Paco and the Magical Book
WAH! Amazing film. A childrens' movie for adults. Very bizarre and very theatrical. COLOURFUL and ORNATE to the EXTREME. The most extravagant visuals I maybe have ever seen in a film. And full of really demented characters in awesomely creative costumes! Sadawo is very funny as usual. He is too scarce though. I kept wishing someone would press his magic button.
I liked the weirdness, more than the tear jerker plot, which ended up pushing my emo button one too many times. Sure I cried but I felt a little manipulated. Loved the spell like nature of it all though. The way the readings of the story and finally the acting out of it seem to turn into a kind of mantra. Loved the way it morphed manically between impossibly lush and gothic "real life" and animation. It all happened so quickly and with such a rush of sensory overload, that I might even have to watch it again. And I hardly ever do that.
Made the mistake of reading some reviews in English...a teeth grinding experience as usual. Invariably they disliked exactly the things I loved about it. It's bizarreness and oddity and the freakiness of the characters. One reviewer actually complained that the doctor of the asylum was as nutty as the inmates. How shocking! u_u
I suppose they were rather confused by it looking like a childrens movie but really not being one. Though I can't see why children shouldn't watch it. In fact it's not really either for adults or for children, but kind of for both. Or for a strange state of mind in which there isn't any difference. Definitely a mindfucker.
5 Magic Buttons