A retro-future mash-up of stirring dogfights and austere melodrama.

Renowned director Mamoru Oshii fuses grand painterly anime with enthralling 3D animation to create a film of jaw-dropping aerial combat and wistful introspection.

Between WWII-style sky battles, a group of perpetually adolescent pilots live their lives in the shadow of death. With no memory of the past and little regard for the future, their world is a compact riddle of alienation and unease.

Just behind the cascading bullet casings, hyper-real clouded vistas and atmospheric soundscapes lies a hidden critique of anime and gaming culture. Are these characters paying the price of our escapism?

The director of Ghost in the Shell uses incredible CG to cross Last Year at Marienbad with Battle of Britain, creating something uniquely his own.