Bitter Christmas (Amarga Navidad) is the latest “auto-fiction” from Pedro Almodóvar. It focuses on two filmmakers. Elsa made a couple for unsuccessful films that have become cult classics. She has moved on to making commercials since no one wants to back movies that fail. Raúl is a more successful writer who is battling his own demons Both of them are trying to mine the lives of those around them for an idea of a script. Both seem to be dealing with the same ideas and barriers. That is because one is the creation of the other—the protagonist in the screenplay being written.
This creates a bit of a Russian doll plot, characters and stories that seem to overlap but have their own trajectory. It becomes easy to look at both stories as real, only to be reminded that what we thought was happening was really only in the mind of a writer. Of course, that is the nature of any fiction. It becomes real as we read or watch it. It may give us a chance to consider the nature of fiction and reality—is there a difference? Bitter Christmas is due to release in November.
Valentina Maurel brings us Forever Your Maternal Animal (Siempre Soy Tu Animal Materno), a story of a Costa Rican family that has already fallen apart. Two college-age daughters (neither currently in college) seek to find their way. Their mother, a one time poet, is being rediscovered and seeking to find rekindle the spark in her life. She believes this his her time now. The elder daughter can’t believe the chaos that her younger sister lives in (men, dogs, mess). The elder wants the old family home cleaned up and things fixed. (Her own personal life is a different kind of mess.) The younger is seeking strange spiritual connections and fears being raped by spirits. The performances are wonderful (and recognized at Un Certain Regard at Cannes).
Animation can be a good medium for adult storytelling. Tangles, directed by Leah Nelson is based on a graphic memoir by Sarah Leavitt. It recounts Sarah’s family’s sojourn into the world of Alzheimer’s. Sarah (voice by Abbi Jacobson) is a young lesbian artist establishing her life in San Francisco. She returns home to Maine for a visit to discover her mother (voice by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a bit off. Her father (voice by Brian Cranston) and the rest of the family think it’s just menopause. In time, the mother is diagnosed with dementia, and Sarah begins a bi-coastal ordeal as she tries to help her family and keep her own life (including a growing romance) on track.
While Alheimer’s has its own particular issues, the dynamics of this story can be appreciated by many who have had life-changing illnesses in the family. There are strains in personal lives, and they in time lead to cracks in the bond within the family as they all try to do what is best.
The black and white hand-drawn animation works especially well with this story. It helps to create a world that is darkly comic. It also allows for some very interesting ways of portraying the emotional chaos of the situation.
Tangles is due an award qualifying run in November with a theatrical opening in January.
