This gorgeously dystopian South Korean film (alternately known as Wonderful Days) rivals and, at times, surpasses the best of Japanese animé. Lush may not be the right word for it, but Kim and Park’s vertiginous cityscapes and the earthbound mortals who populate them are rendered with an attention to detail that often makes Sky Blue look head and shoulders above most recent live-action sci-fi outings. Part Blade Runner-esque post-apocalyptic dirge (these days, what Asian animé isn’t?), part love story, and part Greenpeace eco-rant, Sky Blue succeeds best when it speaks least. (This Westernized, English-language version has been “redirected’ by Park from Kim’s original South Korean production which was a seven-year affair that brought together virtually all of the country’s best and brightest animators.) Set in 2142, the world has been devastated by environmental upheaval. Inside the sprawling city of Ecoban, the survivors cling to a semblance of normalcy with the wealthy elites ruling over an underclass army of “diggers,” who mine the carbon fields below the city. In between these two groups are the security forces who keep the peace and are also in charge of resisting incursions from the ranks of underground diggers who, predictably, are none too happy with the status quo. With rebellion swelling in the ranks of the oppressed workers, security agent Jay and her boyfriend Cade – one of the city’s elite ruling class – are forced to reconsider this whole idea of selective slavery. Trying to describe the storyline here makes it sound straight out of Marx and Engels, but as with most animé, the labyrinthine plotting runs a close second to the visuals, which here combine traditional cel animation (for the characters) with startlingly life-like CGI backgrounds. The result is a riveting, eco-wise epic that’ll do fans of both Ralph Nader and Katsuhiro Otomo proud.
This article appears in March 4 • 2005.