My Love Affair with Marriage

An unabashed look at a developing woman's interior life as she boils over under the combined pressures of lingering Soviet-era oppression, then Rural, then Cosmopolitan, chapters of her life - all in a narrative knit together, in an almost tongue-in-cheek fashion, with her scientifically up-to-date biological development.

This faceted jewel of a film gleams with trials of human frailty, bravery, and contradiction that are brilliantly and moodily hand-crafted in a unique Indie-Animation style, all from traditional and originally hand-crafted materials. It stands in the Indie Canon, and the greater Animation Canon, as a film evocative of the brave editorial styles of the pioneering days of hand-drawn animation, AND a great contrast to the polish of mass-produced CGI.

A combination of classical animation over a paper mache backdrop make for an interesting ,but not distracting, setting.

The story covers the life of a female from conception to about 30 years old.

At critical points of her life a short clinical medical explanation of the changes in her body and mind chemistry give a background the the ways she handles the outside world and her reaction to the world and the people in her life.

The frequent song interludes do nothing to advance the story and could have been removed with little effect.

The strong spirit of the main character supports the whole story and is a model to be studied for all writers, producers and directors.

IN A NUTSHELL:

This is an animated feature film directed, animated, and written by Signe Baumane, who was born in Latvia. The HuffPost called the movie "One of the best female resistance films of the year." It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022 and then went on to win over 20 awards at various film festivals worldwide.

The story is about a 23-year-old single woman, trying to find love in this confusing world in Eastern Europe. It's told from a woman's perspective and celebrates her journey toward independence and liberation. Does that sound like a feminist flick? The description does for sure, but in reality, it's really about a woman just trying to find true love.

THINGS I LIKED: The voice talents include Matthew Modine, Dagmara Dominczyk, Michele Pawk, Cameron Monaghan, and Stephen Lang.

The hand-drawn animation includes some photography and three-dimensional sets.

There are some clever visual metaphors that perfectly illustrate the complex transition from girlhood to womanhood.

We get to observe scientific explanations to help us better understand thoughts and feelings, and how they affect our physical body...and vice versa.

What's surprising is the large collection of musical numbers. They were created by Kristian Sensini. The song I liked the best was during the rolling credits at the end of the film. I'm not saying that sarcastically to mean that I liked that the movie was ending; I really did enjoy that song the best.

The insights are often brutal and true at the same time.

We also get to see a lot of character growth in the main character.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: The problem with most feminist films is they usually portray men as dumb, useless, and toxic.

The movie is long, yet it ended suddenly and unexpectedly.

A large portion of the movie was devoted to sexuality.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: This is an animation for adults. Kids will be bored. The content isn't appropriate for them anyway.

A boy and girl fight each other in school.

There is talk of a girl's first period, and losing her virginity.

1 F-bomb Lots of talk and portrayal of sex.

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It's hard to describe the movie to someone used to American cinema. It is about deep introspective feelings, reminiscent maybe of Pixar, but without the happy happy, joy joy animation style and forced funny dialogue. It is partially a musical, but only in the context of the story and the songs themselves convey information and are not a platform for someone to flaunt choreography or voice talent. The style of the animation is simplistic, but without the obligatory bits of craft that are there to show the animation was intentionally and meta-artistically simple, because they could have done a lot more. There are important parts about being a bit (or a lot) different from others, but it's never a fist down your throat situation blaming society or the system for one's personal predicament or treatment from others. The story is realistic and deeply meaningful, but without the overt intention of manipulating your feelings. In fact, when something relevant happens, here comes a narrator device to explain the neurological and hormonal mechanisms that led to infatuation or some specific response to a specific situation. And it's real science, not some colorful circles and arrows with dumbed down explanations from a happy voice. It's a feminist movie, without it being misandrist.

In short: I loved it! It's smart, poignant, well done, purposeful at all times. The story is probably more accessible to middle-aged people, but if a kid can grasp the concepts there, it would be a gold mine of education, as well. More people should see more films like this. Watch it!

The story: an Eastern European girl grows up from childhood and then through several marriages, slowly learning to understand and accept herself and others.

Honestly, I don't know why this isn't more famous and talked about. It's way better than Inside Out for example, in all categories except perhaps the technical ones like animation or sound. Highly recommended!