Penguin Highway (2018)

Penguin Highway (2018)

A strange yet charming coming-of-age story about life’s mysteries, complete with penguins

The Very Best

8.2

Movie

Japan
Japanese
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama
2018
HIROYASU ISHIDA
Hidetoshi Nishijima, Kana Kita, Landen Beattie
118 min

What it's about

A fourth-grader investigates the mysterious reason behind the sudden appearance of penguins in his village, which is somehow related to a power from a young woman working at a dental clinic.

The take

Surreal, strange, yet wondrous, Penguin Highway never takes a straightforward approach to its story. Penguins pop up out of nowhere, leading the nerdy and precocious Aoyama to study them via empirical observation and logical deduction. These studies don’t end up with a feasible explanation– in fact, by the final act, the film abandons all laws of physics. But the journey to that act feels intuitively right. This journey feels like an indescribable formative experience. Aoyama may be obsessed with growing up and committing to the reasonable adult mindset, but he is still a child. From fending off bullies to forming connections with others, his childhood imagination served him better than science could. The film reveres this discovery as well as it should.

Active Streaming Deals

$50 Off DirecTV Stream

$74.99

$64.99

Active Streaming Deals

69% Off NordVPN + 3 months Free

$14.99

$4.99

Active Streaming Deals

50% Off Sling

$40

$20

Active Streaming Deals

49% Off ExpressVPN

$12.95

$6.67

Comments

Add a comment

What did you think? Who should watch it?

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

Frybread Face and Me (2023)

A gorgeous and tender coming-of-age addition to the Indigenous New Wave

8.0

Yeelen (1987)

An epic, spellbinding myth from Mali brought to life by one of Africa’s greatest filmmakers

8.0

Spirited Away (2001)

The beautifully hand-drawn Japanese winner of the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature

9.0

Angel’s Egg (1985)

A surreal, (almost) wordless journey into the meaning of life

7.4

Doi Boy (2023)

Nontawat Numbenchapol dives into feature film in this stunning, thrilling debut

7.8

A Deadly Invitation (2023)

A Mexican whodunit that feels more like an infodump than a compelling murder mystery

5.5

The Conference (2023)

A Swedish slasher comedy with the world’s worst team building retreat

7.3

System Crasher (2019)

A tale of trauma and one of the most talked about movies on Netflix in 2020.

9.0

Paris Je T’aime (2006)

An anthology ode to the City of Love stacked with talent behind and in front of the camera

7.6

Babylon (2022)

An intoxicating and lavishly designed experience of Hollywood hedonism

8.0

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2023 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.