ArteFact

“Look, see a world that holds more wonders than any since the earth was born . . .”

So begins writer and director David Lowry’s The Green Knight (2021), an adaptation of the 14th century Arthurian legend, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This first line establishes the theme that animates the film: that our world is stranger than we can ever fathom, full of mystery and enchantment, and it is how we respond to this mystical order that occupies our lives.

Naoki Urasawa’s 74-episode anime series Monster (directed by Masayuki Kojima) provides a slow, graphic, confronting, blow-by-blow account of a person’s relationship with past, future, and others. In keeping with the title, the series provides a visceral portrayal of both the personification of monsters, and of how close a person—even one we consider “good”—can be to becoming a monster themselves.

Most anime offerings are shallow or crass, which makes the good ones stand out all the more. They not only provide magnificent artwork, storytelling and character development; they also give unexpected insights about the human condition, the virtues, and faith. Violet Evergarden, Taichi Ishidate’s quiet and beautifully animated adaption of the steampunk light novel series by Kana Akatsuki, does all of these.

A review of Denis Villeneuve's Arrival (2016).

By all normal “rules” of the world of television, a sitcom about the afterlife and moral philosophy should not have worked, but it did, not least because the writing is quick, clever, and smarter than most anything I’ve seen.

A Review of Trevor Jimenez’s Weekends.

A Review of Netflix's Messiah.

A Review of Greta Gerwig's Little Women (2019).

A Review of Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life (2019).

A Review of John Krasinski's A Quiet Place (2018).