AXCN Presents Metropolis (2001)
Director: Rintarô Run Time: 108 min. Rating: PG-13 Release Year: 2001 Language: Japanese
Starring: Kei Kobayashi, Kohki Okada, Kosei Tomita, Tarō Ishida, Yuka Imoto
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Includes select dubbed presentations.
About the film:
Anime Expo Cinema Nights Presents: Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis (2001), where it’s man against machine in this film based on the classic manga by Osamu Tezuka, the godfather of Japanese anime and manga. In the late 1940s, long before Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion established Osamu Tezuka as one of the most influential animators of all time, the legendary illustrator created the classic manga Metropolis. Set in the future, Metropolis is a grand city-state populated by humans and robots, the cohabitants of a strictly segmented society. Detective Shunsaku Ban and his sidekick Ken-ichi search for a rebel scientist, to arrest him and seize his latest creation, Tima, a beautiful young girl. But when they locate him, Shunsaku quickly realizes that the eccentric genius is protected by a powerful man and beyond their reach. A retro-futuristic cautionary tale, Metropolis is spectacularly rendered, combining the best in Japanese cel animation with the latest in digital technology.
World Premiere 2001 Sitges – Catalonian International Film Festival | 2002 Tokyo Anime Award for Feature Film
“One of the best animated films I have ever seen.”
—Robert Ebert’s original 2002 review for RogerEbert.com
About the filmmaker:
Rintaro is the pseudonym of Shigeyuki Hayashi, a well-known director of anime. He works frequently with the animation studio Madhouse, though he is a freelance director not employed directly by any one studio. He began working in the animation industry—at age 17—as an in-between animator on the 1958 film Hakujaden. He is also a founding member of the Japan Animation Creators Association. As quoted in an April 2024 interview with Forbes, “Having worked for Osamu Tezuka, Rintaro’s impressive career is very much a living history lesson.”
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