The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Mahito moves to his mother's ancestral home after she dies and his father marries her younger sister. On the estate, Mahito is harrassed by a persistent gray heron. When his pregnant stepmother goes on a walk and doesn't return, he is lured to a mystical tower by the heron and enters into a dreamlike world in his pursuit of rescuing her.

It's a nightmarish mess of a story and the heron morphs into a scary trollish man wearing a heron costume. I rarely understood what was supposed to be happening. Beautiful animation, but who cares when it's put to use for such a nonsensical tale?

C-