My Life as a Zucchini – alternatively titled as My Life as a Courgette; also Ma vie de Courgette, per its original,
native language – is a French stop-motion animated film based on the
novel Autobiographie d'une Courgette. It’s about a nine-year-old boy named Icare
who gets sent to a children’s home after accidentally killing his abusive,
alcoholic mother. He prefers to be
called “Zucchini”, as it’s what his mother calls him, and keeps a beer can and
a kite as mementos of his parents. In
the children’s home, he becomes friends with other abandoned children who have their
own particular quirks and tragic backstories.
For every ten stop-motion animated
movies made, only three end up being good (e.g. The Boxtrolls, Frankenweenie,
Corpse Bride). The rest? They are either
great or masterpieces (e.g. Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer, James and the
Giant Peach, The Nightmare Before
Christmas, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline,
ParaNorman, Kubo and the Two Strings).
As far as my experience goes, there are no bad or even mediocre stop-motion
animated films out there. Of course, it’s
possible there are some, but I really haven’t seen any so far (If I ever encounter one, I will forever lambaste and loathe it, as it would be massively sacrilegious
to the medium). I have a theory that since stop-motion
is a long, difficult animation process, only filmmakers and storytellers with
legitimate vision would be capable and willing to opt for it.
This means a stop-motion movie will only have the most creative and
dedicated creators behind it.
Thus, I expected My Life as a Zucchini to be fantastic –
partly because of the sole fact that it’s a stop-motion movie, but also partly
because it’s nominated in the last Academy Awards. And, indeed, it’s another addition to the “masterpiece”
tally of stop-motion films.
It only clocks a little over an
hour. But its short running time is
sufficient to gratifyingly present the absorbing story of a group of damaged
youngsters learning to overcome the profound pain that fate has already dealt
them at a young age through hope, friendship, and resiliency. The narrative has laughter and heartbreaks,
and there are even times when the two tones somewhat mix – creating a sort of “black
comedy” vibes. But, even with the amount of dark themes it has to handle, it’s generally optimistic
and tender.
Oh, the animation is a delight as
well, but that goes without saying.
To sum it up, My Life as a Zucchini is visually endearing,
thoughtful, amusing, and emotionally affecting.
It’s thoroughly beautiful. Only
the most hard-hearted and naively unrefined of moviegoers won’t like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment