Luca
Movie, 2021, PG
Premise - A young boy sea monster dreams of the wonders of the surface, but is too scared to break his parents' rules and actually see what lies above. That is, until he meets another young boy sea monster who has no regard for rules whatsoever, and convinces him to take the risk and see the land above. Once on land, the two fantasize of living up there forever and traveling the world while escaping their parents.
Review - This movie is so gay. It's gay gay gay. And it's ridiculous that Pixar executives have denied that the film is gay, because the writers and animators of the film must be dying of laughter at the idea that this could be seen as a straight film. But, alas, homosexuality is still taboo enough that to publicly declare it is to sacrifice its marketing, especially internationally. But, for those who know, you know it's queer. It's Call Me By Your Name for kids, as a gay Italian summer romance story.
The entire story is a very clear (and not subtle at all) metaphor for homosexuality, coming out of the closet, and the way we treat sexuality and abstinence education for children. We shame kids about sex, and homosexuality, and just tell them "DON'T DO IT" and kids get curious and resentful of their parents when they discover how great it is. And then they're not well equipped to handle any associated dangers because they didn't even know what they were missing. That's the relationship Luca has with the surface-world.
The discrimination the humans have towards sea monsters is clearly a metaphor for homophobia (and Luca's parents can be seen as trying to protect him from a society that was going to discriminate against him), and Giulia and her father clearly represent allyship. The sea monsters living in hiding were in the closet. It all fits.
Symbolism aside, the characters themselves are also clearly gay for each other, as made obvious by the undeniable chemistry and physical touch. The relationship between the two also reminds me of Call Me By Your Name (as mentioned above), with the power dynamic between the clearly older, more experienced kid and the younger, naive kid. Alberto's jealousy towards Giulia, who actually knows more about the world than he does, is portrayed with incredible poignancy. And there's nothing more heartbreaking than the moment of betrayal when Luca calls out Alberto for being a sea monster to save himself (like when a member of a closeted couple throws the other person under the bus for being gay in order to protect their reputation). I cried the most, however, when Alberto gave up his vespa so that Luca could go to school, a truly selfless expression of love.
So I loved the characters, and I LOVED the water aesthetic (big fan of Finding Nemo over here). But the plot was kinda mediocre. The whole plot is they are trying to win a variation of a triathlon in order to win a vespa, but I kind of could care less about the racing. (85/100 - Could be higher, but my Pixar films are all rated quite harshly so I can rank them easier).
Quote - "Silencio Bruno!" I'm honestly going to be using this from now on. I thought for sure they'd reveal Bruno to be Alberto's father's name, but it's kind of more powerful to be left up for interpretation as just the negative voice in your head.
What to watch for - The shots of them jumping in and out of the water, transforming back into humans and sea monsters interchangeably, were just beautiful.
If you liked this film, I'd recommend Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaid, and Call Me By Your Name - which are three very different movies but somehow come together in this one film.
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