Films like Children of the Sea.

Children of the Sea (2019) reads as Neutral, measured, measured animation / fantasy, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

The Boy and the Heron (2) (2023) poster
1. The Boy and the Heron (2)2023

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Vanishing Waves (2012) poster
2. Vanishing Waves2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Girl Without Hands (2016) poster
3. The Girl Without Hands2016

Keeps the patient, unhurried pace and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Wendy (Behn Zeitlin) (2020) poster
4. Wendy (Behn Zeitlin)2020

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Fall (2006) (2006) poster
5. The Fall2006

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Green Knight (2021) poster
6. The Green Knight2021

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Good Manners (2018) poster
7. Good Manners2018

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a intimate, personal stakes.

Opera Jawa (2006) poster
8. Opera Jawa2006

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

November(2017)2017
9. November2017

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a intimate, personal stakes.

Tale of Tales (2015) (2015) poster
10. Tale of Tales2015

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Congress (2013) poster
11. The Congress2013

Keeps the unmistakable directorial hand and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Fountain (2006) poster
12. The Fountain2006

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a documentary-plain realism.

These are Children of the Sea’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

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