Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci
«What are we going to be able to do with this boy?»
Miguel Rivera is a child of the small Mexican town of Santa Cecilia. He carries with him a strong sense of family. As the inevitable Dia de los Muertos - The Feast of the Dead - everything has been prepared to give the Rivera ancestors a good annual homecoming, with offerings and the display of a photograph of each deceased member on the house altar.
Only one figure is not enthroned in effigy: that of the father of Mama Coco, Miguel's great-great-grandmother and confidante. The mysterious figure is said to have abandoned his family to follow his destiny: music. Considered cursed, music itself was completely banned and hated by the family. And yet, the young boy dreams of nothing more than becoming a musician. Secretly.
Not only is the cartoon by Lee Unkrich, creator of Toy Story, is surprisingly rich in plot, but tackles a theme as overlooked as it is essential: the family and its traditions. At first sight stifling and hindering the child's destiny, it reveals throughout the story its importance for his personal development. Moreover, family rules have their reasons, and Miguel's maturity will consist precisely in accepting them without perpetuating the healthy rebellion that occurs in early adolescence.
Around this key theme, the societal issues of a father's departure, a child's lonely upbringing and the centrality of the act of forgiveness are also addressed. It's astonishing that Disney, which has sometimes shown a simplistic vision of the world harmful to child viewers, should take on such a scenario and approach it with excellent pedagogy. Coco says in effect that the family is tragic, that is to say that it is beyond us, with its irremovable genealogy of an individual in search of meaning.
In addition to the cartoon's depth, which will speak honestly to children, Pixar's graphics continue to prove their limpidity with an ever more delicate digital image. Scenes are generally dominated by fairly dark tones, with the lights shining through orange petals or simply the characters' eyes. Finally, the music and sound alegria The Latin characters contribute to the emotion, making the drawing even more animated and the session even more gripping.
«I am sure that forever we will live this love.»
Write to the author : loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © themovieelite.com
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