Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek

This wonderfully creepy award-winning anime short film takes the old-fashioned game of hide-and-seek (kakurenbo is the Japanese version) and turns it into something truly haunting. In a seemingly deserted city, a group of children wearing fox masks play a hide-and-seek type of game they call O-to-ko-yo, in which they must travel through a trail of dark alleys before coming to a central square. What happens after that is the subject of rumor, since it is believed that children vanish while playing and are never seen again. A young boy named Hikora joins the activities in order to search for his missing sister, who disappeared in an earlier incarnation of the game, and that's all I'll say, because giving away more of the plot would ruin the genuine originality of this taut and compact work. Director Shuhei Morita keeps the action moving at breakneck speed until the devastating conclusion in this mini-masterwork reminiscent of the best of classic Twilight Zone episodes. Presented on a dual-language disc, rated 13-up, DVD extras include a “making-of” featurette and interviews with the creators. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: P. (P. Hall)