“Tangles” is one of the best movies – animated or otherwise – of 2026.
The animated feature, based on Sarah Leavitt’s “Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me” and directed by Leah Nelson, premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a lengthy standing ovation. It later played at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it was just as warmly received. Now it’s at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it is likely to garner a similar response – crying, mostly, but also laughing. (IFC picked up “Tangles” ahead of TIFF and will have it ready for an awards-qualifying run later this year.)
The story follows a woman who returns to her hometown to care for her mother, whose Alzheimer’s disease begins to worsen.
Leavitt told Jada Yuan at TheWrap’s studio at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival that the movie had been in development since 2013, just three years after the graphic novel was published.
“I think a couple other people had approached my agent about film rights. But then, you know, I met Leah, and then we were working together and on a different project, and I just absolutely trusted her vision,” said Leavitt. “I still have this memory of sitting in a restaurant with our producer, waiting for Leah, and seeing her walk towards the restaurant. It was a meet cute.”
Nelson said that by 2020 the script had gotten to a good enough place where they could reach out to Abbi Jacobson, who plays Sarah in the movie. (She was the first person they reached out to.) The ensemble cast also includes Bryan Cranston, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Samira Wiley, Beanie Feldman, Seth Rogen (who also produced), Sarah Silverman and Bowen Yang.
For Jacobsen, the project hit incredibly close to home.
“My grandmother had [Alzheimer’s] and so it was really personal to my family. I didn’t just say yes. Whether it’s a very close family member or in any proximity, I think you can understand. You have some relationship to this terrible disease,” said Jacobson. “This story is really one that I think is such a special way of telling how hard that can be, and with such humor and specificity. I was very taken throughout the process over and over again.”
Nelson said that there’s a special note at the end of the credits for people who have been impacted. “There is like a really long list of names at the end, and I was like, ‘Does everyone in this cast or in this crew like have someone?’ Those are all names associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s. They’re people that we’ve lost or are losing,” said Nelson.
“We put that question out to all of our cast and also our crew, and just offered for anyone to put a name in if they wanted to. That could have gone on forever if we had time. The names would have continued and continued. It’s unfortunately difficult to find people who don’t have some connection to dementia or Alzheimer’s.”
