Also caught another early (or maybe just wantonly random) screening of the Japanese anime film Mirai. I think this is getting a limited Academy award run or something… It showed up at 7pm two Thursdays ago and not all since then until it showed up again last Thursday at 7 and this Saturday at 1pm (which is the screening I caught). No other showings, nobody at the theater seemed to be aware of it, it didn’t count for a free ticket on AMC’s service, and cost 12 bucks for that daytime show. And I had no idea what it was besides animated and Japanese. Exciting.

What it is is a gentle slice-of-life film about young parents, their four year old, and the new baby in their life. It’s kind of a standard story about the sibling being jealous of the attention the newborn gets. What makes it unique is that the little boy either imagines or actually encounters a lot of people who help him with his anger and feelings of abandonment. He meets his dog in human form, his teenager sister from the future (the titular Mirai who is the baby now), his great-grandfather as a young man, and even himself as a teenager.

This is pretty warm, charming, funny, and honest film about real emotions. It also spins its wheels and seems to cover the same bases… yes the boy is angry and sometimes is mean to his little baby sister… but we get too many scenes establishing that. It starts to get redundant and similar scenes repeat. I’m sure, on a script level, this works as each engagement probably tells us some deeper truth, but in practice, watching it, it felt like we’d seen these emotions before.

But it’s still charming and warm and, if you are an anime fan who doesn’t demand mecha, magical girls, or all the other tropes, this is a good example of animation used to tell a different, mature kind of story. Not sure how available it’ll be, but I’m sure when it comes to streaming, I’d kind of recommend it. It’s not overall a strong recommendation due to its length, but it’s a sweet funny film nonetheless.

Score: 74