Together with DP Hiroaki Takeda, Nagahisa’s hyper pop and exuberant style brings to life incredible imagery, visuals and an experience that is imaginative and inspiring.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 14, 2024

Makoto Nagaisa has certainly proved the value of his unique, albeit intrusive, voice in this feature-and dares to challenge the standards of film form and execution as we know it.

| Jun 23, 2021

An extremely impressive first feature film from Makoto Nagahisa, a musical comic drama about navigating life out of grief, both deep and uplifting.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 10, 2021

The addled direction pours on gimmicky camerawork and editing, plus onscreen graphics, animation, videogame fillips, movie homages, et al. I found it exhausting and annoying.

| Oct 12, 2020

We Are Little Zombies drags a little too long ... but there's enough originality and compelling visuals in the movie for people to be interested in finding out what happens to these emotionally jaded kids who aren't as tough as they might think they are.

| Sep 24, 2020

Though it's often dazzling in its creativity, the sheer magnitude of its visual inventiveness can start to weigh you down after two hours.

| Sep 3, 2020

Doesn't waste a single moment, taking us on unexpected twists and turns through fun-house like visuals and warp-speed dialogue.

| Aug 16, 2020

Nagahisa's visual and intellectual experiment is one of the most original narratives to date about about the importance of love and the need for grief to come into being.

| Aug 11, 2020

Little Zombies still manages to stay coherent even while spiraling through incongruent moods. That's what makes the movie so special...

| Aug 7, 2020

An enjoyable coming-of-age music/drama.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 6, 2020

Written and directed by Makoto Nagahisa, We Are Little Zombies is a breakout feature-length debut from someone with a clear vision, unshackled by convention or hemmed in by traditional style.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 29, 2020

We Are Little Zombies is an explosive pop-rock shriek into the void; bursting with creativity and confronting the darkest truths about life, death, and growing up in over-saturated hues.

| Jul 27, 2020

Colourful and wildly paced, this Japanese romp assumes a child's eye view as it tackles darkly serious themes with comedy and music.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 21, 2020

It's a visual kaleidoscope anchored by a killer soundtrack. It's simply FUN.

| Jul 16, 2020

Nagahisa's eclectic debut doesn't talk down to these kids at all; it lets them approach grief the way they want to-whether it's through starting a band or stealing a garbage truck.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jul 16, 2020

Nagahisa throws everything in his cinematic arsenal at the proverbial wall - and gets most of it to stick.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 12, 2020

We Are Little Zombies' exploration of the mechanics of mourning, particularly the uneasy disjunct between inner and outer emotions, is layered and sincere.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 11, 2020

Whatever demented game its characters are playing, Nagahisa's live-action Twitch-fest is delightful for how it lets us watch along.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 11, 2020

Nagahisa's script dares to embrace true nihilism: not selfishness, not posturing decadence, but the genuine commitment to your core that the meaningless of the world isn't a bug, it's a feature.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 11, 2020

[WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES is] a full-throated barbaric yawp of an impressive and new major talent arriving on the cinematic scene...[delivering] a joyful movie about being isolated, forgotten, and even feeling devoid of happiness...

| Jul 10, 2020