They are not at Pixar very happy with Disney’s latest strategic decisions. “There are mixed feelings,” acknowledges Domee Shi, director of ‘Red’, the animation studio’s latest film, which, like all the house’s feature films since the pandemic turned everything upside down, premiered last Friday directly on Disney+ . “We made this film with the idea of taking it to the big screen, but with the covid families and children are not returning to theaters in the way we wanted, so our priority has changed and we are looking for how we can reach the greatest number of people safely and Disney + is the best option ”, ditch.
It’s a shame because the vibrant colors of his debut film, a brilliant and fun film –some might call it ‘minor’, due to the fact that it lacks the epicness of other projects from the house–, which focuses on an underrepresented stage in Pixar, the transition to adolescence, they would have been perfect for movie theaters eager for good movies for the whole family.
Meilin Lee is a thirteen-year-old girl with an excellent school record. She is so diligent and studious that she hardly has time to have fun with her friends, between the iron marking that her mother makes her and the cable that she throws at her parents when they finish school, in the temple that they run as a tourist attraction, the most Old Toronto. One fine day, Meilin sees her life take an unexpected turn: when her emotions soar, she turns into a huge red panda. The young woman herself must learn to deal with it.
It is no coincidence that the film takes place in 2002, the year in which the director, who was born in Chongqing (China) and moved to Toronto with her family when she had barely circled the sun twice, was precisely thirteen years old. “This story is very much inspired by my own experience growing up, but not in a very specific way. They are more universal themes about a young woman trying to know who she wants to be and, at the same time, how to respect her parents and herself in all that period towards maturity”, says, from the Four Seasons hotel in Madrid, a director at the that he is excited “to get great reactions from the public. I love that they hold their breath, that they laugh… For me, that’s really the goal when I make movies.”
Friendship, first loves, platonic or not; the rule or the added difficulties of being part of a family of immigrants are some of the themes that are reflected in a film that, subtly, and between tamagotchis, recorded CDs and discmans, paints an accurate portrait of those first years of the new millennium. Of course, like millions of girls her age, Meilin loves 4 Town, a boyband a la One Direction, Nsync or Backstreet Boys, who are going to make a tour stop in the city. Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas, together with the film’s composer Ludwig Göransson, have taken care of writing the three songs of this heartthrob quintet. Lindsey Collins, producer of the film, says that at first they did think of hiring the services of a real ‘boyband’ for the film, “but then we thought it would be much more fun to create our own. It was amazing working with them. They are very talented but they also speak to a generation; They have that gift of talking to their fans at that age where you think every song was written for you.” The director was convinced that the two brothers were not going to refuse. “Normally they are asked to write songs for the film, but here the question was: ‘Do you want to make a boyband with us?'”, she comments amused.
Along the way, ‘Red’ addresses taboo topics such as mental health, specifically the management of emotions or anxiety typical of those who are going through those ages. Why do you think there are more and more cases of anxiety among the youngest? “The pandemic has stressed everyone, especially the children, who have been robbed of two years of school,” Shi reflects. I think it’s more important than ever to focus on mental health, self-care, and being kind to yourself. I hope that with this film, children learn to do that, allow themselves to take care of themselves. At his side, Collins believes that the key element in this matter is “to be encouraged to talk about it and normalize it.” Mother of three teenagers, the producer is aware that “that feeling of feeling like you are the only one who is experiencing something like this can be very scary, but you have to explain to them that it is not like that and that it is important to open up, talk about it, and show others How else do they feel?
Not surprisingly, he believes that this is the great message of the film. “This is all normal, it happens to everyone at this age,” she insists. And he maintains that there is also another message for parents and that is that “perfection is not the goal and that you have to be patient. The life of a girl of that age necessarily has to be chaotic and is lived with great tension, something that we forget. We must always remember that it is a normal, natural and crazy stage and far from order and that it is very healthy to go through it », she affirms.
led by women
‘Red’ is also the first Pixar project led entirely by women, but Shi and Collins say there will be more “in the near future.” It is more difficult to predict if the new films will be reunited with their audience in movie theaters. Collins downplays the fact: “Domee is the best example. Her favorite movie is ‘Aladdin’ and she didn’t see it in theaters, she saw it in her living room ». “Yes,” replies the filmmaker. «There is always a special magic with the big screen, but for me and for many children the way we came closest to animation was on TV, rewinding the tapes over and over again. A deep connection to the film is created, quickly and immediately, and that’s amazing too,” she concludes.
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