Review: Another World is a millennium-spanning fantasy opus

I love when a movie feels so big that it feels like it's barely being contained by the frame. You can feel the world stretching out beyond what we get to see. We're only scratching the surface, finding our way in at a certain entry point, wishing we could spend countless more hours there. It's the product of ambitious story-telling and rich world-building, and also the outcome of generous filmmaking. It's how I felt watching Another World, the Hong Kong animated adaptation of Naka Saijō's novel Thousand Year Ghost, which GKIDS is bringing to theaters in the US on June 5.

From the outset, it's clear that Another World is an abundant film. We're dropped right into the titular realm, a visually dazzling afterlife where souls go after death. There, they are greeted by Soul Keepers who serve as guides, leading them to the mystical waterfall where they'll pass through into their next life. Another World is full of knotted red ropes flowing through its winding waterways: these are the dregs of reincarnations, all that is left behind when a soul moves onto their next life. Each not represents a regret or resentment, something unsettled. Hopefully, in the next life, they'll live more fully, so that next time around, their rope will have no knots.

As a Soul Keeper, Gudo (a squat, masked figure who's more curious than his colleagues) is a cog in a pretty well-oiled machine, and more often than not, a blank witness to the cycle of reincarnation. People in Another World are normally sad, angry, confused -- all the emotions you might expect of the recently deceased. But then along comes Yuri, a young green-haired girl who is happy, excited, and - most importantly - driven by a singular purpose: to find her brother before she moves on. Such a request catches Gudo by surprise, and he's so drawn to Yuri's unusual energy that he agrees to help her, and becomes fascinated with the complexities and contradictions of humanity.

Alongside Yuri's story, we also follow Gudo as he interacts with other humans in the world of the living, intersecting with their lives at key moments to prevent calamity. You see, humans have the ability to grow seeds of evil inside them, and if they're allowed to blossom and bloom, those same humans will become massive, vicious creatures called Wraths, who promptly destroy everyone and everything around them. By jumping between these various scenarios, not clearly related but woven together by Gudo's presence, Another World takes on a thrilling momentum. The story feels a bit like a puzzle box, but it's also a sweeping fantasy adventure and a heart-wrenching emotional epic of the soul.

Gudo, who looks like he might have stepped right out of Majora's Mask, is one of my favorite movie characters in recent memory. Because of his small stature and sweet voice, he reads as a child, and his innocence and curiosity further enhance that feeling. He's not just the hero of the story, but also the beating heart of it, the core on which all of the emotional beats hinge. (And let me tell you, those emotional beats destroyed me -- I'm talking full-on weeping on my couch.)

Beyond the intrigue of the story's structure and the awe-inspiring fantastical vistas, what I responded to most in Another World is its deeply rooted hope, and the optimism it expresses about humanity. Gudo is witness to so much darkness and tragedy. He sees first-hand the utter unbearableness of being human, and he still wants to be part of it, to fight for it, to protect it. The film shows us that we can't always protect the people we love, or the people around us, but it also argues that it's still worth it to try, to put our energy into saving anyone we can, to nurturing the love we can find in the midst of the horrors of being human. Considering the state of the world right now, it's a message that hits hard, and one that is so beautifully delivered in this dazzling, dizzying, downright thrilling adventure.