I still haven't found anyone who understands the Utena movie, but I did find one guy who claims the ending would have left Stanley Kubrick going "Dude, what the HELL was that about?"

Heh. I am amused.

http://www.revolutionsf.com/article/229.html

-- Frostbite (krooks@agnesscott.edu), October 09, 2001

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The Utena movie reminded me a lot of "Jacob's Ladder", actually (for those who haven't seen it, it's the one with Tim Robbins as the hallucinating Vietnam vet). Both take place in a surreal "otherworld" - a false reality, that is stripped away at the end to reveal the "true reality". Both contain verbal hint-dropping (JL - "according to this, you're already dead", Utena - "If a chick's shell is not broken, it will die without ever having hatched") and antagonistic characters who can be seen as "hiding" the truth from our protagonist. Jacob Singer is a bit like Anthy; he wants to remain, safe in his fantasy world, but outside forces will not let him/her. I think what makes them ultimately so different from each other is the philosophy behind each film; I see JL as being told from a Zen Buddhist perspective, the Utena movie a Gnostic one. Utena "storms heaven", breaking into the true world and transcending the Underworld beneath it, while Jacob lets go of the physical world in order to reach a higher plane of enlightenment. Now, I'm no scholar of religion, so I may be wrong... and Utena is perhaps too metaphorical to be taken this seriously ;) Still, it's a thought.

-- Inukko (nadisrec@worldnet.att.net), October 11, 2001.

Dammit! That was meant to be 1 row per character for the spoiler space. Hope I didn't just ruin Utena for some folks...

-- Inukko (nadisrec@worldnet.att.net), October 11, 2001.