Well-intentioned, well-executed, curiously uninvolving animation about a young Afghanistan girl who disguises herself as a boy to evade Taliban restrictions on . . . well, on just about everything. The family situation is desperate: Handicapped father unjustly jailed; marriage-aged older sister, injured mother and noisome toddler, all unable to leave the apartment without male escort; cupboard growing bare; few possessions left to barter; even water requiring a trip out to the neighborhood well. A dark life with uplift confined to wondrous stories, told in cut-out picture book style, that the young girl fashions to entertain (and help control) her spirited kid brother. No wonder she ventures out ‘under cover;’ hair-cropped, renamed, free to roam. Nora Twomey, co-director of the well-reviewed, if equally underwhelming THE SECRET OF KELLS/’09*, never finds the right emotional distance to keep us watchful, informed, curious and engaged with the characters & story. You take note of the proper response to the latest family calamity, but it rarely gets under your skin. Worth a look for the handsome design & rich score (and for simple things, like the unexpectedly compelling relationships in mass between the back of a small girl & the back of a customer-turned-friend), but in general, much potential unrealized.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Tomm Moore, KELLS co-director, had more artistic & commercial success on his follow-up solo, SONG OF THE SEA/’14. OR: For something along these lines with more personal touch & daring style, Marjane Satrapi’sPERSEPOLIS/’07. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2015/06/song-of-sea-2014.html
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