Best Movies to Watch by Yoshie Shimamura

Staff & contributors
When a film adaptation takes the story of a beloved Japanese children’s novel, and depicts the characters travelling to heaven as cats, it kinda seems like a random addition. Yet, this decision makes sense for Night on the Galactic Railroad, because while the magic and the dreaminess of the trip to the stars still remains intact, the cats keep a bit of the mystery in a visual manner and keep the touch of whimsy as the train ride leads into darker and heavier turns. The visual poetry and the thoughtful way the film contemplates the novel Kenji Miyazawa wrote in grief makes Night on the Galactic Railroad one to remember.

Genre: Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Mystery

Actor: Chika Sakamoto, Chikao Ohtsuka, Fujio Tokita, Gorō Naya, Hidehiro Kikuchi, Junko Hori, Kaori Nakahara, Mayumi Tanaka, Miyuki Ichijou, Ryuji Saikachi, Shun Yashiro, Takeshi Aono, Yoshie Shimamura, Yuriko Fuchizaki

Director: Gisaburō Sugii