A Letter to Momo

Wednesday, July 23 - Sunday, August 24, 2014

All shows English-language version

From Production IG, the animation studio behind such classics as Ghost in the ShellandPatlabor, and the director of Jin-Roh, comes a wonderfully expressive and beautifully hand drawn tale that combines bursts of whimsy and kinetic humor with deep felt emotion and drama.

The last time Momo saw her father they had a fight – and now all she has left to remember him by is an incomplete letter that he had started to write her, a blank piece of paper penned with the words “Dear Momo” but nothing more. Moving with her mother from bustling Tokyo to the remote Japanese island of Shio, she soon discovers three goblins living in her attic, a trio of mischievous spirit creatures who have been assigned to watch over her and that only she can see.

The goblins are also perpetually famished and they begin to wreak havoc on the formerly tranquil island, ransacking pantries and ravaging orchards – acts for which Momo often has to take the blame. But these funny monsters also have a serious side, and may hold the key to helping Momo understand what her father had been trying to tell her.

The animation is superb throughout, from the painstakingly rendered serenity of the island’s Shinto shrines to the climactic finale – a frantic chase featuring thousands of squirming, morphing ghosts and goblins that is the best flight of supernatural fancy since Spirited Away.

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.