Concrete Playground

There's a certain pleasure to events that might be great or that might bomb, badly. So-crazy-it-just-might-work shenanigans lend themselves to an excited trepidation. You know, as exemplified by the prospect of Regurgitator live-scoring a screening of Akira.

If you like animation, it's pretty much a given that you're big on Akira. How could you not be? It's a masterpiece of hand-drawn art and excellent (also: tight wound; also: bizarre) storytelling. And explosions. By the same token, if you're an art nerd, there's also a good chance that you like you some Regurgitator. That's a venn diagram with a substantial overlap. One that you can scientifically test by cross-referencing your own movie and music collection, you big nerd. Combining the two should be an automatic winner.

But what makes this exciting is it's potential to be either more or less than the sum of its parts. Akira's existing soundtrack is definitely one of its strengths. Geinoh Yamashirogumi's percussive/chanting score lends the movie much of its atmosphere and texture. While Regurgitator are willfully oddball enough for it not to come as a shock if they take a similar approach, it's thrilling to anticipate something even weirder. And potentially a giant letdown if they play it safe and "rock". Guess you'll have to find out which way that cookie crumbles — and see some amazing animation on a big screen — when the event unfolds as part of the Sydney Opera House's Graphic program.