Kohei Kadowaki has made a film that is utterly staggering and I am still processing it. I need to go again a couple more times to full comprehend what he has done here.
The basic plot has two boys neeting in grade school and becoming fast friends. However things don't always go smoothly. When one boy takes the blame for what the other did it ends up cracking the friendship.
The basic plot is something that we have kind of seen before, but at the same time Kadowaki rearranges things, shifts time, alters point of view and most importantly uses the art to push the story and the emotion farther than this ever could have been in live action. Every line, every color adds weight to the story. Kadowaki is able to use exaggeration of faces and objects to intensify what is happening. The layers we get through the art are additions that could not have ever gotten in a live action film. Do not think of this as run of the mill or familiar because if you do you are not fully taking in everything that is going on with this film.
Somewhere in the first half I kind of disconnected from the film, not because it was bad but because I realized that I was seeing a true cinematic masterpiece. Watching the film I was very aware that I was watching a master director cook, and turning to animation to fully express the story and emotion he wanted to tell. Somewhere in that early part of the film I went from thinking that this was just going to be a regular story simply told in animation to understanding that this was a regular story being given the weight and the complexity that only a work of art can give.
I was, and I am, in absolute awe... and I don't have enough words to express myself.
After I finished the film I was reading some of the reviews of the film from Cannes, where it just premeired and I was struck by Chase Hutchinson's remark that film is a relative of Kore-eda's MONSTER, another coming of age film that plays with perception. I latched on to that connection because it is the easiest way of explaining to someone (who has seen the earlier film) what this film is kind of like. I add the qualifier, kind of because WE ARE ALIENS is entirely it's own thing.
I should warn you that the film is also kin to Yeon Sang-ho's (TRAIN TO BUSAN) early animated films, particularly KING OF PIGS. I say that because there is a darkness and an edge you don't usually tun across in animation
Put this on your list of films that you must see. There is not only a great film here but I'm guessing it's the first feature by a master director.
I will not say more other than I need to see this film again to do it justice.
WE ARE ALIENS is one of the great films of 2026
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