'The Animatrix' (Wachowski, 2003)

Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole...

The Wachowskis take The Matrix back to its animated roots, handing their mythology over to the very masters who inspired its aesthetic inception.

After the Wachowskis redefined expectations for Hollywood action cinema with their seminal 1999 movie The Matrix, a wave of admiration and professional jealousy soon set in with artists all vying to find a way to create something as distinctive, intelligent and entertaining as the virtuoso masterpiece. So when the Wachowskis decided to make 2003 'The Year of The Matrix' by releasing two feature films, a video game and a comics line, they also decided that they would release nine animated shorts by masters of animation, both East and West. They would give these animators the opportunity to take the world they had created and to build upon established concepts to create dynamic new works.

For these respective artists, there was no challenge they were more eager to take on.


TITLE: Final Flight of the Osiris
DIRECTOR: Andy Jones
WRITER: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
ANIMATION: Square USA


The first short feeds straight into the events of The Matrix Reloaded as the crew of the Osiris stumble across a Machine army, hundreds of thousands strong, digging their way into Zion.

It opens with a construct training scene, two characters engaging in an erotically-charged sparring session. Blindfolded. With swords. It is fetishistic to the extreme as seams are sliced and cloth slides sensuously off the characters' firmly toned physiques. The animation is sumptuous, reveling in the slow motion that permeated first movie to suggest superhuman strength and agility. The scene ends abruptly and we are hauled into the real world where the crew spot the Machine army and decide to warn Zion no matter the cost.

The sentinels closing in on a ship as a character on board races to achieve a specific objective in the Matrix is a premise lifted from the first film's final sequence and is recycled to good effect. The end result is visually spectacular with Square USA re-employing their animation technology previously seen on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Sakaguchi, 2001). Interestingly, to prove that they could pull it off, the staff at Square put together a proof of concept using their protagonist from Final Fantasy. And it's a good thing they did, because skin textures are more realistic, movements are more fluid, the design is rich, and the story is entertaining and devastatingly tragic.

*****


TITLE: The Second Renaissance (Parts 1 & 2)
DIRECTOR: Mahiro Maeda
WRITER: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
ANIMATION: Studio 4°C


Taking its cue from Bits and Pieces of Information, the comic strip written by the Wachowskis, The Second Renaissance chronicles the events that lead up to the creation of the Matrix.

Like all good science fiction, The Second Renaissance is not necessarily talking about the future. It is talking about the present. And it is projecting humanity's future mistakes via its follies of the past.

"Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not."
-- Isaac Asimov

Maida shows us images that appear eerily reminiscent of our not-too-distant history, and Man's treatment of Machines is equated to Man's treatment of his fellow Man. Drawing lines of distinction between one another and using hatred of the 'other' to destroy them. The piece seems to be telling us that violence simply begets more violence - a lesson humanity still appears to be getting a failing grade at today. Thus the commentary is a contemporary one. A pertinent one. An important one.

With regards to its impact upon The Matrix Trilogy, this is the first major indication that the unquestioned benevolence of human beings and undisputed malevolence of sentient machines is not as clear cut as initially conceived. The Wachowskis inject shades of grey into what initially appeared as a very simplistic story of good versus evil, foreshadowing the resolution of the trilogy and undercutting Morpheus' religious rantings in the first film.

The animation is superlative, combining 3-D and 2-D techniques to dazzling effect, and the Instructor - our narrator - tells the story with empassioned words that belie her disturbingly passionless voice. The disparity between voice and content is unsettling in the most perfect way, efficiently complementing the disconcerting events that are unraveling before our eyes.

*****


TITLE: Kid's Story
DIRECTOR: Shinichirô Watanabe
WRITER: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, Shinichirô Watanabe
ANIMATION: Studio 4°C


Moreso than any other short in the series, this is the one that taps most directly into teenage insecurities regarding identity, self-esteem, escapism and self-determination. It is a resolutely immature and revels in the 'disillusioned youth' aspect that permeated the first film as it follows the story of a teenage boy trying to escape from the Matrix while being pursued by Agents. The ending is truly disturbing, showing liberation through suicide.

In terms of its visual style, it is the most radical with elements being reduced to sketch-like detail that renders an appropriately dreamlike feel to the proceedings. The style can jar at times, but it is generally quite effective in achieving its ends.

