Although (or because) it lacks structure and specific insights into death from the perspective of children, Beautiful Something Left Behind emphasizes what it believes is the more important thing to keep in mind when talking to kids. One cannot impose an adult's perspective on the way children choose to process their feelings, but one can and should be able to provide a protected space for those kids to speak freely. It's an incredibly kind film, one that fully believes that young people are already fully formed "characters" whose ignorance about the world isn't seen as a flaw nor as innocence to be romanticized.

As the film follows these kids around, occasionally checking in with them to hear about what thoughts or questions they might have, we still get peripheral peeks into the lives of the adults surrounding them. And as these grown-ups gently invite the children to participate in the little rituals we have to commemorate our dearly beloved (such as visiting memorials for the dead), we ourselves become compelled to think of these habits in a new way. The film never holds our hand or tells us how to feel, but what I drew from it was a reminder to see grieving as restorative rather than self-flagellation. It's remarkably reassuring.