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Outside of Pixar, no animation company has been more exciting to follow this decade that Studio 4°C. While works like their masterpiece Tekkonkinkreet and TV series Tweeny Witches have garnered releases in the U.S., their crazy tour de force Mind Game has not.

The film runs the gamut of animation techniques, from photographs to rough lines and storyboards, making it come across as a more awesome, less Philosophy 101 version of Waking Life. You’ve never seen anything quite like this.

Mind Game follows Nishi, a loser who has a crush on his childhood girlfriend. After an encounter with the Japanese mafia, the film follows Nishi as he journeys to heaven and back, and ends up trapped in an even more unlikely place. Nishi (and some friends) attempt to break out of their trap, and discover what it truly means to be alive along the way.

Mind Game - Trailer