As with the previous three shorts, this feeds directly into the overall scheme of The Matrix Trilogy, introducing a new character who is re-introduced and his backstory restated in Reloaded. As always, it is not necessary to see the extra material in order to understand the film, but it does exist as a compelling expanded universe tale if one is so inclined.

*****


TITLE: Program
DIRECTOR: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
WRITER: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
ANIMATION: Mad House


From the maker of Ninja Scroll comes a story of two lovers trapped in a construct training program. Taking its cue from Cypher's betrayal, Yoshiaki Kawajiri gives the 'evil' point of view some air time, but without ever really committing to a categorically contrarian moral stance.

Kawajiri uses the unlimited possibilities of the blank white construct to create a Samurai setting from Japan's feudal period. And he milks it for all its worth. He combines reality bending visuals with a hyper-traditional woodblock aesthetic to phenomenal effect. But at the centre of all the visual virtuosity is a compelling moral predicament for the piece's protagonist, Cis, who must choose between leaving with the man she loves to live in a perfect paradise, or to continue fighting with the resistance. Action packed from start to finished, it is held together by an exciting existential discussion that delivers on all the promises one would expect from The Matrix. As a result, this ends up being one of the strongest pieces in the pack.

*****


TITLE: World Record
DIRECTOR: Takeshi Koike
WRITER: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
ANIMATION: Mad House


Another 'waking up' story, this one plays with the idea in a different way. It asks what would happen if someone were to wake up through their physical abilities as opposed to their mental faculties, and it asks what would happen if the waking up process failed. It is a terribly tragic piece, and beautifully so.

It is the story of an athlete, a runner, who attempts to set a new world record after coming back from a doping scandal. The animation takes real risks, distorting and exaggerating the physicality of the world through deliberately disproportionately drawn characters as well as super-surreal sound effects.

Kawajiri's second effort, this isn't as tight as his first piece, but it is certainly emotionally effective, very imaginative, and highly accomplished in its own right.

*****


TITLE: Beyond
DIRECTOR: Kôji Morimoto
WRITER: Kôji Morimoto
ANIMATION: Studio 4°C


Morimoto's style of working is apparently to write the whole thing through from start to finish in one go. He doesn't work in bits and pieces and doesn't add or subtract or alter elements at later stages. If he makes a mistake, he screws it up and starts again. And it shows.

What Morimoto has created here is a mini-masterpiece. A psychedelic journey into a dreamworld where distorted realities aren't a nightmare but a playground of innocence. Riffing on the idea of glitches in the Matrix, Morimoto weaves a tale of wonder, excitement and pathos, all on the most subtle of levels. A piece about discovering joy and having it stolen from you.

In a word, it's marvellous.

*****


TITLE: A Detective Story
DIRECTOR: Shinichirô Watanabe
WRITER: Ellen Moore, Manjiro Ooshio, Shinichirô Watanabe
ANIMATION: Studio 4°C


Honing in on the noir influences of the first film, Watanabe creates a hardboiled detective thriller that centres around a private investigator hired by a mysterious client to track down a hacker known as 'Trinity'...

One of the things that made The Matrix charming was it use of older, analogue technology, suggestive of the Rub Goldberg type contraptions seen during the middle of the 20th Century, and Watanabe really takes that to heart by showing the protagonist's office cluttered with unruly machines.

It's clear that the detective is in way over his head, but that doesn't stop him from putting up an enthralling fight after a good, long build-up of street prowling and gritty investigation. It is a charming little tale, its black and white style only adding to that sentiment, and it contains a cameo from Carrie-Anne Moss who probably looks cooler in this than she does in any of the live action films.

*****


TITLE: Matriculated
DIRECTOR: Peter Chung
WRITER: Peter Chung
ANIMATION: DNA


Easily the most abstract and the most challenging of the nine entries, Peter Chung of Aeon Flux fame attempts to reverse the idea of humans being controlled by machines in virtual constructs, and asks if it would be possible to present a machine with a virtual world and 'convert' it to the human cause. It is visually interesting, and the great accomplishment of the piece is that in the process of humanising the machine for the purposes of the story, it also humanises the machine in the heart of the viewer. Along with The Second Renaissance, it is the only short that attempts to paint the machines with a different colour. To show them in a different light. It is the most predictive of where the sequels will go and commands respect if only for that reason alone.

But, fortunately, there are other reasons to love it. The design work is great. The characters are memorable. And the story itself is emotionally stirring, succeeding in actually eliciting sympathy for the machine at the centre of the story.

A difficult job well done.

*****