Annalisa Di Benedetto
With the start of the new year, film programming is enriched by bringing new and old animated films to theaters.
Inside Out 2
The much-awaited film of 2024 is undoubtedly Inside Out 2. No longer is it only Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust who are running young Riley’s headquarters. With the arrival of adolescence new feelings take over the girl’s life. The quintessential new entry is Anxiety, about which director Kelsey Mann pointed out “there are many different types of anxiety, but we’re focusing mainly on social anxiety, the desire to fit in and be part of a group. There is the question, ‘Do I measure up?’” Anxiety is not the only one that troubles Riley’s life: along with it are Boredom, Envy, and Embarrassment.
Sensitively and entertainingly, the Disney and Pixar film brings the inner and emotional world of adolescents to the screen, constituting a valuable opportunity to help youngsters – and not only youngsters – become familiar with such widespread, and often rejected, emotions that many times seem difficult to manage.
Soul
The year 2024 is also the time for the return to the big screen of films that have already been made available through other channels”. Such is the case with Soul, available in theaters since January 12, 2024, and Luca, coming on March 22. Indeed, Disney has decided to give these films the scope for which they were conceived: the movie theater.
Soul tells the story of African-American Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher who dreams of making it big as a jazz musician. On the day he passes the audition to debut with a famous quartet Joe has an accident and falls into an uncovered manhole. As he lies dying on a hospital bed, Joe’s soul detached from his body comes to a strange place. Thus begins an adventurous journey in which Joe has a chance to relive some moments of his life and return to the origin of his passions. A special occasion through which Joe matures into a different perspective on his life.
By positioning itself from a strictly existential point of view Soul stirs our consciousness and is able to question us about who we are and who we really want to be. About what our relationship to our passions is, what our desires are, and what it is that makes us truly unique.
Luca
Set in magnificent Liguria, Luca tells the story of a shy and introverted little sea monster with a strong curiosity about the world of humans. Following his acquaintance with Alberto, a rebellious sea monster, Luca is persuaded to disobey the rules of his world and the concerns of an apprehensive mother to discover what lies beyond the surface of the sea. Upon arriving on land, Luca and Alberto realize that out of the water, their appearance is like that of humans, so they decide to spend their summer vacation on land, in the beautiful setting of the Riviera. Thus begins an adventure of curiosity and new discoveries, in which Luca and Alberto will understand the importance of friendship and discover that there are indeed dangers in life, but that it is worth facing them to pursue their dreams.
Luca is an ode to that curiosity and desire to explore the world that begins to emerge in preadolescence, that stage when we begin to define ourselves and form important relationships.
And friendship is the other key aspect of the film. Luca celebrates true and authentic friendship, the type that helps people discover themselves and accept the diversity of the other. In a word: the friendship that makes one grow.
