This animated film, an inventive adaptation of Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen, colors the original’s tragic love and sensual charisma with freedom, solidarity, and hope, pushing its painterly appeal to the fullest. The story unfolds in nineteenth-century Andalusia, Spain, the region where flamenco, born of the sorrows and joys of the Roma people, first emerged. Salva, a wandering boy, arrives there with his teacher, an old blind knife-sharpener who can see the future. There, Salva falls in love at first sight with Carmen, a captivating Roma woman. But his teacher sees a vision of Carmen’s death in the blade of Jose, a soldier, and Salva and the street children join forces to prevent her tragic fate. What makes this film distinctive is that, rather than centering on the doomed romance between Carmen and Jose, it sings of hope through the children living in the streets of Seville. As seen in the director’s previous work Chicken for Linda!, the bold color palette and vigorous linework are irresistibly compelling. (LEE Juhyun)