Arco, dir. Ugo Bienvenu (Note: watched with English dub)
Arco is a French animated film directed by Ugo Bienvenu that follows Iris (Romy Fay), a young girl living in the year 2075, who witnesses the crash-landing of Arco (Juliano Krue Valdi), a brash yet sweet time-travelling boy from 2932, and must help him find his way back home. The two discover their own wants and desires in the process of their adventure, and learn to take responsibility for their actions and the impact they have on others.
While Arco’s story is rather simplistic — it is, after all, made with young audiences in mind — it makes up for this relative flatness through its rich and distinctive world-building, and does an exceptional job of situating the audience within its unique setting. One of Arco’s greatest strengths as a film is its incredibly detailed and lush art style; it is clearly inspired by the work of Mœbius, Hergé, and anime companies like Studio Ghibli or Production I.G., which all utilize fairly simple character designs that have a tangible human weight to them, set against beautifully complex backgrounds.
Also reminiscent of Studio Ghibli within Arco are the themes of environmentalism and humanity’s role in the commonplace catastrophes that arise from our repeated band-aid solutions to climate change. The environmental messaging of the film managed to feel both incredibly important to its narrative and yet not overly self-aggrandizing or preachy, which is always a difficult tone to reach when tackling these issues in kids’ media.
While I wish I were able to see this film with its original French audio, the English actors provided excellent voice performances with the pathos and humour required to sell this adventure in full. Its scattered moments of slapstick felt earned alongside the relative gravitas of the overall story, and worked to endear the audience to the characters. In the end, Arco is extremely charming and visually beautiful, though not overly memorable. Recommend!
Merrily We Roll Along, dir. Maria Friedman
In this restaging of Stephen Sondheim’s famed musical of the same name, Merrily We Roll Along follows the lives of three best friends, Franklin (Jonathan Groff), Charley (Daniel Radcliffe), and Mary (Lindsay Mendez), whose story is told to the audience over the course of three decades, beginning with a tumultuous falling out at the end of their careers and moving backwards through time to when the trio first meet.
Each of the three leads in this production were nominated for a Tony Award, with Groff and Radcliffe winning Best Lead and Featured Actor in a Musical, respectively, so it feels rightfully easy to praise the performances in this film. Their fiery chemistry sells the idea that they are lifelong friends, making their inevitable dissolution all the more heartbreaking. Radcliffe in particular was a delightful surprise, with his solo number, “Franklin Shepard, Inc.,” being the undoubted showstopper of the production.
Maria Friedman’s directorial choices, both in the staging of the musical itself and in the filmmaking on display, showcase the nuances of Sondheim’s original piece. In a live performance of the Broadway show, an audience member is unlikely to see the characters’ minute expressions from up in the balcony, but Friedman employed frequent close-ups to let viewers better glimpse the barely subdued emotions bubbling beneath the actors’ skins. At times, the choice to tightly frame so much of the film obscured the excellent staging and set design, but Friedman’s decision was extremely effective in conveying emotional turning points.
My main gripe with this film comes from the original text, which sees Mary as being hopelessly in love with Frank, despite his only ever seeing her as a friend. While this is a fine character motivation, the script leaves her with little else to do than pine over someone who does not love her back. Almost all of the charm Mary holds stems from Mendez’s incredible stage presence, which is marvellous, though I wish she had more to work with. Generally, this was a very strong adaptation of an under-appreciated musical, brought to film with an exacting eye. Recommend!
