![The Concierge The Concierge film image; anime women in concierge uniform](https://images.viff.org/uploads/2024/05/Concierge.jpg?resize=600%2C337&gravity)
For Akino it’s a big step: measuring up to the impeccable customer service standards at the prestigous Hokkyaoko Department Store, where she is their newest concierge, tasked with ensuring that each client leaves the building satisfied, no matter how demanding his/her expectations. And one more thing, the store’s caters exclusively to animals, including (the VIPs) extinct species…
Yoshimi Itazu’s lighthearted anime is a wry look at the best — and worst — aspects of a career in the service industry.
With a lively, expressive art style and wonderfully absurd characters, The Concierge’s little vignettes, and low-stakes affairs paint an enthralling picture of the Hokkyokku Department Store’s fantastical ecosystem and a more far-reaching commentary on humanity’s relationship with ecosystems in the real world. Through its light and adorable premise, The Concierge smuggles in a rather tragic environmentalist message, but not at the expense of its incredibly well-crafted gags.
Kambole Campbell, IGN
The Concierge is a wonderfully animated film. While the character designs are simple and only lightly detailed, for the most part, the fluid and expressive animation makes them come alive. Meanwhile, the department store is highly detailed in nearly every aspect, making it appear as the magical, high-class store it’s supposed to be in the eyes of its visitors.
Richard Eisenbeis, Anime News Network
Yoshimi Itazu
Natsumi Kawaida, Takeo Otsuka, Kenjiro Tsuda
Japan
2023
In Japanese with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Also Playing
The Goldman Case
In 1976, Jewish radical Pierre Goldman was facing the death penalty, accused of committing a double murder during an armed robbery. Goldman admitted to a string of similar robberies, but denied murder. Instead, he put the cops on trial.
Amadeus
In which the celebrated court composer Salieri welcomes a much ballyhooed young prodigy to Vienna. To his dismay, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an impudent, callow upstart. Worse, he's a genius. Winner of 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Lyd
Lyd is the Arab name for 5000-year-old town that is now the Israeli city of Lod. Made by a Palestinian and a Jewish American, this creative non-fiction film excavates the history of this place leading to a detailed examination of the events of 1948.
His Three Daughters
Three sisters -- Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olson, and Natasha Lyonne -- congregate to attend the final few days of their father's life. They bring with them years of barely-repressed jealousy and resentment, as well as wildly different personalities.