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Monday, July 5, 2021

LUCA (2021)

Enrico Casarosa, after two decades storyboard artist, now director on the sweet-natured short LA LUNA/’11 (look for it on-line) and just out with his first feature, an Italian Riviera fable about an adolescent fishboy testing the waters (er . . . out-of-waters) of a land-based life as a fully human kid in a small coastal town.  And just about the most sheerly charming, least pushy delight PIXAR has offered us in ages.  Wonderfully designed in look, characters & story, with a ‘60s commedia all'italiana throb to it, the initial goal for Luca and his slightly senior fishboy pal a shiny new Vespa (what could be more tempting?), but bumps along the way: a pretty girl needing partners for a local triathlon; a surrogate son finding a surrogate father; under-the-sea parents coming ashore to mutual embarrassment; a town tough who needs to be brought down.  Who runs a narrative with this much confidence (and competence) on their first feature?  Even a background with RATATOUILLE/’07; UP/'09 and COCO’17 can’t fully explain it.  Especially Casarosa’s openhanded approach to the usual PIXAR story beats & life-lessons tropes that elsewhere can often come off like orders (you WILL laugh; you WILL be scared; you WILL weep; you WILL learn tolerance), here allowed to sneak up on us.  The only downside that so few will experience this in Big Screen Joy Magnification.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: The fishboys’ first ecstatic encounter with proper home-cooked Italian cuisine no exaggeration.  Ask any first-timer.  (Or just check out 'Pasta Grannies' on youtube.)

CONTEST: An early test run for the boys' copycat Vespa shows what great Italian actor in what great Italian comedy on a b&w still stuck in the handlebar?  A correct answer, placed in COMMENTS or sent via e-mail, wins a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up on the film of your choice.

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