I
thoroughly enjoyed the film, ‘Chasing Cotton Clouds” which was shown during the
animation category. I’ve always been a fan of using stop-time animation intersected
with live action. This film was bittersweet, sad and left a lasting impression
on me. Those among us who have experienced love and loss will relate.
The movie
felt both real and ethereal, with a paper-thin layer of mood overlaid the whole
movie. There is the obvious struggle the
protagonist, an alienated preteen boy who is experiencing. The bleak and chill
landscape directly reflects his feelings of detachment and isolation. It is
only towards the end of the movie that he begins to depict stronger emotions of
anger and bitterness, when it is revealed to us the cause of his disquiet.
Throughout the movie, the boy falls deeper into fantasy, his time and attention
taken up by the diorama he has constructed using paper and watercolors. The
story climaxes when the diorama is destroyed by a well-meaning but bumbling
outsider. Once this disruptive element
is introduced into the film, this pushes the boy to confront his feelings of
loss and to come with peace with it. At the end of the film, the diorama is
packed away, but the house he built is placed upon his dresser, as a reminder
that time heals, but we do not forget.
I strongly encourage you to see this film when you can find it –it’s a gem, to be enjoyed alone in quiet thought and reflection.
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