'Little Amélie' isn't an easy movie for its child audience. That's exactly the point

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When he was 19, French filmmaker Liane-Cho Han received a copy of Amélie Nothomb’s autobiographical 2000 novel “Métaphysique des tubes” from a close friend.

Told from the point of view of a 2 1/2-year-old Belgian girl growing up in 1960s Japan, the personal account chronicles the loving relationship between the perspicacious child, who believes she is God, and her family’s Japanese housekeeper Nishio-san. Amélie grows up convinced she is Japanese and idealizing her family’s temporary host country.

How the book allows the reader “to see the beauty of the world through her naive eyes” captivated a young Han. Now, he’s turned the text into the whimsical and poignant animated feature “