Endearingly weird wax figures inhabit a musical journey of self-discovery

A delightful coming-of-age adventure, The Song of a Lost Boy follows the unexpected journey of Ben, a choir boy whose voice vanishes during a service. Humiliated, he runs from the church into a barren landscape where he finds solace among nomadic musicians and begins a profound journey of self-discovery. With a distinctive wax stop-motion style, the British animation director Daniel Quirke crafts a cast of peculiar yet endearing human figures that inhabit a Mad Max-esque landscape of desert plains, crimson sands and rocky alcoves.

The story’s arc is communicated through the language of music, and sound serves as the conduit for discovering one’s true voice and sense of self. For Ben, the nomads’ pounding drums, resonant strings and uninhibited vocals represent the freedom of a new way of life and the promise of a society shaped by that freedom. Intermingling strands of attention-grabbing weirdness with a time-tested story, Quirke builds a joyful and unforgettable reflection on moving forward, leaving behind communities that no longer fulfil us, and finding the ones that do.