‘Magic Atlas’ Review: Surreal, Shapeshifting Animation Is a Sometimes Mystifying Technical Marvel

Sun Xun’s *Magic Atlas*, a decade-long animation project, uses an unusually broad range of hand-crafted materials and techniques to depict a coal empire ruled by authoritarian industrialists. Through orphan Xiao Zhi and an imprisoned magician who restores people’s stolen memories, the film touches on state control and personal freedom, while foregrounding the texture and variety of its imagery.

The review describes shifting styles that include ink drawings, paint, woodcuts and newspaper, alongside surreal creatures and scenes of factories encroaching on nature. Its story is fragmented and often opaque, with Xiao Zhi sometimes fading from view; the reviewer finds the film more compelling visually than emotionally or narratively. Abstract electronic music adds to its dreamlike, disorienting atmosphere.