Criterion Collector

A Movie A Day Keeps The Doctor Away! 

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #105: THE ELEPHANT MAN (directed by David Lynch) 

“I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man!”

A deformed man is scorned and shunned from society. Put in a freak show. Laughed at. Ridiculed. Believed to be damned, stupid, and depraved. Yet, when someone finally takes the time to understand this person, they find out that this deformed man isn’t quite so different. He may appear that way, but inside, he’s just as human as the rest of us, maybe even more so.

Now. Take the word “deformed” and replace it with a different race, or a sexuality, or a different gender. Any minority. That’s why this movie is a masterpiece. Anyone who has ever been the outsider and the outcast in society - this film and the story of John Merrick is for you. It speaks to the abnormalities of this world.

“People are frightened by what they don't understand.”

As a gay man, this movie destroyed me. There were so many parallels to be drawn between how gay people have been treated to how John was treated. So many scenes where I had to remove my glasses because they were fogging up so much that I couldn’t see the screen.

Beyond the message, the tone and atmosphere of this film is amazing. David Lynch always crafts a movie that is meant to be felt and experienced, and here is no different. The cinematography, the sound design, the lighting, and of course the costuming and makeup are all excellent.

You can’t talk about this movie and not talk about the sincere, honest, and heartbreaking performance that John Hurt gives as John (Joseph) Merrick. Behind all that makeup, you are still able to empathize and weep at this poor, misunderstood soul, who, above all else, just wanted love. And you loved him for that. You realized that while society called him a monster - the real monster, was society itself.

“My life is full because I know I am loved.”

I was profoundly moved by this film. I will be thinking about this movie, indeed, for a long time.

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #175: FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (directed by Terry Gilliam) 

If you’ve only watched this movie sober, you haven’t watched this movie. 

If you made the sad decision to watch it sober in the past, here is my guide to experience this movie the way it was meant to be experienced. 

Step One: Take two hits after the Universal logo.

Step Two: Take additional hit after, “This is your half of the sunshine acid”

Step Three: Another hit after “the Debbie Reynolds incident”

Step Four: Two hits after you hear the world, “adrenochrome”

That should carry you to the end of the movie. Now go. Get out of here. You’re welcome.

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #584: KURONEKO (directed by Kaneto Shindo) 

Wow. This is a really beautiful film. Creepy, but beautifully creepy. It's a dream, a visual nightmare. You know how in you dreams you can see two places at once? Settings or times become interchangeable, almost happening at once. It's that world of dreams where to places melt together. Kaneto Shindo, the director, is able to achieve that in some of the most interesting and impressive cinematic way. You'll see a character sitting in the room of a house. All of a sudden, the walls of the house are replaced by a tall grove of bamboo, yet the image isn't a still image. It is as if the house itself is moving through the bamboo grove, yet the window remains, it's curtain billowing in the mist of the grove while two women serve hot sake on a rosewood floor. It's this bizarre juxtaposition of settings and time that make this film just hypnotic.

The film was also impressive in what it set out to talk about. Shindo's discussion on sexuality here, particularly women's sexual liberation is stunning. The word Kuroneko means "Black Cat", and it's clear that Shindo chose this as symbol of femininity. When the Black Cat witnesses two women being savagely raped and murdered by samurai, it brings their spirits back to hunt and kill and drink the blood every last samurai. While it makes for an amazing ghost story, the underlying allegory to women's sexual liberation and civil rights shines through. Women taking control of their bodies. Women getting revenge on the slobbering horde of ravenous men. It's extremely powerful.

I was absolutely transfixed and hypnotized the entire time this film was on. It draws you in and puts a spell on you, just like the two women in this tale transfix the wary samurai into their claws. I liked this far better than Shindo's other horror/spooky film "Onibaba". But, it's clear from both films that Shindo knows how to make an atmospherically creepy film. The horror comes in the surroundings: in the silence of the wind whipping through the bamboo, in the soft meow of a nearby cat. Shindo's world is terrifying and mesmerizing.

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #1035: COME AND SEE (directed by Elem Klimov) 

I don’t really know how to put in to words what I’m feeling or thinking after seeing this movie. I knew, going in, that it was going to be difficult and emotional - but even so, this was a profoundly moving and life changing experience that I couldn’t have anticipated or prepared for. Even now, I’m trying to compose my thoughts and write a semi-coherent review, but each time I stop and think of the movie I find myself in a rabbit hole of thought. Okay. Let me try and just get a little bit out of my brain here.

First of all, this has to be one of the best child performances I’ve ever seen. I looked it up, and Aleksey Kravchenko was 14 when this film started shooting. He’s able to convey such a wealth of emotions and as the film progresses and we see him experience horror after horror, there is no doubt in your mind that he is really going through all of this. You don’t see an actor, you see a boy standing in the middle of hell. In fact, nothing in this film seems fake or cinematic - it’s all presented so realistically and brutally. However that is not to say it isn’t cinematic. The cinematography and camera work are gorgeous, with many sequences feeling almost dreamlike. It’s Roger Deakins’ favorite film for a reason.

