Gentle, vibrant, and sweet as a cotton-candy rainbow, to experience Julián is to feel cinema’s warm embrace. Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon’s latest continues its unimpeachable run, delivering a visually arresting and emotionally resonant coming-of-age tale — an enchanting collision of Steven Universe and Do the Right Thing with a sly wink at Paris Is Burning. 

It’s summertime in Brooklyn, and this year Julián’s (Knyght Darius Jack) overworked dad Javi (Anthony Sardinha) is sending him off to stay with his Dominican grandmother, Abuela (Milcania Diaz-Rojas). Though they’re strangers when Javi drops him at his grandmother’s doorstep, it’s love at first sight. Julián becomes instantly infatuated with Abuela, while the food, music, and stories of his newfound Caribbean community become a call to adventure.

More times than not, Julián’s enthusiasm gets him into trouble. His desire to explore his roots is at times reckless, leaving a Paddington Bear-like trail of destruction in his wake. But beneath the chaos that comes with any rambunctious seven-year-old, the pair form a tender bond. 

When Julián grows infatuated with the upcoming Coney Island Mermaid Parade, Abuela decides to fashion him a flamboyant costume. The boy’s love of mermaids draws the ire of the local bullies and gives the neighbourhood’s chatty old ladies something to gossip about. As the community casts judgment, Julián and his grandmother’s bond fractures, as the opinions of others dictate the terms of their relationship.

Few animated films are as effective as Julián at capturing the emotional texture of a scene. Time and again, I marvelled at the tactile details that give the film a lived-in quality: toes digging into a plush rug, plump water droplets sagging from the tip of a houseplant, and golden hour light shimmering off beautiful brown skin. These aren’t throwaway images. They evoke a tactile vitality, grounding the film in its own vibrant and affectionately crafted reality.

From the moment they meet, Julián and Abuela’s relationship is full of love, but lacking in understanding. They bond immediately, and struggle to connect in the simplest ways. If you asked Abuela if she loved her grandson unconditionally, the answer would be yes. Like many of us, however, she’s unaware that her love and affection come with hidden conditions that neatly fit within her worldview.

The film recognizes how well-meaning people can be destructive forces in the lives of those they love most. At a glance, Julián is about a young boy’s journey towards self-acceptance. But it’s also an elderly woman’s coming-of-age story. As Julián learns to love himself, Abuela must learn to be her own woman and stop allowing the opinions of others to dictate her life. Her fear of being judged creates a toxic wedge, keeping her from loving her grandson as unconditionally as she thinks she does. 

Self-acceptance and fear of judgment are well-trodden movie themes, yet Julián approaches them with narrative elegance and enough emotional texture to set your soul on fire.

Julián explores the gulf between being who we genuinely are and the person who the world tries to force us to be. Told with love and affection in every frame, it’s a tender story about feeling emotionally cast adrift and finding the glowing resilience to find your way back to yourself and become the person you were always meant to be.

Julián had its North American premiere at TIFF 2026 on September 13.

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