Latest feature Films
The Last Blossom
Akutsu, a former yakuza, recounts his life story to a plant from his deathbed in prison. Baku Kinoshita unfolds a web of choices and questions of conscience that gives his idiosyncratically drawn characters unexpected depth.
Two nameless demons in the form of a pig and a toad suddenly fall out of favour with their king, thus losing their only chance at immortality. But when they learn that the venerable monk Tang is travelling west to collect the sacred Buddhist scrolls, their ears prick up. That’s because the monk’s flesh is also said to confer immortality.
Instead of hunting down the monk himself, the demons opt for a more cunning approach: to gather the scrolls before the monk arrives. After all, this is how one becomes a Buddha – and gains immortality. The unlikely pair sets out to find like-minded souls who also yearn for eternal life and will journey westwards with them.
Based on the medieval Chinese legend “Journey to the West”, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio created a hugely successful animated series for the Bilibili web platform as early as 2023. Now with “Nobody”, the long-established studio has produced a feature-length reinterpretation of the legend, resulting in the most successful Chinese 2D animated film.
Director Shui Yu has thus managed to reinterpret the legendary novel twice. The film is peppered with plenty of humour and action, while also displaying an evident respect for the source material. (Dorian Duric)
Two nameless demons in the form of a pig and a toad suddenly fall out of favour with their king, thus losing their only chance at immortality. But when they learn that the venerable monk Tang is travelling west to collect the sacred Buddhist scrolls, their ears prick up. That’s because the monk’s flesh is also said to confer immortality.
Instead of hunting down the monk himself, the demons opt for a more cunning approach: to gather the scrolls before the monk arrives. After all, this is how one becomes a Buddha – and gains immortality. The unlikely pair sets out to find like-minded souls who also yearn for eternal life and will journey westwards with them.
Based on the medieval Chinese legend “Journey to the West”, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio created a hugely successful animated series for the Bilibili web platform as early as 2023. Now with “Nobody”, the long-established studio has produced a feature-length reinterpretation of the legend, resulting in the most successful Chinese 2D animated film.
Director Shui Yu has thus managed to reinterpret the legendary novel twice. The film is peppered with plenty of humour and action, while also displaying an evident respect for the source material. (Dorian Duric)
Info
Duration 90'
Country JP, 2025