Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Director: Hiroyuki Okiura
Year Released: 1998
Rating: 1.0
A member of Japan's special forces (they wear gas masks with glowing eye sockets!) seeks comfort from the sister of a slain suicide-bomber while in rehab. The characters do little to draw empathy, and the story - by Mamoru Oshii - is convoluted to the point of frustration, and what it lacks in political clarity (it presents an alternative history to the country, post World War II) or poignant, well-defined characters, it fails to make up for with memorable imagery. This is dingy and sullen - at least Oshii's Ghost in the Shell, though equally unclear, rides on a wave of cybernetic nerdiness.
