Der Junge und die Welt

Wonderfully playful animation from Brazil in which a small boy experiences the dueling wonders and terrors of big city life for the first time. The artwork, clearly on showcase opposite a rather modest storyline, varies from light and expressive to rich and densely textured. It can be a real wonder to behold, especially during moments when the child's imagination takes over and the mechanical guts of an industrial zone become huge, towering, ignorant beasts. Virtually language-free (characters speak a made-up dialect once or twice), it's more universal for that decision and really doesn't need the crutch. Though it gets heavy-handed with environmental messaging late in the journey, the film rebounds nicely with an unexpected twist and brings a little mist to the eye for the final scene. An ambitious, often stunning peek at modern life, as seen through the disbelieving eyes we all shared at one time or another, and well worthy of the Oscar attention it received.

The boy is sadden when his father leaves on the train to find work in the big city. He goes off into the big world in search for his father.

This is a Brazilian animation nominated for an Oscar in 2015. The animation style is colorful stick figures. It has a very unique look. It doubles down by having limited rudimentary dialogue done in gibberish. I do wonder if this would function better as a short, maybe half hour. The theme does get deeper as it delves into globalization and modernization. It's a slow turn into this darker material that is most disconcerting. There is a reveal at the end about the boy and the father which is probably confused especially without dialogue. It could have been done straight forward.

This is not a typical animated film. It has a unique visual and narrative style to represent ideas in an abstract way. Symbols of modern civilisation are garbled and remixed to reveal their "true form". The protestors are colourful and lively, the police are grey and oppressive, the manufacturers are otherworldly, and so on. The boy searches for his father but it seems to be a search for something greater.

It's such a lovely film. Both visually and emotionally rich, one of the most colorful and imaginative animated films I've ever seen. Nearly dialogue-free, one of those films that best portrays the power of the relationship between image and sound. Quite literally perfect, not a thing I would change about it. I don't think it's a stretch to call it perhaps one of the best animated films ever made, surely one of the best I've ever seen. I really hope it gets seen by more people because it would be a shame if it went unnoticed as a whole, truly. Just wonderful in every way. The score deserves even more mentions as well, together with its sound editing.

The Boy and The World has been one of my best discoveries in recent times. A movie that tells its story not through words but music, colours and the eyes of a young boy with a sense of wonder and innocence. The two dimensional animation did nothing if not alleviate the visual thrill that the movie was. A boy's imaginations were carefully captured that went apace with his emotions.

The story is about our young boy who sets out to seek his father who had to leave to work in the city. But on his journey, the boy finds many more facets of life that he had never experienced. He sees life as it could never have been in his imaginations. It is his survival through all the changes, which he never welcomed or run away from, that meets him in his lifelong quest for his father. It maybe a poignant piece for many viewers, but it is the 'hope' of the better world, which is born anew every time it is vanquished, made the movie marvellous.

Ale Abreu has not only produced a masterpiece, but also, I am sure, has given us that long overdue movie which vibrates in me as a symphony of life.