not know why or whom they hunt, it's a Fisherman's reflex so to speak, and that is why little, innocent Girl, Christ-like figure, can slip away unnoticed.
Present world of Angel's Egg is War-torn post-apocalyptic or pre-apocalyptic world (if the time flows cyclically every point on the circle is the same distance from its center so the passage of time is an illusion, past and future intertwined and simultaneously present). We can see another Christ figure as he rides on the war machines... Warrior/Shepherd. Insignias are clear as you put it, Crosier, Stigmata, but this iteration of Him is different, he came not as a Bearer of Good News of Salvation, he has forgotten himself. In this time flow he came with the war thunder of doubt, Son of Oblivion, anti-hero and anti-Christ, destroyer of Egg...
The main question raised is "Who are you"? which is asked multiple times during the runtime of the movie, telling us it is an important question to the director and so should be important to us, if we want to decipher the message conveyed... The answer is "I am I (EYE)" and that response is given by the Girl after she jumps in the water. There are two types of water present in the movie... One is Water of Forgetfulness, river Lethe of the underworld of Hades which waves engulfed the world and concealed it from the EYE (I), causing participants of the drama (Fishermen, the Girl, the Warrior) to forget who they were in their past lives and the second one is the Water of Life, Water of Truth (Aletheia), Baptismal Water in which the Girl lost her present life but gained memory of her past and future lives, becoming "un-concealed", coming to a realization in death that she is a part of the Memory Eternal, the GOD (EYE, I). Unlike the Warrior who remains steeped in ignorance of his own self, the Girl (Angel), through transformative experience of watery death, Deifies, becoming one with the GOD, the ultimate SELF ... BooooM!
I love this movie. It haunted my dreams for 16 years when I first saw it and couldn’t find it until YEARS later.
This movie is on TH-cam with English subtitles.
This movie was incredibly weird. I always thought both the girl and the boy was being tested. The girl passed for believing in the egg but the man failed for breaking it. Something about accepting a greater power or like that.
Chris I really like these commentary videos you should create another channel with stuff like this consistently
Angel's Egg is such an underrated film that deserves more attention. The animation is just beautiful and it was so hypnotic. Gosh, I wish I could own this on physical media. Does anyone know if you can own this film on physical media here in America with dubbed English? Because I loved watching Angel's Egg. Please give this a Blu-ray release or American dvd release!
These are the videos you really excel at! I know they are A LOT of work to make, as I've done similair things, but whenever you have the time please give us more of your fantastic analysis videos!
Keep up the great work
Hey Chris thanks for throwing some light upon this film, i just checked it out and loved it. Reminded me that visual story telling, art and surrealist films were the ones that ignited my love for cinema back when i was a teenager.
Hoping to see more Overlooked masterpiece's videos in the future and Thanks once again
I was surprised, but not displeased to see an analysis on this particular movie pop up on my feed. I watched it once with friends at God knows when AM during a sleepover, and while I can't say I "enjoyed" this movie, I will say it was an experience that I remember to this day.
Fair warning, folks: This movie is relentlessly quiet. It's two hours long and has maybe a dozen spoken lines in total from what I can recall. I don't remember there being much music either - it's all about the ambience and otherworldly feeling of it all. It will make you feel very, very restless after a while, if you're anything like me.
I should go watch this movie again sometime. It's been a while, and I want to know if I feel less weirded out now than I did when I first saw it... owo''
its 1h 11m
Really? It sure felt like two. I suppose time gets wonky at God only knows when AM. owo
Last night at about 2-3am I tried to watch Perfect Blue on TH-cam but couldn’t find it. Angels Egg was there instead, over an hour long I thought why not. The thumbnail was interesting. I did not expect what I saw but it was amazing!
This movie must be pretty similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Tree of Life. Both of those films, and Angel’s Egg, are very artistic and allegorical movies that use ambiguous visuals to communicate themes and messages that we’re left to interpret. These kinds of movies are made very rarely, but when one does come out, they leave such an impact. This was a great analysis on one of those movies.
And Enemy as well! Wished we had more animated movies like this!
the egg represents faith, the bird and the fish represent religion (both animals came from eggs), the tree represents mankind's lust for religion (the bird).
after seeing the horrific remnant of religion (the bird's fossil), the man afraid that the giant tree would return if the egg hatched, so he smashed the egg (using a cross).
This could also be seen as how christianity "rapes" the traditional japanese beliefs.
the girl lost her innocence (matured) and dies after her faith was destroyed, but with her death she became a martyr, sprouting hundreds of new eggs, making her a saint figure.
