Redline Review (Hint: it was good)

Last Saturday night I spent some of my extra hour attending the Minneapolis/St. Paul Asian Film Festival at the St. Anthony Main Theater and a showing of the anime racing film, Redline. Now I've harped on anime and animation on this blog with quite regular frequency so go ahead and skim if you will but I promise I have a FEW NEW POINTS to make.

The crowd was kind of what you would expect at a showing of a niche anime title, with the obvious stereotypes showing up in droves - I shouldn't make too many derogatory statements because with my long unkept hair and patchy beard I fit in just fine.

Redline is essentially a pretty par for the course racing story which sees a protagonist entering a dangerous "The only rule is that the is no rules" race. The conflict in the film comes from holding the race on a planet dubbed hilariously as 'Roboworld' where the racers have to contend with the military as well as the other racers. Added conflict and plot development comes from the tacked on love story, which despite it's incredibly shallow and unnecessary nature actually worked in an odd roundabout way.

Besides the incredibly fluid and stylized animation, it is Redline's cast of characters and expertly paced dialogue that provide the film's greatest strengths. My buddy Andrew accompanied me to see the film and mentioned that the way the film introduced it's cast was incredibly well done, a sentiment I echo completely, especially for a racing title whose genre tends to favor action in opposition to any meaningful exposition. A news segment format introduced each racer, but slight differences in each profile highlighted the superb dialogue and quirky nature of the writing. Aiding the dialogue was the great translation, which seemingly captured the feel and narrative that it's creators intended. Plot dead ends and a lack of any significant conclusion could be seen as a criticism from serious cinema-goers, but by my standards didn't detract from the film in the least.

Redline once again proved why animation, and especially hand drawn animation, proves to be just as compelling of a medium to tell a story as live action or CG. It's sad that consumer expectations have all but dismissed traditional animation, forcing them into special one night events that are kind of a one and done thing.

OK, so really I had no new points, and you read it ALL... HA! Or else you skimmed to this point and it didn't matter at all!