Galaxy Express 999: The Movie

In the future the rich replace their bodies with machines and become immortal. Tetsuro, whose mother was killed by a machine person, boards a space train on the promise of a free machine body. Travelling with him is Maetel, a woman whose identity is unclear. Rintaro directed, from Leiji Matsumoto's comic series. The film is not a compilation of the television show but a separate production that rebuilds the story. Its idea is an open critique of class: immortality is a purchasable commodity and everyone who cannot buy it is prey. The space train is the series' signature; how a steam locomotive travels between stars is never explained, and that strangeness is where the film's poetry comes from. It was among the highest-earning Japanese films of its year, and the closing song performed by Godiego stayed on the charts a long time. The tone is not that of a children's film; death, revenge and regret are handled directly. Who it is for: viewers who like seventies anime science fiction and the Matsumoto universe. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a fast narrative; the film is slow and melancholy.