Japan also lost her innocence/identity after the west came and colonise japan. But from the remnant of the old japan, a new japan was born.
the last shot means that we are just as lost as noah was in his ark, wandering around this world without knowing our purpose or meaning of life.
i dont know, this film could be interpreted as the opposite of what i said. doesn't matter though
Love this. I think you're right about us being like Noah wandering around not knowing what our purpose is. But, the little girl. She didn't know her entire purpose either? She just wanted to protect her egg, like a mother's instincts- as young as she is she still felt the need to protect it. That's probably the conclusion she came to as well, or maybe she just wanted to see a cute little bird hatch from an egg like every other child would? Either way, she doesn't know her purpose or even why she was collecting jars of water. I don't even know why. But, what I think is that none of us will ever know our true purpose in life is until we're FACING DEATH!! Because at the end of the movie she is seen facing herself and yes, she's matured and truly seems like a mother now.
Which means, before she drowned and died she saw herself and her purpose. So, i believe her purpose was to be a mother or to give birth to something. But why did she give birth through her mouth and not from where it should normally should be? Maybe the eggs represent unspoken words that harboured a lot of hope and faith in something from inside of her? (Holy shit, my mind is just going crazy with thoughts, lol. 😂) Anyways, I believe in my current thoughts because the man explains a different story of The Famous Noah's Ark. The dove never comes back to tell Noah there's land and so hope was lost because they had never found land. But then there were white feathers at the end of the movie! They could either be an angels feathers or the Dove's feathers? Either way there are birds, doves who will hatch. New Hope! So, the doves or birds probably represent that faith and hope that the girl protected from the beginning of time? The girl was probably a simple human that had a purpose to protect an egg but it was also more than that, she had to protect her hope and her faith in something even if someone said something completely otherwise. Even if at times the "non believer" was convincing and had facts that her bird would never hatch. Her dove and her hope is dead. In such a cruel life she was tested in these ways. So, either way, she fought hard and although she was heartbroken at the end and she was not rewarded at the time. She later on was rewarded. By having her statue on the eye orb thing, God's eye, God's place or simply God's Heaven she became either a saint or an angel. Which is why, her egg- which represents so much more and no one knowing exactly who she is could easily believe that she is Angel and her egg is like the ones we have inside of us and the ones that we would protect with our lives.
Angel's Egg.
This is how I saw it as well, it's an even more cynical view but it fits very well.
You made fair point, filianore believs that egg prevent time from passing
Or something similiar, we arent sure actualyy
@@szkoaimieniateddyegofarmer7436 or the illusion of time being stopped. Like how Gwynevere's illusion prevents night from falling over anor londo. Gwynevere is the godess of fertility. Maybe filianore's egg represents the very same idea.
Ive wanted to watch this for years and I'm afraid this video might spoil a bit of that experience for me. But damn am I still happy you made this. This is going to put Angel's Egg on a lot more people's radar. So dope.
defeatereater
I dont know why but on one hand I am glad that hes analyzing this movie, on the other I actually want that movie to stay undetected, a secret.
cuddler it's not as effective if everyone knows about it. It feels like a precious secret that you have that no one else is allowed to know about because of how special it is.
I almost wish Stuckmann didn't review this. Call me elitist, but I want this movie to remain a buried treasure just for us and I don't want it to get too much exposure or else it will get spoiled. But then again, I guess I'm glad someone stepped up and is finally analyzing such a dense and complex work, because I have a WAY better understanding of the film than I ever did now.
Silver Moose yep
Same dilemma here
This was the review I started watching you with. Yey! Story time! I actually watched this movie (partially) around 12am on a scyfi channel... I was about 9 years old and was so captivated by the movie but unable to understand it I watched as much as I could until my mother found me and sent me off to bed.
I wasn't able to get the name of the movie or see it again. Because I was so young and the movie was already on when I started watching it I couldn't recall any names or plot points beside the animation style and the idea of a little girl carrying an egg.
For the longest time I just kept the memory. Until one day I decided to google what little I knew and that's how I found this video. You made my day with this. Not only did I find the name of the movie and director but also an in-depth explanation of it.
So... after watching this I started watching other videos by you, eventually subscribed and well... here I am again watching in order all your videos. So, thank you for sharing and all the work you put into this, please keep making videos.
I grew up Baptist and this piece of art hit me to my core in a way few things have. Especially as someone who battled with and ultimately renounced the religion I was encouraged to believe, I feel like I understand what this is on an extremely personal level.
Had a friend recommended me this film. Just finished it and watched this video. Absolutely stunning.
Beautiful, haunting, eerie, heavily melancholic and philosophical. The mood and the action of it made me think a lot of Tarkovsky's work.
