«Chico & Rita»: social painting of a broken dream

Le Regard Libre N° 74 - Alice Bruxelle

File «The figure of the musician in cinema».»

Are cartoons just for kids? If the answer is yes, you probably haven't yet discovered Chico & Rita (2011), an animated Spanish-British feature film directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal. The story of a passionate love affair set against a backdrop of Afro-Cuban jazz, it charts the lives of two musicians whose dreams are dashed by social issues far more powerful than they are. Tackling themes of identity loss and racism, the two directors endow this cartoon with a depth that has nothing to envy of traditional films.

Through the light, spontaneous strokes of graphic designer Javier Mariscal, bebop—a pivotal jazz movement that broke free from the conventions of swing in favor of greater freedom and improvisation—which has