Animation nation by MATTHEW HAYS Japanimation freaks will be lining up overnight to see X: The Movie, the animator Rintaro's wild creation, which finally arrives in Montreal this week (it was made in '96). The film's plot is really secondary (some sort of colossal battle between the forces of good and evil), but what stands out are the incredible animation techniques. Notably, X's gorgeous look was perfected by Clamp, a group of four women animators who lead the anime field. The film becomes a massive dreamscape, with characters constantly questioning whether they're in reality or if their subconscious is just belching again. X also boasts an excellent score, by far the best accompanying music I've heard in an anime feature. The film opens this Friday, April 21 at the Cinéma du Parc. There are more non-feature films featured in the ongoing series Shorts on the Run, which screens again this Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23 at the Goethe-Institut (both shows start at 7 p.m.). Highlights include a film by Montreal wunderkinds Mark and Stephanie Morgenstern, Curtains, and Greg Klimkiw's oddity Zabava. Though I haven't seen all of the films in this particular series, past collections have proven well worth the outing. Congratulations go out to the organizers of Vues d'Afrique, Montreal's film fest highlighting films made by those of African descent, whose 16th edition wrapped up last Sunday, attracting a record total of 12,000 spectators. We recently received a thoughtful letter by one of our readers. And we fair-minded folk at the Mirror always feel it's important to let our readers air their views. "I can't recall what your full review said," begins the letter, "but a black mark to the person who wrote the synopsis for Moloch, [Film blurbs, April 13]. There was no 'after the war' for Hitler and Eva Braun. I thought surely but surely, everyone but everyone, knew that they died in the bunker in Berlin in the last days of the war? But sadly I was wrong!" Jonathan Goldstein wrote the Moloch blurb, which concerned a film based on a fictional play. But I must say, the entire staff of the Mirror was unaware of the fate of Hitler. None of us knew he died directly after the war. In fact, I thought he and Eva were still hanging out at a Club Med somewhere. Thank-you, anonymous reader, for clearing that up. What fools we've been! The French version of East Is East (see full review on page 26) has cleverly been called Fish and Chips. Good one, guys! I'm sure francophones will appreciate that clarification. Which reminds me of Woody Allen's response to the studio's renaming of his '73 sci-fi spoof Sleeper in its French-language version. He was so pissed off about the title (Woody et les Robots) that he has since had veto power written into his contracts over all new titles of his projects when they're released to international markets. : COMMENTS: matt_hays@babylon.montreal.qc.ca