A Silent Voice is a film that stays with you. It's not comfortable viewing—it deals with bullying, depression, and suicide in ways that are raw and unflinching. But it's also a film about hope, about the possibility of change, about learning to see yourself and others clearly.

Some people criticize it for not punishing Shoya enough, or for making Shoko too forgiving, or for simplifying the manga's complexity . Those criticisms have merit. But the film's emotional honesty outweighs its flaws. It's a story about the messiness of forgiveness—both forgiving others and forgiving yourself. And it tells that story with more grace and sensitivity than almost any other film I can think of.