A cellist who doesn't believe he deserves to play becomes a story about why people who hate themselves keep trying anyway. The puppet animation moves with a patience that lets you hear the silence between notes. Miyazawa Kenji's gift was always finding the sacred in small failures, and this film trusts that gift completely, never reaching for uplift when honest quiet is enough.

Cello Hiki no Gauche is a short stop-motion film that brings a story by Miyazawa Kenji to the screen with puppet animation. It was the second anime adaptation of the tale, following a 1949 silhouette version directed by Tanaka Yoshitsugu and preceding the 1982 cel-animated version directed by Takahata Isao. The film blends fantasy with music.