Chris, thank you so much for what you're doing, especially for analyzing films which deserves to be analyzed, like this one. I stay with you since I watched "stay" and was searching for someone to understand my feelings about this movie. But I didn't expect that you would steal my heart by reviewing the "angel's egg". I'm totally get Stuckmennized now! This is one of my favorite anime and the most deep that I ever saw. That fact that you paid attention to this masterpiece means a lot for me. Again, thank you very very much, you're inspiring people every day and all around the word! I apologize for mistakes in my comment. Hello from Russia, by the way, we love you^_^
Angel's Egg, Perfect blue, and Woman in the dunes. 👍👍
Das some of that older anime stuff. That's a dark hole to go down. Stuff that messes with your mind and sticks with you.
having known about angels egg for a while now and watching it 2 times, your analysis has filled in the gaps to make the whole meaning flow. I fully back your summary of the meaning and appreciate the work you put into it, it is definitely an over-looked masterpiece. MANY THANKS. keep up the good work.
I love this film, and I wish there were more like it :(
I just watched Angel's Egg, then came upon your video. I watched the movie with a feeling that I was just watching some beautiful art piece, not trying very hard to understand it. I kept thinking "this is the Ingmar Bergman of anime." I truly happened upon this movie randomly, knowing nothing about it, and was surprised to learn the same director made so many more familiar titles. I loved your summary and analysis of the movie, partly because it solidified in my mind what I had just seen, and partly because you pointed out things I hadn't noticed, or explained places where I just didn't know what I was seeing. My first viewing of this movie was very dreamlike - and maybe a bit fleeting because of that. I think when I watch it again I will take it in more fully thanks to this analysis. I am 2 years late to comment here, but I will look into the Criterion status of this film and send them a message if it isn't available yet. I would love a better copy than the grainy TH-cam version I saw!
one of my all time favorites, extremely well analyzed.
Great video Chris!
I watched it oriented by my feelings and my first impressions of the shadowy fish was that the men were trying to obtain it out of not knowing what it is. To me that was a metaphor about hating what you don't understand. Not understanding something is becomes personal and makes you feel weak to something that is beyond your grasp.
I definitely felt a theme of reincarnation with the symbolism of the egg. I also felt a deliberate suggestion of development between the relationship of the two characters, despite that they don't know each other they begin to feel comfortable in each other's presence. I think this because of the fire, which symbolises comfort and coziness, and that she can fall asleep without feeling repulsed by his presence. When the fire goes out and he breaks the egg, the trust is broken and she feels betrayed. Words fail me of how to describe why this is significant but it felt like a correlation. The long shot also felt that he was going through a mental process of preparation. The way she slept on a sort of table made her look like a holy shrine, the way she glows only emphasises that she's an innocent angel. What you said in the video highlights perfectly that she was rewarded for keeping her faith.
Long comment ahead but I watched this movie for the very first time tonight while high and found it marvelous. It's been many years since you post this video but I really hope you find this comment, I'd love to have a discussion about this with you:
I definitely felt like the man (I call him the missionary) was traveling in that giant eye ship, carrying out his mission. He doesn't remember why he's carrying out the mission, but he does it nonetheless. The same as the girl filling her bottles of water. Blind faith that their missions are for a good reason, although they can't remember that reason.
I think before he ever meets her he knows his mission has to do with her and the egg. He follows her around in order to learn more about the egg, and begins to realize that his mission is to destroy the egg.
He takes on a sort of fatherly role for the girl when all the fishermen-soldiers march past. From this role, he starts to form a bond with her, which would make his mission harder. Thus when she offers him water, he declines with no words (which is rude to do to a child) in an attempt to keep himself from bonding too much with her.
When he follows her around the ark with the fossils, he is pretty certain that he needs to destroy her egg, but he really doesn't want to, and so he spends much time in denial. Especially when he ask her if she hears it breathing.
This is in fact where my impression differed from yours. You seem to imply that the egg indeed was silent, and she was hearing her own breath, but I believe that she was indeed hearing what she says, and he only came up with an excuse for her hearing each sound because he was in denial and didn't want to destroy the egg, but knew he would have to destroy it to complete his mission.
Because at the end of the day, he could've just roughly pushed her and broken the egg quickly, but he opted to spend an entire day with her and make sure she was asleep before carrying out his mission. He even spends something like hours (that 5-minute wide shot) mulling over whether betraying this child is worth his blind faith in the mission and the giant eye ship.
Well, he eventually kills the egg, returns to the ship with a defeated expression, and stares contemplatively/blankly at the newly-erected (or perhaps just newly-recognized) statue of the girl and her egg.
Then he re-enters the ship to travel to a new land and carry out the next mission. Still without knowing what the mission will achieve. Following his faith blindly.
I think the abandoned land in the void ocean is meant to symbolize that God has left the world behind in this alternative biblical time-line.
It could also perhaps be an allegory to idolatry. The egg is being worshipped in place of the original God that seemingly abandoned the world. The little girl is born to a new world that never had God, so she feels no remorse or guilt in worshipping this egg. Idolatry is no sin in her world because she is ignorant to the old religion (belief in Noah's God). But the missionary still believes that God hasn't left (it's revealed at the end of the film that God did in fact leave, so he's wrong, but he doesn't know that), and so knows he must destroy this girls false idol. When he does, and returns to his transitory ship, he is dead inside.
