Recensioni de* critic*

Uniquely fresh... This isn't just misery tourism, but a wild trip into the teen psyche, in all it's fresh smartness and surprising durability.

A relentless, but emotionally well-balanced character study... Almost every scene feels like it was designed with a unique visual scheme and payoff in mind, and all feature some insight into Nagahisa’s characters.

Splitting the screen in two, fading to black and white, writing over it, and dunking an entire scene into a fishbowl, he fashions a fantasia of pranks so unexpected and colors so intense (the splendid cinematography is by Hiroaki Takeda), they could make you hallucinate.

Smart, noisy and flashily assured, “We Are Little Zombies” is entirely, gleefully its own thing. Abuse and neglect, drunkenness and disappointment... cram its hyperactive plot, offering tender clues to problems that predate the children’s bereavement.

an 8-bit movie that’s as ecstatic and deranged as any of the classic JRPGs it ingests into its story... Whatever demented game its characters are playing, Nagahisa’s live-action Twitch-fest is delightful for how it lets us watch along.

[The film's] combination of sweetness, brusqueness and ebullient chaos is highly engaging and it is aimed at all ages, though not all adults will have the energy to stay the course. Indeed, it's overlong, and its episodic structure... makes its pacing issues worse, but there's so much going on and the young stars' performances are so well judged that you'll still find it difficult to look away.

The Little Zombies wield the same charming punk spirit as the film, and once instant fame reveals its viciously sharp teeth, Nagahisa doesn’t hold back from peering into the nihilistic abyss that stands before the kids.

The many cultural touchstones in We Are Little Zombies are seamlessly weaved by Nagahisa into a kaleidoscopic portrait of a world where emotions are accessed and revealed primarily through digital intermediaries, be they social media or a dizzying glut of pop-cultural creations.

This fantastically eccentric, proudly unclassifiable curio... takes a premise that’s borderline-Dickensian in its bleakness and garlands it with gorgeous pixel art, deadpan comedy and infectious punk-pop... It zings and frisks along like the group’s madly catchy signature hit single, bedding down into your brain before jumping back out when you least expect it.

No pulsating, psychedelic, pop-punk phantasmagoria ought to be as moving and smart as “We Are Little Zombies.” But Makoto Nagahisa’s explosively ingenious and energetic debut... holds the high score for visual and narrative invention, as well as boasting [insert gigantic-beating-heart GIF] and braaaains, too.

Nagahisa perhaps tries to say too much about modern digital life, but if this film is anything to go by, he will be a name to watch as he hones his story techniques... There is nothing else out there that is like [Little Zombies].

We Are Little Zombies is built like Pac-Man on steroids, like a Wes Anderson film experiencing an intense acid trip.