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Sunday, February 4, 2024

ORION AND THE DARK (2024)

Latest NetFlix animation, adapted from a well-received Emma Yarlett picture-book for kids, the film about as anodyne as they come in story, style, characterization & life’s lessons, makes you understand why the streaming companies refer to ‘product’ as ‘content.’   The term drives ‘creatives’ nuts, but too often, all too accurate.  Young Orion, an overly sensitive junior high type, is scared of just about everything: bullies, the ocean, girls, the locker room, most of all The Dark.  So when a nightmare grabs him by the imagination and partner’s him with a big ol’ anthropomorphic realization of ‘Dark’ (along with Dark’s nighttime pals), Orion’s got no choice but to confront his fears.  And, wouldn’t you know it, Dark has similar issues of inadequacy behind his bluff bulk.  And it’s just when they reach this point of understanding that Orion sees the light, metaphorically and on the horizon.  Will Break of Day send him back to square one?  Hoping to sabotage this one-track narrative, the production team got Charlie Kaufman (ETERNAL SUNSHINE/’04) to complicate structure with a meta approach (is it in the book?) that twists the plot with a linear back-flip halfway along, a retroactive flashback for Adult Orion & teen daughter less mind-bending than slightly creepy.*  The bigger surprise is why no one involved thought of traveling way North (or South) where it’s ALL NIGHT (or ALL DAY) for extended periods of the year.  (Does NetFlix/DreamWorks have the usual development obstacles or only internal focus groups?)  The one fresh element here comes in its suburban background realizations, designed to look like stage flats rather than multi-plane camera setups.  Very cool, very painterly.

SCRDEWY THOGHT OF THE DAY:  *It does answer the question what could possibly be more unsettling than thinking about your parents having sex?  Answer: Going back in time to bud with Dad just as he’s hitting puberty and having his first crush on a school classmate.  Gross!

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