A Glean movie guide
Animation for Grown-Ups
Beyond the Saturday morning cartoons.
Complex stories and mature themes for a sophisticated audience.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Akira
A visceral cyberpunk landmark that redefined the scale and intensity of adult-oriented animation.
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
- 02
Perfect Blue
A chilling psychological thriller that masterfully blurs the line between reality and celebrity obsession.
Rising pop star Mima quits singing to pursue a career as an actress. After she takes up a role on a popular detective show, her handlers and collaborators begin turning up murdered. Harboring feelings of guilt and haunted by visions of her former self, Mima's reality and fantasy meld into a frenzied paranoia.
- 03
Anomalisa
A deeply human stop-motion drama exploring the crushing weight of existential loneliness and connection.
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
- 04
Persepolis
A poignant and visually striking memoir of a young girl coming of age during the Iranian Revolution.
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.
- 05
Ghost in the Shell
A philosophical sci-fi masterpiece that questions the very nature of consciousness and identity.
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.
- 06
Flee
A powerful documentary using animation to tell the harrowing story of an Afghan refugee’s journey.
Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.
- 07
Grave of the Fireflies
A devastatingly realistic portrayal of survival and tragedy during the final days of World War II.
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.
- 08
Paprika
A mind-bending journey through the subconscious where dreams and reality collide in spectacular fashion.
When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patient's dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist can stop it and recover it before damage is done: Paprika.
- 09
Waltz with Bashir
A haunting animated documentary that confronts the trauma and suppressed memories of war.
An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
- 10
Mad God
A grotesque and awe-inspiring stop-motion descent into a hellish world of industrial decay.
A figure known as "The Assassin" descends from the heavens into a nightmarish pit full of monsters, titans, and cruelty.
- 11
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
A razor-sharp, R-rated musical satire that remains a definitive peak of adult-oriented comedy.
In this feature film based on the hit animated series, the third graders of South Park sneak into an R-rated film by ultra-vulgar Canadian television personalities Terrance and Phillip, and emerge with expanded vocabularies that leave their parents and teachers scandalized. When outraged Americans try to censor the film, the controversy spirals into a call to wage war on Canada and Terrance and Phillip end up on death row, with the kids their only hope of rescue.
- 12
It's Such a Beautiful Day
An experimental and profoundly moving exploration of mortality told through simple stick-figure art.
Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche.