Stop us if you heard this one-a charming and only said to the first animation feature films in Cannes before going to the Annecy international animated film festival. It is acquired by a prestigious distributor and as the year progresses, it becomes a critical darling and, quite early, a reward power.
It was the trajectory of “Flow”, which finally won the best animated feature by Oscar (a historic upheaval for the category) and became a new favorite. And it could soon be the trajectory of “Little Amélie”, an incredibly wonderful animated function which made its debut in Cannes earlier this year and plays Annecy at the moment, before being released by Gkids later this year. It is certainly quite good.
The characteristic, based on the novel “The character of the rain” of the Belgian author Amélie Nothomb, follows the main character while she tells all her life, even of the uterus. When she was born, she is stuck in a vegetative state – not linked to a coma, exactly, but statuesque – and her two older brothers and sisters welcome her with confusion and distance. Her parents, a diplomat and a piano, hope that one day she will get out, emerging, so to speak, from her cocoon. And one day, when Amélie is about 2 years old, she does.
At this point, the family moved from Belgium to Japan for their father’s work. It was in July 1969 and it was in this new and unexpected setting that the real Amélie emerged – according to a long line of early and hyper -conscious children’s characters who also maintain this innocence and this fragility. (It’s Easy to Think of Everyone from Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer to Harriet Cleve Dufresnes, The Main Character of Donna Tartt’s Wonderful “The Little Friend.”) Part of this Awakening had to do with a visit from Her Paternal Grandmother, Who Bed White chocolate, and another with her relationship to nishio-san, a japanese woman whim the family hires to help look the house, but who takes a special interest in young Amélie.
“Little Amélie” is breathtaking, the kind of film with a deep well of humanity and whose images and emotions, overtime and always in concert are sometimes overwhelming. Watching the film and seeing Amélie navigate in her life, dressing everything in her perspective, is deeply moving, especially when combined with the transcendent visuals of the film. So many films have a problem of perspective, where we look at him from the point of view of a single character, only to have this clarity and this narrative purity broken by a little awkward to another character. Power is often diluted. This is not the case with “Little Amélie”, in particular with its narration. In the uterus, she thinks of herself – and often refers to herself as a God – but throughout the film, we see this understanding change. She is not a god. She was trapped for years in Amber. And now she is human. She is the little Amélie.
What makes “Little Amélie” even more astonishing is that he was produced by a pair of first filmmakers-Maïlys Vallade (a layout artist and storyboarding on the transfixant all the same “I lost my body”) and Liane-Cho Han (Director of Animation on “Calamity”), who also co-resumed the scenario with Aude Py and the artistic director Eddine. This marks the arrival of some really talented filmmakers, which in just 75 minutes have created something unique and inspiring. It is different from everything you have probably seen before, but the film is so open and welcoming that it is like revisiting an old friend. You just want to stay with “Little Amélie” as long as possible, lounge in the deliberate rhythm of the film and deep emotion. You can’t, of course. But you certainly want.
The animation style of “Little Amélie” certainly reinforces everything that is happening with history. The film opens with daring colors, roses and greens, while Amélie speaks to the public of the uterus. The artistic style is, initially, deliberately abstract. This is a way to make sure you connect with the feeling of history before everything really happens. And then when the film begins, seriously, it takes a truly unique look, in equal parts Picturne and as something illustration of a children’s book. We do not know how, exactly, this style was achieved, but Han has referenced everything, comics in video games in the interviews and he worked on “The Little Prince” by Mark Osborne, an animated film which is just as moving.
It is a style that works perfectly for a story told about the eyes of a child – there is something simplified on this subject, but it can also be slowly surreal. There is a time when Amélie, after being said that her name means “rain”, is stuck in a storm. While the rain drops fall, it imagines each other with each drop and the animation gives us just that – dropped droplets, idling, composed of Amélie. It is a moving and dreamlike moment, one of the handles of the film that will absolutely take your breath. And this is the kind of thing that could only be captured in animation as insured and confident.
Whether or not “Little Amélie” follows the same trajectory as “Flow”, to become a small film that can face the main actors, is obviously unknown. But in terms of the depth of feeling and emotional art, it should certainly be seen alongside larger studio productions. It can be small, but it is powerful.
