More about Advent Children

Ok. This is the fourth AC thread, counting the one on the maine forum. But it deserves all the attention, all the fanfare that it gets :wink:

AC was screened yesterday (31 Aug) at Venice International Film Festival.
Standing ovation!!!
Here are snippets from articles published by some magazines (ITmedia, Famitsu) covering the event.
Translation by vilaeth from Advent children.net

Most of these articles from today say the same basic thing (except some different pictures), explaining what the film is and how itā€™s showing in Venice for the second year running, getting a lot of attention and so on. Apparently the film isnā€™t all doom and gloom; there are some comical moments in there. And the Fanfare music makes a return as well, which the audience seems happy about, cheering and applauding it. At the end of the film it got a standing ovation like last year.

Post-screening interview:

Director Tetsuya Nomura: ā€œWith CG nothing is impossible, and over the last two years weā€™ve put a lot of effort into getting it close to ideal as we could. My schedule is booked with commitments to various game projects from here on in, but if the timeā€™s right then I would definitely like to make another film.ā€

Producer Shinji Hashimoto: ā€œAs for any future plans for making another film, weā€™re going to see how things play out and think about it. Of course, if the staff say they would like to make another, then as a company we will support them with that.ā€

Takahiro Sakurai (Cloud Strife): ā€œPlaying a role like Cloud, who even though heā€™s quite heroic also has a naive and awkward side to him, required a lot of subtle nuances of expression and was quite a challenge. But it was really worth it. Itā€™s an honor for me to have had the chance to play such a wonderful character.ā€

Ayumi Itou (Tifa Lockhart): ā€œThis is the first time Iā€™ve worked as a voice actor, and it was quite different from regular acting. Youā€™ve got to learn to put your feelings into your voice, and I felt a bit lost at times. But I learnt a lot over two years I spent working on Advent Children. I hope I can use what Iā€™ve learnt from this experience in my future film work.ā€

Tifa- Japanese Voice actress

Sweet, this movie is going to rock out loud. ROCK ON!!!

[Edit: if you donā€™t care about AC reviews, especially those made by a guy wearing a beret and carrying a baguette under his armpit (oh- oh, what a stereotype), but wouldnā€™t mind to watch new trailers ā€“ just scroll down.]

It looks like AC just got drafted in the Major Leagues (well, in Europe at least) :wink:
After being shown at the Sala Grande (Venice film festival), AC was reviewed on Arte-TV, a highbrow French arts and entertainment channel.

http://www.arte-tv.com/fr/cinema-fiction/Toutes_20les_20vid_C3_A9os/961866.html

Translation by mon ami ExMachina from AC.net

I can admit without hesitation, ā€œFinal Fantasy VII: Advent Childrenā€ is a great success. It will impress the fans as well as the general public for whom it was primarily intended. Now, nothing was feigned in advance: the precedent work ā€œFinal Fantasy: The Spirits Withinā€ (2001) disappointed many and therefore it is legitimate to be wary of this new project which revisits the concept of a huge 3D animation project for the big screen. With this in mind, it was very quickly announced that the movie would be an adaptation of the seventh volume of the series (which debuted eight years ago) which became legendary for all the aficionados of the PlayStation: the most skeptical meanwhile tore out their hair and said that Square-Enix had reached their twilight. Nevertheless, co-producer Takeshi Nozue confirmed the priority to preserve the original material and the authenticity of the universe of ā€œFinal Fantasy VII.ā€ In the end, the fans will judgeā€¦

According to others, they discovered that ā€œFinal Fantasy VII: Advent Children,ā€ was no longer about long psychological digressions, but, as it should be, a muscular spectacle without concessions and throughout an aesthetic universe that is totally unedited and passionate. Can we love a film primarily for its plastic qualities? Weā€™re not going to embarrass ourselves! If Tetsuya Nomura admits at the departure that he did not have the will to give his characters ā€œa realistic side,ā€ the spectator can only widen their eyes in face of the clones that one is given to view. So, echoing one of the faults of ā€œSpirits Within,ā€ the movements and the textures are here the crux of a permanent confusion until the genre-transcending (and long awaited) appearance of the main group of characters. Moreover, in ā€œFinal Fantasy VII: Advent Children,ā€ the similar fashion and greater depth of direction tends to approach the hero Cloud and his fellows through an insistent application of grand designs, contributes to and concretes this persistent trouble. Everyone, including incredulous others and those prepared to gobble all context, therefore make literal bodies of the following phantoms: the sumptuous luminescent forest, fields of interminable flowers, strictly unimaginable beasts and monsters, motorcycle sprees, and prosaically inconceivable battles. ā€œFinal Fantasy VII: Advent Childrenā€ therefore succeeds in driving into our skulls the modern concept (and very tendency) of our future unreal reality in a wave of instances of absolutely spectacular bravery.

Olivier Bombarda

And as a bonus, they have two short trailers on their site.
If you donā€™t mind even more spoilers, try to download from this links (AVI format)
http://rapidshare.de/files/4693641/trailer_final_fantasy_seven_1_Medium.avi.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/4694078/trailer_final_fantasy_seven_2_Medium.avi.html

So when is it coming state side? I heard September 13

Itā€™s been delayed until somewhere around the holidays. Of course, since it seems they are keeping the Japanese release date intact, most of us will see the fansub thatā€™ll pop up around one week after said date.

After watching the latest AC trailers, I would prefer Japanese version with subs instead of English voiceovers. Ayumi Itou (Tifa) sounds as hot as she looks :wink: