Few incredible movies have been as criminally neglected as the award winning anime masterpiece Mind Game. A revolutionary work of art which pushes animation in a host of thrilling new directions, the film is yet to receive a release in Europe or America, despite the fact that all who have seen it agree that it is one of the most visually impressive and wildly exhilarating cinematic experiences you're likely to come across. After bumping into an old flame from school, Myon, aspiring comic book artist Nishi joins her at the family-run restaurant, when two Yakuza gangsters enter looking for Myon's father. Things get a little too hairy for Nishi and one of the gangsters pops a cap in his ass - literally - sending him off to meet his maker. None too pleased with being told by God to walk into the void of oblivion, Nishi defies his instructions and runs back to the temporal realm, where he saves Myon and her sister from the Yakuza and takes them on the run - straight into the belly of a giant whale. Adapted from the comic of the same name by Robin Nishi, director Masaaki Yuasa gave his artists and animators free reign to experiment to their hearts content with the film's visual style, resulting in an incredible range of styles and techniques which nevertheless blend together to form a coherent whole. The tour de force imagery is more than matched by the content, an effortless fusion of fast-paced action and surreal comedy replete with flashbacks, flash-forwards and forays into the subconscious thoughts of its characters, all with a beautiful underlying comment on the power of creativity and free thinking. It's a message of non-conformity presented in passionate, expressionistic style. This isn't simply one of the greatest animated films ever made, it's one of the greatest movies of all time, once seen never forgotten.
