Esta entrada también se encuentra en Español.
Mexican cinema has earned the reputation of always being the same exaggerated comedies, which always go on the same subject and that, as soon as we leave the room we forget about them, or «controversial» films that end up sleeping the public more than provoking discussion in them , and it is not necessary to mention all the preconceptions about Mexican animated cinema. This 2018 has been a very good year for Mexican cinema, we have received incredible works, which have pleased both critics and the public, such as, for example, «The Wild Region» by Amat Escalante, or moving stories such as «Dream in another language «, one of the wonderful proposals that have been born this year from the hand of Mexicans is Ana and Bruno, a very unique project that tells us a story of adventure and madness from the eyes of a girl.
After a series of events, Ana and her mother end up inside a mental clinic, Ana’s mother is schizophrenic and awaiting electro-shock treatment. Inside this clinic, Ana encounters unique monsters that present themselves as the hallucinations of patients and strangers who decide to escape from the clinic to save Ana’s mother, but how will they do it? They need to warn Ana’s father of the danger his wife is in, they decide to escape from the clinic and go to San Martín to avoid the terrible fate that Ana’s mother faces.
Ana and Bruno is the most expensive animated film in the history of Mexican cinema, and it had a production of almost a decade due to financing problems, and that unfortunately did not raise even 10% of its budget in its run through commercial cinemas. Guillermo del Toro called it «pure gold» and is currently on the way to the Oscar, and with good reason, the film offers us a never-before-seen story with an impressive script that opens the door for minors to understand unknowns such as depression, the mourning and madness. Certainly this aspect of the film caused controversy among certain parents, however, I consider that not instilling the little knowledge about mental health will only make them less able to face it if it happens to them or someone close to them.
Ana and Bruno have a touch that reminds us of Tim Burton’s children’s work in the90’s, with an ocher color palette and a dark world; It has a narrative in the style of the Disney classics, such as Dumbo or Bambi, and it has an unusual humor in Mexican works; it is not crude and it is easy to understand for young audiences. Its script is brilliant: it delivers all the points of its history in a very intense way, terrifying you, making you laugh and sadden in a single moment.
I admire the ability of its filmmakers to turn the defects of their difficult production into opportunities, mixing CGI photographs in a brilliant way, which although it could have been better in certain sequences, demonstrates how much its filmmakers wanted that not only to be a narrative experience but also visual.
Acting is not something outstanding and on many occasions it can feel unreal, however, I consider that voice performances solve everything that is visually desired, each voice is wonderful, has a different tone, a different flavor and all are loaded with emotion.
The characters have in their entirety interesting, bright and memorable designs, ranging from little Ana, to a terrible flying monster that smokes all over its body. They are varied designs, highly multifaceted, and even though they all differ in so many ways, they all seem to come from the same universe and developed very consciously. The growth process of each one is very elaborate, like Ana, who must face a terrible truth, or a pink elephant who must learn that Bruno does not want to see her even in a photo.
Empathizing with Ana’s family evokes the past, the decisions we did not make, and finally, forces us to remember that life is always ephemeral. We must remember that love makes it painful to get away from someone and that losing love represents losing ourselves, because we are nobody without those we love, our friends, our family and even ourselves. Ana and Bruno is the product of the work of two great filmmakers – director Carlos Carrera and producer Pablo Baksht, whose short film «El Héroe» won the Palme d’Or in 1994 – which you cannot afford not to see, a reflection on the love we feel to our loved ones and a reminder of the difficulty of living under the influence of mental illness.
This entry was translated from Spanish by Alan Camarena.
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