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My Beautiful Girl, Mari Screenings in Seattle.

MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL, MARI
Most of the recent animated features emerging from South Korea's re-energized film industry take their cue from the popular anime style of Japan, with its angular body types, big eyes, zippy visual effects and science fiction story lines. Lee Sung-gang's exquisite tale of childhood remembrance and imagination is different, a patient fantasy painted in swaths of color without the traditional pen and ink lines. Two childhood friends recall their last days together in their small coastal village, where an abandoned lighthouse full of the ghosts of flying fish is their playground and a marble with a magic spark is their ticket to a fantasy dimension. Behind the magic are the very real, roiling emotions of loss, betrayal and adolescent attraction. There's a delicacy and a poignancy in both story and style that is rare in animation today. (Sean Axmaker)

GRADE: B+

At Grand Illusion today through Thursday. 80 minutes. No rating, for all ages. Korean with English subtitles.