‘Anima’ Review: The Odd-Couple Road Trip Takes Rewarding Detours in an Inventive and Poignant Drama

‘Anima’ Review: The Odd-Couple Road Trip Takes Rewarding Detours in an Inventive and Poignant Drama

Sydney Chandler and Takehiro Hira star in Brian Tetsuro Ivie’s 'Anima,' the story of a dying man and a tech employee who's avoiding her own grief.

'Anima' review: Science fiction with a generous dose of human yearning

There's a slippery magic that can occur between two strangers. At first, they are nothing to each other, except perhaps a means to an end. Maybe they are even slightly repelled by each other. Then something flicks, and they are not just strangers anymore. They are people who, for better or worse, can see truly each other, even if they never see each other again. This is the story at the core of Anima, which has a sci-fi setup that might suggest …

Anima SXSW Review: Sci-Fi Road Movie Is Quaint but Deeply Human

Not to be confused with the Paul Thomas Anderson/Thom Yorke short of the same name, Anima is the narrative feature debut of filmmaker Brian Tetsuro Ivie, and it is the type of indie gem that this writer loves to discover on the festival circuit. Although it’s certainly quaint and occasionally a bit conventional, the film’s genuine human emotion keeps the film incredibly effective from an emotional standpoint. What is Anima about? Anima follows a…