Living a seemingly calm life in the countryside of Northern Spain, Pol, a reserved teenager, spends most of his time with Deerhoof, his stuffed teddy bear and best friend. Pol's deep friendship with Deerhoof is a secret to the world around them, but for Pol, his friendship with this animated stuffed teddy bear represents one of his few relationships where he can truly be himself. All that changes with the arrival of Ikari, a new student, who Pol finds himself instantly drawn too. Marcal Fores' Animals is perhaps a film that is best served if the audience goes in completely cold, as an plot description imaginable is sure to pale in comparison to the cinemic language the film is able to create. Blending horror and drama elements, Marco Fores' Animals is a surrealistic, psychological coming of age story which leaves a lot up to the viewers interpretation. Featuring beautiful cinematography that seems to completely take place during magic hour, Animals creates a dreamy aesthetic that perfectly coincides with its surrealist storytelling, as we follow Pol as he tries to make sense from the world around him. While there is a lot in the film that is up to much interpretation, Animals' core ideas are unquestionably centered around the budding sexuality of Pol, a young man who is struggling to let go of the emotional attachment of his teddy bear. For me, Deerhoof's role in this strange story is really two-fold, being a symbolic representation of Pol's homosexual desires in which he feels must remains secret from everyone around him, but also a symbolic representation of Pol's emotional attachment to childhood, as he shows an inability to take responsibility at school and with his brother. In Animals, the surrealism and absurdist aspects are conducted with such matter-of-fact confidence, with Fores' understanding that his story doesn't have to exist in reality but only in the emotional logic of his characters. While Animals is a beguiling experience at times which may leave some viewers a bit confused, what Maro Fores has created is a psycho-sexual coming of age story that never falls victim to the typical tropes and trappings of fantasy, coming of age, or lgbt cinema constructs.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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