So, spoiler: nothing really happens in this movie. Or nothing interesting. And since we saw this two months into the covid pandemic, we made a lot of fun of their avoidance of "contagion" strategies...it was a waste of an evening (and of a VOD payment), although sets, acting, general mood, all was there. They just forgot to actually do something with all this. And the "it's a study of human psychology" card doesn't fly with me. The film-makers took a storytelling risk and they failed.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Frozen II
(2019)
Complicated yes, perfect no, ambitious extremely
9 April 2020
I had heard Frozen 2 was not your usual Disney movie, that it took risks, had an unusual storyline, no villain, no male partner for the single queen and so forth. I had also read articles that Disney stuffed as many wardrobe changes and songs as possible in order to capitalise on merchandising afterwards...I was a big fan of Frozen 1 and I was very unsure they could really pull-off a sequel...but boy, how i was wrong. Now, i do understand why many commentators felt lost in the plot. It is rushed. It could have been split into Frozen 2 and Frozen 3 and allow a smoother script. It's a highly concentrated story and one of the most, if not the most daring one I have seen since Fernguly when i was 7 :))).
The reason I think i managed to hang on better the storyline is that I have read a lot on the psychology of storytelling in the past few years, and I felt that the script-writers are gigantic fans of Bruno Bettelheim. The austrian psychologist said that stories accompany children in their various developmental changes and teach them how to handle emotions, change, challenges along the way. Olafs' recurring songs and quotes was basically explaining the entire script: how does a child deal psychologically with constant, and sometimes whirlwind change? How does he deal with crushing trauma? Well, "one step at a time" to approximately quote Anna + the moto of the movie "do the next right thing". It might seem overly simplistic, but I am writing the review during the covid confinement crisis, and these two basic ideas prove strong and universal rules of how to navigate an unstable, unpredictable, surprising or anxiogenus environment. Two simple rules, that if a child or an adult remember, can pave the way to exiting the most dire of circumstances.
If in form it's a masterclass on what storytelling can do for the psychic, in content it's equally brave. Tackling past crimes and injustices from our very own ancestors -- with crystal clear references to crimes towards indigenous peoples -- righting the wrongs of previous generations even when the price is Erendell-high, must have / could have / should have stricken quite a chord in the US. Going against modernist "damn-building" and mastery-over-nature mentality and replacing with restoring-balance-between-all-the-elements of our environment and promoting cooperation on a human as well as a non-human level, could be read as a page out of the book of Donna Haraway and her Chthulucene. Having the characters collaborate to achieve a shared goal (Elsa finding the truth and the solution, Anna enacting it, Chris actively and exclusively supporting a main female character without needing a path of his own to prove past-logics of manhood) is a daring choice from a culture that normally promotes individual (male) exceptionalism. Much more could be said of this, but it is a shame that Frozen 2 wrapped all of these ambitions in a confusing and extremely fast-paced way, losing some of the audience in the process. But i have no doubt, it's an animation in time we will come to appreciate far better than Frozen 1 for it's deep thinking, one we will come to again and again, and one that will be of great value to the minds and the spirits of our young ones, as well as our own.
The reason I think i managed to hang on better the storyline is that I have read a lot on the psychology of storytelling in the past few years, and I felt that the script-writers are gigantic fans of Bruno Bettelheim. The austrian psychologist said that stories accompany children in their various developmental changes and teach them how to handle emotions, change, challenges along the way. Olafs' recurring songs and quotes was basically explaining the entire script: how does a child deal psychologically with constant, and sometimes whirlwind change? How does he deal with crushing trauma? Well, "one step at a time" to approximately quote Anna + the moto of the movie "do the next right thing". It might seem overly simplistic, but I am writing the review during the covid confinement crisis, and these two basic ideas prove strong and universal rules of how to navigate an unstable, unpredictable, surprising or anxiogenus environment. Two simple rules, that if a child or an adult remember, can pave the way to exiting the most dire of circumstances.
If in form it's a masterclass on what storytelling can do for the psychic, in content it's equally brave. Tackling past crimes and injustices from our very own ancestors -- with crystal clear references to crimes towards indigenous peoples -- righting the wrongs of previous generations even when the price is Erendell-high, must have / could have / should have stricken quite a chord in the US. Going against modernist "damn-building" and mastery-over-nature mentality and replacing with restoring-balance-between-all-the-elements of our environment and promoting cooperation on a human as well as a non-human level, could be read as a page out of the book of Donna Haraway and her Chthulucene. Having the characters collaborate to achieve a shared goal (Elsa finding the truth and the solution, Anna enacting it, Chris actively and exclusively supporting a main female character without needing a path of his own to prove past-logics of manhood) is a daring choice from a culture that normally promotes individual (male) exceptionalism. Much more could be said of this, but it is a shame that Frozen 2 wrapped all of these ambitions in a confusing and extremely fast-paced way, losing some of the audience in the process. But i have no doubt, it's an animation in time we will come to appreciate far better than Frozen 1 for it's deep thinking, one we will come to again and again, and one that will be of great value to the minds and the spirits of our young ones, as well as our own.
The Neighbors
(2012–2014)
Nice series, hope it gets renewed
30 November 2012
This is a cute series, light hearted and fun. It treats one taken-for- granted subject of our human life per episode and it manages to turn it on all sides in a nice way...does what very well exactly what'the new normal' fails terribly: produces interesting characters that we care about, nice stories, criticize slightly some aspects of daily life that are less than ideal and reframe our daily life, while actually manage to be funny and not fall in an overly judgemental storyline. OK, it might not be the comedy of the century, but its really catching some steam lately and it deserves proper time and attention to develop. I read some awful reviews of the pilot and i totally disagree with most of them. This is a nice series, with nice and funny actors, good story and quite some laughs. Very enjoyable...let's give it some support!
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