Lost in Starlight

• Directed by Han Ji-won
• May 30, 2025 (US)

Voice Cast

• Jay-Justin H. Min
• Ji Young-Cristina Valenzuela
• Nan-Young-Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
• Di-a-Miya Kodama

When an astronaut leaves Earth for Mars, the distance divides star-crossed lovers.

The animated film Lost in Starlight is an interesting blend of the romance genre and near future science-fiction. It never gets too silly or speaks down to the audience in the dialogue or generally in the actions of the characters. There is a level of believability to the technology and the science.

I have to say this is a beautiful and very lived in looking world. This is truly art. It’s 2-D animation with minimal computer assistance. An amazing level of detail in the background that makes it just a hairs breadth away from live action. It is something I don’t think you can even get in the better CGI.

Our story is between a young scientist named Nan-Young trying to follow in her mom’s footsteps and a musician named Jay who also fixes retro sound instruments. In a coincidence that defies plausibility Jay released an unfinished song which Nan-Young downloaded and listens to obsessively. She is unaware that Jay made it until a moment that causes her to fangirl in a way that would concern most men concern but not Jay! It is also a bit of a heavy-handed way of saying the two were destined to be together.

Part of the story involves Nan-Young not being really affected (not openly anyway) by the death of her mother. That aspect of the story feels a bit muted. They never make it clear if she is trying to prove something or in some way rewrite the past by doing it successfully in the present. If anything is clear it is she is interested in getting back something given to mom by her for the mission which goes into showing mom was ultimately successful postmortem. Maybe a wistful moment or some pressure for therapy.

Nan-Young’s dad is more affected than she is! Every year he sends a message on the mother’s birthday to Mars. He comes off as quite convinced that the mother is still out there waiting to come home even though it’s pretty easy to confirm that she’s dead. This ain’t The Martian. That’s kind of heartbreaking and maybe should’ve got a little more played up but it just kind of it is there and nothing more. Maybe even put him in some kind of constant care facility to exemplify how damaging the mother’s death has been to everybody. Or for the sake of authenticity since dad has stepped back a touch from the real world.

Maybe it is because the story is about Jay and Nan-Young’s romance. Each compliments the other. Each helps the other grow and complete a task. For Nan-Young it’s Jay supporting her to the point she is able to stop being a reserve astronaut and to fill her mother’s dream. For Jay, Nan-Young inspired him to continue and finish the song she fell in love with.

What developments and information do not arrive in information dumps. You learn about the characters and you see them grow and. Information comes out as necessary. They show rather than tell. Given how short the film is it is rather masterfully done compared to major productions that do less with more time.

The best part for me is as far as I know there are no major names (at least to western audiences) in this movie voicing the characters. Yet the characters are well brought to life and they have great dialogue. My point being is you don’t need celebrities to make a good movie animated movie. It baffles me why Pedro Pascal or Chris Pratt or Lupita Nyong’o would get cast in an animated movie because you really don’t know it’s them r see their face. Anywho off that soapbox.

At around 90 minutes it doesn’t try to cram too much in and overwhelm the audience. It doesn’t fill Lost in Starlight with extraneous cast and exceedingly annoying supporting characters. There is one, but she’s not too bad and just the super supportive best friend of Nan-young.

In presentation the film doesn’t go too heavy visually into the near future aspects to the point they overshadow the relationship between the two characters. Han Ji-won made sure the focus was on the characters with enough elements in the movie to establish a time period and nothing more.

With great animation and great dialogue in a story that gets to the point, Lost in Starlight is a nice science-fiction tinged romance film. Maybe nothing groundbreaking but something enjoyable.