An excellent article. I would also like to add a shout for Grave of the Fireflies, which is a gruelling, scarring, utterly unforgettable piece of work with the power to make a paving slab weep.

I'd also like to add a shouts for The Red Turtle, Your Name, Waltz with Bashir, and especially The Illusionist.

Regarding the latter, here's a "cut and paste" of my review from over ten years ago:

The genesis of The Illusionist is very interesting. Not to be confused with the 2006 Edward Norton film of the same name, it is based on an unproduced screenplay by the legendary Jacques Tati. The rights were acquired by Belleville Rendez-vous director Sylvain Chomet when Tati’s daughter allowed him to make the screenplay after sitting on it for fifty years. Apparently Tati did not make the film because he found it too personal, but he nevertheless dedicated it to his daughter. This film retains that dedication even though the story has been relocated to Scotland and is told through animation.

As further evidence that animation is not the sole domain of children, The Illusionist is an extraordinary piece of work aimed squarely at grown-ups. That’s not to say it’s filled with sex and violence. On the contrary, this is a film that anyone can safely take their mother to see, and that is meant as a compliment. Set in the late 1950s, it is about a struggling French stage magician who meets a naïve island girl on a tour of Scotland. Believing he is a real magician, she accompanies him to Edinburgh. There the two form a strong bond as he struggles to survive in an era where music hall theatre is dying and rock bands are on the rise.

The very simple story provides for a quiet and delightful exploration of friendship, naivety, loneliness and the end of an era. It is so achingly beautiful it makes you want to cry (I almost did, and there were many snuffles from the audience during the final scenes). The film is virtually wordless, and what smidges of dialogue are present is easily understandable without subtitles (there are none). The Illusionist is also a love letter to Edinburgh, specifically Edinburgh of the 1950s. Those who know and love the city will take great pleasure and spotting particular locations, streets and shops, all of which are lovingly crafted in 2D hand-drawn pictures, giving the film an elegant, nostalgic, dreamlike quality.

This is a textbook example of a film that really creeps up on you, gradually getting under the skin as you adjust to the unhurried pace (slow but not boring). Yet at the same time it has just enough of an edge to it to undercut any excessive sentimentality. For instance, Chomet is unafraid of introducing the audience matter-of-factly to a suicidal character, or of showing a brief shot of a homeless person being mugged by three boys. Moments like these remind the audience of the harsh realities faced by the characters in the story, despite their inherent kindness. There is also a clever homage to Tati during a scene where his classic Mon Oncle is showing at a local cinema. Furthermore, as the icing on the cake, the gentle music score by Chomet himself merely adds to the overall effect of a subtle, understated and profoundly moving piece of work.

Put simply, this is a lovely, lovely film which I cannot recommend enough. Funny, melancholy and quietly devastating, I urge you to see it in the cinema if at all possible, and if not make it a priority once it is released on DVD.

Simon Dillon, October 2010.