A futuristic YET nostalgic utopian sci-fi romance with hints of Satoshi Kon’s style! Released a few months ago, Han Ji-won’s Lost in Starlight (2025) is set in 2051 and tells the story of a young NASA scientist-astronaut, Dr. Joo Nan-young (Kim Tae-ri), who tries to use her breakthrough technological discoveries to find traces of her late astronaut mother on Mars, while navigating a newly developing romantic relationship with musical artist Jay (Hong Kyung).

Being refused to join the Fourth Mars Expedition Team, explained by the high emotional stakes for the heroine, Nan-young returns to Seoul, where she starts developing a new machine that can help detect microbes and traces of organic matter on Mars, hoping it can get her back to NASA! 

While following Nan-young’s scientific journey, the audience also witnesses the striking beauty of the futuristic world animators have created in Lost in Starlight! Holographic video calls, a hybrid, semi-digital reality, and flying druids – nothing a 2025 person would be surprised to see in the future, right? Yet, the awe here is constructed by the perfect harmony between technology and humans.

Trying to get her mom’s old music player repaired (and unsuccessfully so), Nan-young at last bumps into the male protagonist who *just happens* to be able to fix the player! This guy is an old-fashioned romantic. In a world where using pen and paper is not only retro but also unheard of, Jay is exactly the type to do it.

The animation is absolutely stunning and so detail-oriented. It’s not just one style for everything, but different ones that match the texture of each object – especially the contrast between anything digital/tech-related and buildings and people. Without exaggeration, this animation style would make even technophobes look forward to a future with innovations like those portrayed in this film.

Besides, as futuristic as it is, this film looks nostalgic somehow of the time we have not yet lived, as in, not us imagining a future but a letter from the future to us. As if digitization of the world wouldn’t strip its soul out of it, but evolve next to each other. Whether an over-positive utopian vision of the future or a form of propaganda, it does a good job of reminding us of our humanness, which, I’d say, is good for any sort of storytelling!

As Nan-young succeeds in discovering her breakthrough technology and is let back to join the NASA expedition team, Jay gets her to promise she’ll focus on coming back safe, fearing Nan-young might have the same tragic fate as her mom during the Second Mars Expedition. This moment becomes decisive for both of the characters, but especially for Jay, as, inspired by his girlfriend, his character finally starts developing, and he tries to go back to composing music and performing/singing on stage, while cheering on Nan-young on her journey to Mars. And, you people thought people would get robotized and romance would die in the future? NAH, this movie gives us hope!

And, while Nan-young discovers abandoned rivers on Mars, and Jay signs new record deals, our characters understand a universal truth – humans need humans, no matter on Mars or on Earth! A tear-jerker at the end for 20 minutes or more (I’m not gonna spoil why! But lots of cool plot twists), this film uses non-cliche storytelling with just enough emotionality, complexity, and layers in the plot and simple relatability at the same time to keep the audience on the edge of their seats during the entire movie. Other than the title, which, I’d say, is THE ONLY generic and unattractive thing about this film, Lost in Starlight is ONE of the best and THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY MADE animated movies of 2025!