When You Get To The Forest: An Endearing Tale On Grief

By Alexander Garay

If South Park were a heartwarming, hour-long meditation on grief, it would look a lot like When You Get To The Forest. This endearing film, crafted entirely from cut-out paper, follows a woman’s healing journey as she forms an unlikely bond with a cat. 

The story centers on Dana (voiced by Alicia Power), who, overwhelmed by life and loss, seeks solace on a childhood hiking trail. Following a clumsy fall, she awakens in a surreal, magical forest and encounters a talking cat named Lakris (voiced by Marcella Campos). As the seasons pass in an abandoned cabin, the film tracks Dana’s adaptation to her strange surroundings and her subsequent self-discovery. 

There is a quality to this film that heals the grieving child within. Its gentle, contemplative, and fantastical nature invites comparisons to the works of Hayao Miyazaki, particularly My Neighbor Totoro. Both films use companionship to process grief—just as Totoro’s spirit helps Satsuki navigate her mother’s illness, Lakris helps Dana navigate loss. The forest functions as a liminal space where time operates differently, where ordinary tasks become meditative, and where acceptance replaces the need for immediate resolution. 

Director Eric Power created this film using hand-cut paper animation, a process that took months and required substantial patience. Rather than letting this technique’s limitations constrain his vision, Power made the constraints expressive. Dana’s movements are stiff and angular early on, reflecting disorientation, then gradually become fluid as she adapts to the forest. The visible brushstrokes and paper texture create warmth that digital animation would lose. Autumn arrives through amber and rust tones; winter through the gradual whitening of the palette—a visual economy that forces attentive viewing and makes time feel genuinely experienced. 

Perfect for easy viewing or a tranquil late-night wind-down, the film is both relaxing and engaging. While some may find the pacing slow, the deliberate speed is necessary to fully immerse the viewer in the woods Dana has discovered. Extended silences between Dana and Lakris become increasingly comfortable, mirroring the viewer’s own acceptance of the forest’s rhythm. 

I highly recommend this to thirteen to sixteen year old girls navigating grievance or self-discovery. This demographic often processes identity shifts while confronting early losses. The film validates that grief and self-discovery are not obstacles to overcome quickly but processes to inhabit. Dana’s gradual comfort with the forest mirrors adolescents learning to inhabit their changing bodies and expanding consciousness. Animation enthusiasts will equally appreciate how Power uses the medium’s constraints as expressive tools. Those who notice how paper figures catch light differently depending on emotional state, or observe recurring patterns in background design, will find intentionality that rewards multiple viewings. When You Get To The Forest is available on Blu-ray via Cartuna and OCN Distribution/Vinegar Syndrome.