Working from a story and script by Mamoru Oshii, one of the three creative giants of Japanese animation, Hiroyuki Okiura has crafted something very different from genre norms. Jin-Roh (the English title on the print is The Wolf Brigade) centres on the humanisation of a macho killer from an elite undercover commando force caught up in battles between the authorities and 'terrorist' dissidents in the late 1950s. But the film reads its complex plot and back-story (The Manchurian Candidate had nothing on this) through the story of Little Red Riding Hood, producing a set of disquieting and ultimately very moving ambiguities. In this remarkable vision, even the explosions and spasms of violence are thoughtful. Tony Rayns