Shadows on the Wall | The Imaginary

The Imaginary

dir Yoshiyuki Momose
prd-scr Yoshiaki Nishimura
voices Louie Rudge-Buchanan, Evie Kiszel, Hayley Atwell, Sky Katz, Jeremy Swift, Kal Penn, LeVar Burton, Jane Singer, Ruby Barnhill, Roger Craig Smith, Courtenay Taylor, Miles Nibbe
release UK 28.Jun.24,
US 5.Jul.24
24/Japan Ponoc 1h47

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In recounting events through the eyes of an imaginary friend, this film is instantly intriguing, especially as it mixes colourful anime-style visuals with British storytelling. Based on AF Harrold's acclaimed novel, the movie takes several lovely flights of fancy as it depicts the ways children use their imaginations to face the realities of the world. Although an old-fashioned, somewhat hesitant pace keeps it from becoming fully involving.

In small-town England, Rudger (Rudge-Buchanan) is the imagined sidekick to young Amanda (Kiszel) on many exciting adventures and mischievous antics. When the creepy Bunting (Swift) turns up, Amanda's mother (Atwell) can't see the sinister girl accompanying him, or how he threatens to eat Rudger. Then when Amanda has an accident, Rudger is in danger of being forgotten, ushered by the cat Zinzan (Penn) into a parallel world of imaginaries who are no longer connected to their humans. Here, Rudger meets Emily (Katz), who helps as he tries to reunite with Amanda while avoiding Bunting.

A proper sense of dark menace surrounds Bunting, whose motivations are intriguingly blurred as he casually threatens to devour imaginaries. And there's also strong emotional resonance surrounding Amanda's life, as she has recently lost her beloved father, leaving her mother consumed by grief as she struggles to save the small family bookshop. By contrast, the wildly creative collection of imaginaries occupies a public library, where the ideas in the books give them life as they party unseen and unheard by the people reading silently around them.

Imagery is beautifully hand-drawn, giving the film a lovely storybook quality that adds eye-catching shadings to the Japanese anime designs. This adds a twist on a traditional look, while the pace is eerily mesmerising, augmented by understated vocal work that sometimes feels a bit tentative. So the story feels like it unfolds very slowly, even as things get increasingly intense. Which of course makes the running time seem a little long.

Along with the quirky visual flourishes and some wonderfully offbeat action set-pieces, the film is infused with thematic resonance as it gently explores the boundaries of human imagination, especially how it changes as we grow up. The warm message is that grown-ups can still recover the value of childhood creativity, both to make life happier and to deal with issues that are beyond comprehension. And the gorgeous colours and textures are worth seeing on a big screen if possible.

themes, violence 16.Jun.24

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