Wow. I've just seen a very fine film that features a talking pink elephant made of cotton candy, an imaginary friend who cries sweeties and is named Bingbong. I've just seen Pixar's "Inside Out." With Eli - only the second movie he has ever seen. It was a bit long for him, but it was riveting for me - and I look forward to seeing it again. Not many films I say that about.
Truly spectacular - about the emotions roiling inside the mind of Riley, an 11-year old girl facing an upheaval in her hitherto tranquil life. The creator, Pete Docter, who brought us the magnificent "Up," must have spent a great deal of time with psychologists, figuring out the workings of the brain, memory and the emotions, to come up with such clever concepts - the "train of thought" that circles randomly, memories as glowing balls, a few of them destined to be stored forever as core memories, others stacked on the giant bookshelves of longterm memory, and some sinking to the bottom in a smouldering ash heap of forgetting. That the personality has key "stations" that definite it - Riley's are Family, Honesty, Friendship, Hockey, Goofball - and as she goes through a difficult time and both Joy and Sadness are lost and Anger, Fear and Disgust take over, her stations disintegrate. We watch her come close to disaster before things are righted, and the hilarious closing credits take us inside the mind of a dog, a cat, a punk hipster and many more. Loved the last line, as Joy expresses her satisfaction that all is fine: "Now Riley is twelve. What could possibly go wrong?"
Extremely clever - brilliant, I'd say, beautifully done, highly recommended. Though a bit long if you're 3. One of the messages - sadness is as important as any other emotion. This I have always known. I'd like to see the sequel incorporate frustration, envy, insecurity, curiosity, and many more.
And what about the combination of anger and disgust that is loathing? Which I felt, once more, reading Carol Goar's superb article in the Star yesterday about what Stephen Harper has done to this country:
http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2015/06/29/stephen-harper-has-altered-the-face-of-canada/#.VZMg9ot0G0Y
And to end on a happy note, what admiration and pleasure in reading, once again, about the miraculous transformation of Michael Coren, once one of the most mean-spirited right-wing pundits in the country, who has had an incredible change of heart. All the nasty emotions inside Mr. Coren were somehow transformed into this newly loving, open man. Joy took over.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/06/29/michael-coren-my-unlikely-sermon-at-the-metropolitan-community-church.html
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
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