Another World

After their last breath, humans go to Another World, a fantastical landscape where the spirits of the dead are guided by small creatures toward rebirth. But before reincarnation, their old lives and all emotions and memories that come with them must be scraped away. Tommy Kai Chung Ng’s Ghibli-inspired fantasy animation is a feast for the senses and a stress test for the heart that threatens to tear apart in light of the centuries of human cruelty and bitter fates that spirit guide Gudo had to witness. How lucky, then, that this lyrical yet pitch-black reckoning with the human condition is brimming with extravagant panoramas and monstrous action set pieces. A little eye candy while we dance on the brink of the abyss can’t hurt. (Markus Keuschnigg)