Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: visually beautiful film with a strong but naive and woolly-brained ecological message
Hayao Miyazaki, “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind / Kaze no tani no Naushika”
Tag: Fantasy
Blancanieves: silent Gothic melodrama of a brief summer of shining innocence before a long winter of fascism
Pablo Berger, “Blancanieves” (2012) In the style of old 1920s expressionist silent films, Berger’s “Blancanieves”
She and Her Cat: short visual haiku meditating on doomed romance, loneliness and alienation in an overwhelming industrial world
Makoto Shinkai, “She and Her Cat” (1999) The debut animé film by Makoto Shinkai as
The Changing of the Guard: how love conquers social class and restrictions
Wlodzimierz Haupe and Halina Bielinska, “The Changing of the Guard / Zmiana warty” (1958) A
The Seventh Seal: examining a man’s crisis of faith and his quest for meaning to his existence
Ingmar Bergman, “The Seventh Seal / Det Sjunde Inseglet” (1957) Set in Sweden during the
Battle Royale (Director’s Cut): satire on Japanese society and militaristic values with plenty of teen angst and splatter gore
Kinji Fukasaku, “Battle Royale (Director’s Cut)” (2000) For all its extreme violence and other liberties
Upstream Color: how love and hope can overcome a cycle of evil and bring about healing
Shane Carruth, “Upstream Color” (2012) Since making “Primer”, Shane Carruth’s career as film director and
The Adventure of a Good Citizen: a plea for tolerance, celebration of eccentricity and relating to the world in new ways
Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, “The Adventure of a Good Citizen / Przygoda czlowieka poczciwego” (1937)
The Banquet: a much loved cartoon with wry gallows humour
Zofia Oraczewska, “The Banquet / Bankiet” (1976) Its style seems outdated for a short animation
Ichthys: a caustic commentary on institutional religion
Marek Skrobecki, “Ichthys” (2005) For once I didn’t need to look up an English translation