A Glean movie guide
Animation for Grown-Ups
Beyond the Saturday morning cartoons.
Sophisticated stories, mature themes, and stunning visuals beyond the family genre.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Akira
A landmark cyberpunk epic that redefined the scale and intensity of adult 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
Ghost in the Shell
A haunting philosophical inquiry into identity and humanity within a digital future.
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.
- 03
Perfect Blue
A chilling psychological thriller that 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.
- 04
Grave of the Fireflies
A devastatingly beautiful and realistic portrait of survival 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.
- 05
Persepolis
A sharp, stylish, and deeply personal coming-of-age story set against 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.
- 06
Waltz with Bashir
A groundbreaking animated documentary exploring the fractured memories of war and trauma.
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.
- 07
Anomalisa
A uniquely human stop-motion drama that captures the profound ache of loneliness and connection.
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
- 08
Paprika
A dazzling, mind-bending journey through the collective unconscious and the world of dreams.
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
It's Such a Beautiful Day
A minimalist masterpiece that finds immense philosophical depth in the life of a stick figure.
Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche.
- 10
I Lost My Body
A poetic and highly original French drama about loss, destiny, and a hand's journey across Paris.
A story of Naoufel, a young man who is in love with Gabrielle. In another part of town, a severed hand escapes from a dissection lab, determined to find its body again.
- 11
The Wind Rises
Hayao Miyazaki’s most mature work, blending historical biography with a somber meditation on creation.
A lifelong love of flight inspires Japanese aviation engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose storied career includes the creation of the A-6M World War II fighter plane.
- 12
Fantastic Planet
A surreal and allegorical sci-fi cult classic with a visual style unlike anything else in cinema.
On the planet Ygam, the Draags, extremely technologically and spiritually advanced blue humanoids, consider the tiny Oms, human beings descendants of Terra's inhabitants, as ignorant animals. Those who live in slavery are treated as simple pets and used to entertain Draag children; those who live hidden in the hostile wilderness of the planet are periodically hunted and ruthlessly slaughtered as if they were vermin.