This movie was called Avalon (also known as Gate to Avalon) and I wasn’t at first aware that it was Japanese, considering the fact that all the actors are, for some strange reason, Polish, and even the movie itself is spoken in Polish. But, after watching it one evening, I was in for a surprise.

I can say that this movie is definitely not on my list of good, interesting, or even so-so movies, but some aspects made it stand out.

Story – The story, was, well, to say bluntly, ridiculous and pointless, with a somewhat confusing ending. In short, the film is set in an alternative present/future, a time in which many young adults are addicted to an illegal (and potentially deadly) battle simulation game called Avalon. One solo player (the game is mostly played in teams, and only the best players can go solo), a girl known only as Ash, sets out to find a hidden level in the game, called Class Real. Led on by myths of the Nine Sisters (believed to be the original creators of the game) and attempting to find and rescue a former teammate, Murphy, who is lost and stuck in the hidden level, Ash tries to play her way into the Class Real.

Eventually she teams up with Bishop (one of the Nine Sisters) and Thief, a former teammate, both of whom help her find the little girl Ghost, who is the gateway to the hidden level. From here it gets major confusing, as Ash finds herself in modern-day Warsaw (I think), but it’s actually only part of the game… In the end, Ash kills Murphy, who turns out to be a sort of virus in the game, and the film ends with a close-up of Ghost (whose face fantastically morphs from a Mona-Lisa smile to a smirk) and the words “Welcome to Avalon.” The way I understood it, Ash finished (or won?) the game and it now will start all over again, because there’s nowhere else to go.

Visuals – The only reason I remotely liked this movie was because of the special effects.

Interestingly, the whole movie was filmed (or more specifically, altered in post-production) with a sepia-colored filter, which gives the movie a 1940 postcard kind of look. But it still is of a high-resolution and this color-theme adds a very bleak and depressive visual style to much of the movie. On the other hand, Class Real (or the modern city) are shown in color, although it looks somewhat unnatural, because the color white was saturated. The little girl Ghost is also the only character shown in color during scenes that happen in the virtual reality world of Avalon. I was lucky to get a DVD that had lots of behind the scenes “making of” features, and they showed how the entire movie was reworked using high-technology equipment. Everything was changed – colors were saturated and burned, reflections were sharpened, outlines were blurred… These alone are what made the movie so interesting.

Another fascinating feature were the “in your face” CGI animation special effects. For example, when a player gets “killed” in Avalon, his body disappears in a little whirlwind. The higher the level of the player, the different ways their bodies spiral away. Other effects were Ghost walking straight through walls, the giant Citadel war machine (which Ash destroys on her way to Class Real) and an amazing scene showing several explosions which freeze, with the camera angle shifting to show that the explosions are flat.

Music – The theme song “Avalon” is just amazing. It was recorded with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the main soprano’s heavenly voice gives you goose-bumps. You can hear this song several times throughout the film, with the best being the live concert in Class Real.

The rest of the soundtrack is just slow, moody ambient tunes that give a lot of character to the movie itself.

Acting – There was no stand-out Oscar-winning acting, but I think this is because the characters were meant to be flat and cold. Especially Ash (played by Polish actress Malgorzata Foremniak) seemed to be almost inhuman with her two-dimensionality. The only time she ever showed any emotion during the film was when she spent time with her dog. Otherwise, she was always stern and somber. The other characters, Murphy, Thief, Bishop, were also pretty cold, although Thief sometimes seemed mischievous and shifty.

Details – I liked some small details about the movie. For example, every time Ash is at someplace other then the building where she plays Avalon, the walls of the city she lives in are covered completely with posters saying “Stop Avalon” etc.

Also, the symbolic monotony of Ash’s life outside Avalon is depressing. Every day is the same, every day the sky is the same cloudy one, every day the tram looks the same, and every day her dog greets her with a wag of his tail.

There were as well some interesting characters – the so-called “Unreturned,” players who are stuck inside Avalon and, in the real world, are brain-dead vegetables, while their brains (souls? Alter ego?) are wandering around Avalon. The scene where Ash visits Murphy at the hospital is very stirring, as well as when Bishop walks among rows wheelchairs, their occupants staring into nothingness with the same expression on all their faces.

Conclusion – Although it’s far from good, this movie is worth to watch if you have some free time on your hands and want to see some high-quality special effects. Don’t let the ridiculous plot line be a turn off, and just pay attention to the small and fine details.