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Director Domee Shi and producer Lindsey Collins have just released ‘Red’, Pixar’s latest film, on the platform
They are not very happy at Pixar with the latest strategic decisions of Disney. “There are mixed feelings,” acknowledges Domee Shi, director of ‘Red’, the latest film from the animation studio, which like all the house’s feature films since the pandemic turned everything upside down, premiered last Friday directly on Disney + . “We made this movie with the idea of bringing it to the big screen, but with covid families and children are not coming back to theaters in the way that we wanted, so our priority has changed and we are looking at 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 bright and fun film –some could label it as ‘minor’, because it lacks the epicity of other house projects–, which puts the spotlight on an underrepresented stage in Pixar, the transition towards adolescence, they would have sat down with pearls to some theaters eager for good cinema for the whole family.
Meilin Lee is a thirteen-year-old girl with an excellent school record. She is so applied and studious, that she hardly has time to have fun with her friends, between the iron marking her mother makes of her and the cable she sends to 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 how her life takes an unexpected turn: when her emotions run high, she turns into a huge red panda. The young she 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 with her family to Toronto when she had barely circled the sun twice, was precisely thirteen years old. “This story is very much inspired by my own experience of growing up, but not in a very specific way. They are more universal themes about a young woman trying to find out who she wants to be and, at the same time, how to respect her parents and herself throughout this period towards maturity”, says, from the Four Seasons hotel in Madrid, a director at the that he is excited about “getting 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 issues 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 One Direction, Nsync or Backstreet Boys-esque boyband that’s making a tour stop in town. Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas, together with the film’s composer Ludwig Göransson, have been in charge of writing the three songs of this heartthrob quintet. Lindsey Collins, the film’s producer, 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 has been written for you.” The director was convinced that the two brothers were not going to refuse. “Normally they are asked to do some songs for the film, but here the question was: ‘Do you want to do a boyband with us?'”, she comments amused.
Lindsey Collins and Domee Shi.
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 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, being kind to yourself. I hope that with this film, children learn to do that, allow themselves to take care of themselves.” Next to him, Collins considers that in this matter the key element is “to dare to talk about it and normalize it”. The mother of three teenagers, the producer is aware that “that feeling of feeling that you are the only one experiencing something like this can be very scary, but you have to explain to them that this is not the case and that it is important to open up, talk about it, and show others others how 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 lives 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 Pixar’s first project led entirely by women, but Shi and Collins say there will be more “in the near future.” It is more difficult to predict whether the new films will reconnect with their audiences 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 closest way we came to animation was on TV, rewinding the tapes over and over again. You create a deep connection with the film, quickly and immediately, and that’s amazing too,” she concludes.
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