Review of 'Tekkonkinkreet (Tekkon kinkurîto)'

An explosion of colour and vitality. Tekkonkinkreet tells the story of two young friends: The dark mannered, older, Black and the young innocent, White. They are children of the street living in an abandoned car under the train tracks in Treasure Town – A kaleidoscope of colour and human architecture in the middle of a large city. While it is unclear as to whether they have magical powers as they jump from roof top to roof top they are confronted with a new development of new theme park in the middle of their city. Black takes his anger out on the financiers but he is then attacked by the malevolent developer's avenging (and seemingly supernatural) assassins. The two youngsters are both innocent and complicit at the same time but quite likable.

An interesting, if confusing, movie which often seems caught up in it's own style and imagery rather than story. Having said that, the imagery is very cool. The characters racing through the bewildering backdrop of Treasure Town is quite amazing. The animation certainly benefits from the computer animation used in it's development but never truly overwhelms the style of the piece. The characters are distinctive and very abstract when compared to the environment they inhabit.

This is the first movie from Arias after he moved to Japan more than 10 years ago and it shows that he is finding his own style with the Aniplex studio (makers of animations from places such as the Animatrix).

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2007-11-19

Directed by: Michael Arias

Studio: Aniplex

Year: 2006

Length: 106 minutes

Genre: Japanese Animation

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831888/