A Glean movie guide
Beyond the Frame: Animation for Adults
Mature themes, masterfully told.
Sophisticated stories and complex themes that prove animation isn't just for kids.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Grave of the Fireflies
A devastatingly realistic and emotionally raw masterpiece about survival during 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.
- 02
Perfect Blue
A chilling psychological thriller that blurs the line between reality and a pop star's fractured identity.
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
Ghost in the Shell
A philosophical sci-fi landmark exploring consciousness and identity in a hyper-connected 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.
- 04
Akira
The definitive cyberpunk epic, featuring visceral action and a sprawling, dystopian political narrative.
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.
- 05
Anomalisa
A hauntingly human stop-motion drama about loneliness, connection, and the mundanity of modern life.
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
- 06
Persepolis
A striking, autobiographical coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of 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.
- 07
Paprika
A mind-bending journey through dreams and reality with breathtaking, surreal visual sequences.
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.
- 08
Waltz with Bashir
A powerful animated documentary that uses surreal imagery to confront the suppressed trauma 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.
- 09
Flee
A deeply moving documentary following a refugee's perilous journey and his search for a place to call home.
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.
- 10
It's Such a Beautiful Day
A profound existential exploration of memory and mortality told through deceptively simple stick-figure art.
Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche.
- 11
I Lost My Body
A poetic and melancholic French fantasy that follows a severed hand searching for its owner in 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.
- 12
Loving Vincent
A stunning technical achievement where every frame is an oil painting, exploring the life of Van Gogh.
A young man arrives at the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.