Like many people, I was born into an era where Disney and Pixar films were the epitome of quality, and would regularly dominate the animation industry. I have absolutely nothing against these studios, and many of their productions defined my childhood and I still regularly find solace in some of their work. However, in all honesty, I also have grown to find their work sometimes a bit overblown, and their domination in the field of animated cinema is sometimes very overwhelming, and even some of their most remarkable achievements sometimes veer into the zone of obviousness (even Pixar’s most recent offering, the extraordinary Coco, was somewhat predictable, even if I absolutely adored it). As a response to this pre-eminence of the two studios, GKIDS, an independent distribution studio focused on international and alternative animation, has provided the world with some of the most unique and idiosyncratic animated films over the past few years. Listing some of the notable achievements that the studio has spread to a wider audience would take up too much time, so let us focus on one in particular, a film that is polarizing, divisive and incredible – My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, a surreal, mind-bending masterpiece of modern animated filmmaking.

The product of underground graphic novelist and comic book artist Dash Shaw, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea is about a character named Dash (Jason Schwartzman), a sophomore in a high school somewhere in the United States. He is fixated on making the new school year the time when he defines himself and makes himself into something worthwhile, attempting to abandon the image of being nothing more than a pathetic young man without any promise. With the help of his best friend Assaf (Reggie Watts) and school newspaper editor Verti (Maya Rudolph), they intend to become much more than how the rest of their peers see them. However, there is a small inconvenience – their school (which is located on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean) begins to sink into the sea. The entire school and those located within need to struggle to survive and make it before they perish at the bottom of the ocean. Our protagonists, along with popular girl Mary (Lena Dunham) and the gruff but caring Lunch Lady Lorraine (Susan Sarandon) prove to be the heroes that their peers need by trying to save as many people as they can, but not without difficulty and quite a few brutal demises of their fellow students along the way. Yes, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea really is that absurd.

Lending their voices to this film are a talented group of performers who are already established and beloved actors in their own right, who contribute massively to the success of this film with their empathetic work as these characters. Acting in an animated film is perhaps not the most difficult task for an actor, but it takes a special kind of performer to be able to convey the true emotion present in the film, and for the most part, many actors do succeed, because a great script sometimes does a lot of the work for them. The cast of My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea admirably work with the rapid, spitfire dialogue of Shaw’s screenplay, and find the gravitas in characters that extend far beyond simply being archetypal high school figures. Jason Schwartzman (who never fails to astound me with his prowess in choosing the most audacious and fascinating projects), Reggie Watts, Maya Rudolph and Lena Dunham are all fantastic, but it is Susan Sarandon as Lunch Lady Lorraine, who steals the show. Giving a melancholy and empathetic performance as the woman who is pivotal to the high school, but somehow remains a somewhat invisible, obscure background figure, Sarandon is marvelous. Through a few memorable soliloquies about the background of her character, Sarandon gives a complex, nuanced performance – and who would’ve thought one of her finest hours would come in an obscure animated film like My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea? The cast may not be the most memorable part of the film, but they support the central story so well and contribute magnificently to the brilliant narrative that Shaw was attempting to construct.

One aspect that sets My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea apart from more mainstream fare is the animation style – in no uncertain terms, the animation of this film was crude, messy and inconsistent, and it seemed somewhat amateur and unprofessional. Yet, it was also audacious, brilliant and perfectly befitting for the spirit of the film. Films like this and Loving Vincent and the multiple incredible productions from Studio Ghibli are remarkable in their own right, but in an industry entirely dominated by computer-generated imagery and digital filmmaking, it takes tenacity and audacity to dare to go against what has become conventional and convenient, and explore other avenues of artistic expression to convey the story. I truly believe that had My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea been animated through more tidy, straightforward and conventional methods, it would’ve lost its charm, and would not have been nearly as endearing and mesmerizing. Perhaps one could extend the theme of isolation and being an outsider in one’s formative years to the style in which this film was made – much like our protagonists, the animation of My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea was rough around the edges and filled with flaws and imperfections – but those very flaws are what define it and allow it to grow and become a meaningful statement on growing up. The animation may not be particularly attractive, and it takes some adjusting to get used to it, but once the audience engages with the story, the animation style proves to be possibly the film’s most necessary asset.

There is something My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea does better than many other films, especially those that have similar plot threads – it manages to portray the high school experience in brutal honesty. Arguably, this film is not exactly resonant with anyone in terms of the specific plot – I have yet to hear about an entire high school sinking into the sea – but the grander narrative is something many of us can relate to in some way. Dash is an outsider in a world of queen bees and jocks, everyone having many friends and enough popularity to give them the gratification that many of us search for in our adolescent years – but unlike the main characters in other high school-based films, Dash is not a self-pitying milquetoast, but rather an overconfident pariah who chooses to go his own direction rather than following the crowd, in the hopes that he will have enough influence to get others to go along with him. The high school experience is difficult to convey perfectly on film, and Shaw never attempted to make anything that was intended to be an overarching statement on the entire repertoire of experiences one has during the high school years, but rather to tell a recognizable story through the lens of a zany, eccentric and chaotic animated comedy, that is occasionally violent, often bawdy and ultimately a rewarding, terrific experience.

Dash Shaw was clearly attempting to make something quite absurd here. In a way, My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea feels like the madcap, psychedelic lovechild of the thoughtful Brat Pack comedies of the 1980s, and the heart-stopping disaster films of the 1970s (I would’ve called it “The Poseidon Adventure meets The Breakfast Club, but Robert Abele of the LA Times got there first). It is a hilarious and extremely odd story about the high school years, told through a story that is as entertaining as it is melancholy and meaningful. Dash Shaw is most certainly a burgeoning talent, and after having made a name for himself in the realm of graphic novels, I surely hope that My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea represents his arrival onto the cinematic landscape, because his audacity, coupled with his tenacious originality, will surely make him a remarkable voice that cinema so desperately needs. There are not many films quite like My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, but we can be grateful that there is at least one, and it has something very meaningful to say throughout. Certainly one of the most surreal but brilliant achievements in animation over the past decade.