It's a tragedy about the questioning of religion. The moral is that a challenged faith is a strong faith. The punishment for not challenging your faith is that you'll lose your identity and/or a challenge to your religion will come over your wall and shatter your faith because you weren't prepared. If you're following your religion on blind faith for too long as the missionary does, God will be absent in a situation, because he's gone or because he's testing you, and you won't even realize it. Then you'll be ruining little girls' lives without realizing it's in vain. Angels Egg is very much a religious tragedy.
Man, how the hell did this gem slip by me while I was watching anime in the early 90's? I've got to see this now.
These are my favorite type of videos you do.
Great film. I watched this for the first time two years ago and it’s been seared into my consciousness ever since. Thank you for giving this film the attention it deserves!
Man, thank you for A. Introducing me to this and B. For doing a comprehensive review because I unfortunately would probably not be able sit through this, but loved hearing your take on it
I stumbled across this film when I was a kid years ago. Back in the 90’s my dad used to bootleg movies. My sister and I went through his VHS collection and found this film. I never knew the name of this film until now. Thanks Chris! From beginning to end I was confused yet enticingly hypnotized by this film. Wow I can’t believe you reviewed this film! There was another VHS anime/life action classic film I watched in the 90s I wish I knew the name. I will suggest it to you once I figure it out.
I like my Angel's eggs over easy THANKS.
All asinine puns aside, I'll tweet them now.
Just watched this and went in blind. I've watched a lot of your videos over the last couple of years but this is probably my favourite. Upon finishing the film I wasn't quite sure how to interpret it there was a huge amount of symbolism and ambiguity. Your video helped me piece together a lot of what was going on and get my head around the film. My interpretation was that the two figures were potentially symbolic of Noah and his wife but having died and been reborn, perhaps these two characters have been reincarnated a number of times and undergone multiple tests eg Adam and Eve. By the end of the film the girl is rewarded because God sees respect in her unwavering faith even though it is not faith in him, her faith is something he values and chooses to reward.
Thanks for highlighting this film Chris! Have found so many amazing obscure movies through your channel. Loved this movie for years now!
Bravo for the incredible back work on this very unforgettable 'experience' of art. Awesome work man, and I speak for all of us when I say thank you for taking the time to make this!!
Really enjoyed this one, I'd love to see more analysed reviews of lesser-known and obscure titles.
Go to "kiss anime" (google it) and watch it.
*It's there!*
FPietros it's also just on TH-cam
In a lower quality
Thank you for this analysis I watched Angel's Egg right after waking up and I have been having a HARD time putting any pieces together. Your analysis is very insightful and well put together and I appreciate the lengths you went to find all the tiny details you could!
I had a different reading of this film. I saw it as an allegory for sex and the changing relationships to it from youth to maturity from a feminine perspective. The girl is going through the motions of motherhood without the relationship to a male. When presented with men she often runs away in fear. The man in the film is introduced to her while riding a very phallic machine. He treats her well, occupying a safe space but in the end, despite his gentleness, he breaks the egg, a metaphor for loss of virginity and the her romanticized ideas of what it is to be a woman.
Once this is done however, she is free to fully immerse herself in her womanhood and produce "children" of her own which, unlike the play egg, grow into something beyond her. The man however does not change and continues to idolize the simpler version of her. He left her after his transgression because he did not want to be faced with her change, being attracted to the child in her, not the adult she would become (purity vs reality. virgin/whore complex).
The water is metaphor for the sex and coming female maturity. Can also be read as the coming of menses.
So the guy was a pedophile? Jk... nice theory though
Donyae Coles Very good theory. The Christian theory that was shown in this video really makes sense. However, learning that water could symbolize femininity in Japan made me think of something along the lines of your theory as well.
The closest thing we'll ever have to an anime Tarkovsky movie.
Brilliant analysis Chris. I agree it's a masterpiece and it should be preserved. I've seen it twice and love it. Much like Lynch films, it's open to interpretation and it is so philosophical with religious symbolism. I also don't think Lynch often knows what his films are about until he is neck deep into them.
Emailed Criterion! Hopefully they'll take on the suggestion. Great analysis, Chris. What a mesmerizing film and made even more captivating understanding the concepts behind it.
What a great analysis! I follow just for the simple reason that you showed such care and astuteness in examining this great and underrated movie! Thanks for all the insights, they were priceless
Anime is the greatest form of art and expression.
The important question here is: where is that storyboard translation?
I came here because I had remembered you mentioned it in another review video that was not this one. I think maybe the GITS one and you briefly mentioned this film. Great review.
this is a wonderful review, I saw this movie a long time ago and I didn't find any significant information online. thank you Chris. this is amazing.