Squint very hard and you might be able to divine an allegory about the Russian attack on Ukraine – but you can also enjoy it for the nice designs and throat singing
This Ukrainian animated feature offers a bricolage of tropes from a wide range of children’s stories; mostly these derive from other movies but there’s a strong, proper folk-story spine in there too. Forest sprite protagonist Mavka (voiced in the English version by Laurie Hymes) is a fetchingly designed ingenue with green hair, disproportionally large doe eyes and magical healing skills, who lives in a part of the forest where humans no longer go, thanks to an old treaty between them and the forest spirits. But wealthy villainess Kalina wants to acquire an elixir from a magic tree in the forest that keeps her from ageing, so she sends a guileless young musician hunk named Lucas in to...
This Ukrainian animated feature offers a bricolage of tropes from a wide range of children’s stories; mostly these derive from other movies but there’s a strong, proper folk-story spine in there too. Forest sprite protagonist Mavka (voiced in the English version by Laurie Hymes) is a fetchingly designed ingenue with green hair, disproportionally large doe eyes and magical healing skills, who lives in a part of the forest where humans no longer go, thanks to an old treaty between them and the forest spirits. But wealthy villainess Kalina wants to acquire an elixir from a magic tree in the forest that keeps her from ageing, so she sends a guileless young musician hunk named Lucas in to...
- 7/24/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
When Lucasfilm asked legendary Aardman (“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”) to participate in “Volume 2” of the “Star Wars: Visions” animated anthology (currently streaming on Disney+), the Bristol stop-motion studio came through with the amusing day at the races comedy “I Am Your Mother.” For director Magdalena Osinska (“Share the Orange” Alzheimer’s U.K. Research campaign), it was an opportunity to not only introduce Aardman wit and handmade prowess to the “Star Wars” universe but to emphasize girl power and maternal pride as well.
In the lively, 10-minute short, Anni (Charithra Chandran), a Twi’lek teen and promising pilot, refuses to enter the annual parent-child starship race because she’s embarrassed by her clinging mom, Kalina (Maxine Peake). That is, until Kalina shows up and urges Anni to take on the snooty favorites: Julan Van Reeple (Bebe Cave) and mom Dorota (Daisy Haggard).
“I was thinking: What do I love...
In the lively, 10-minute short, Anni (Charithra Chandran), a Twi’lek teen and promising pilot, refuses to enter the annual parent-child starship race because she’s embarrassed by her clinging mom, Kalina (Maxine Peake). That is, until Kalina shows up and urges Anni to take on the snooty favorites: Julan Van Reeple (Bebe Cave) and mom Dorota (Daisy Haggard).
“I was thinking: What do I love...
- 5/9/2023
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
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