Without spoiling anything, the FIRE SEQUENCE is probably one of the most brutal scenes I’ve ever seen on film. It’s disgusting what The Nazi’s did to innocent villages. It truly made me think about the psychology behind Nazism and just how average, everyday citizens were able to get behind a regime like Hitler’s and commit acts of such atrocity. So evil. It truly baffles me. And to think that there are those in the US, like we saw in Charlottesville, that flew the Nazi flag and shouted Anti-Semitism from the streets. Absolutely and violently deplorable. My heart hurts after seeing this. It really does.

Also, the last five minutes or so are truly genius filmmaking. Again, I won’t spoil anything, but if you’ve seen the film you’ll know what I mean. The “historical rewind” sequence when the boy is shooting the picture of Hitler is like hypnotic and jaw dropping. And, it’s moments like these that crop up in the film elsewhere that truly make the movie stand high above the shoulders of other anti-war films, or just films in general. Elem Klimov is able to mix hyper-realism with surrealism and existentialism. It’s almost like watching a documentary on LSD, or waking up in the middle of a dream but still seeing the remnants of the dream in real life. Films like these are worthy of entering the ranks with other auteurs such as Bergman, Tarkovsky, and Kurosawa.

There’s so much more I could say. The brilliant use of Mozart’s Lacrimosa at the end, and what that means. The stork popping up throughout the film. The ending message of youth and children during wartime. It’s a very intellectual film if you dig deeper and deeper. But as Roger Deakins says in a wonderful interview, even if you disregard the intellectual messages of the film, it’s still just a horrifyingly powerful movie that leaves you with such a complexly solemn and bare feeling at the end. Watch this film. Reflect. Learn. History like I this must never, ever be allowed to repeat itself.

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #51: BRAZIL (directed by Terry Gilliam) 

I definitely need a second, or third, or fourth watch of this masterpiece. Holy shit. There is just so much thrown at you every single second, it's a never ending imagination explosion. I haven't seen a film like this in a while, where at every step I was just wowed by something completely new and original, an idea that I have never seen before. It's hard to do that anymore, when the film and TV market has become so saturated - you feel, "Eh, I've seen most of what there is to be seen." This laughs in the face of that comment, it shatters all expectations and sense of normalcy or formula.

While Time Bandits is Terry Gilliam at his most youthful and fun, this is Terry Gilliam just opening up his brain and pouring everything out and letting it run wild on screen. And it's beautiful. It's a cautionary - what our society could have looked like if the Third Reich and Stalin's Communist Russia had joined arms and really taken over the world. It's also a scary look at what we could become as a society if we don't take into consideration how closely many of us are already slipping into conformity, letting screens dictate our lives while the government puts us all into boxes.

The film also champions the outsider, the dreamer, the one who tries so desperately to take a peek behind the curtain of reality and challenge the status quo. Jonathan Pryce, my god, gives a fucking insane performance. One of the best screen performances I have seen in quite a long time. Again, like all of Terry Gilliam's films, there is more that is unanswered at the end of the film than answered, which is why I know I shall absolutely love to return to this film again and again. This is just pure genius movie making. You never want to stop watching.

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

FAVORITE FILMS: ET THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL (directed by Steven Spielberg) 

Look, this is my favorite movie of all time. I'm not going to gush about the incredible child performances, the wonderful cinematography and camera work, and some of the best directing Steven Spielberg has ever done. I'm a musician, so of course I want to talk about the best part of this movie, the score by maestro John Williams.

I don't know how many people know this, but during the recording session, John Williams was finding it incredibly difficult to fit the music he had written to the last 5 minutes or so of the film, which you'll remember is when ET and Elliot are saying an extremely heartfelt goodbye. John Williams just wasn't happy with how it was sounding, and for three days he tried and tried to cut the music, but it still wasn't quite right. So, Steven Spielberg approached John and said, "I'll turn off the movie and you just play your music. Don't try to fit it to the movie. Just play and I'll take the footage and cut it to your music."

That almost never happens. It was unprecedented. And the result is a finale that is operatic in its emotional release. It is titanic in the catharsis you feel as the timpani's tremble and the strings finish their last aching tremolo. It achieves what few films have ever achieved in the history of cinema: a perfect marriage of sound and image, of music and movie. That's the magic of Steven Spielberg and the brilliance of maestro John Williams.

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

FAVORITE FILMS: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (directed by David Lean)

So yeah, this is definitely one of the best movies I have ever seen. I can't believe it took me this long to see it. And, I think the reason I liked this so much was how surprised I was about what this movie actually was. I went into it thinking that it was going to be a “Braveheart” type film - a story about a courageous leader who is always justified and is painted as the hero among heroes. It was so refreshing to see that it was actually a brutally honest character study of the barbaric tendencies that plague humanity as a whole. It took one man who was essentially a quiet and peaceful person, and showed that even those with the best intentions can sometimes slip into insanity and violence. Even the most humble man can one day take on a Messiah complex. And it's so human of us. It's so human of David Lean to show a "hero" as this flawed human being.

And, at the end of the day, it's David Lean who deserves all the recognition for this mammoth of a masterpiece. Don't get me wrong, Peter O'Toole is hysterically amazing, but Lean's vision for this film is unparalleled. I feel like I’ve just lived through the events of this film. I know I just watched it, and it was all there on screen, behind a TV, but somehow David Lean’s filmmaking and FA Young’s cinematography transported me to a different reality for 4 hours. I felt as if I was there with Lawrence, riding through the desert of Sinai or charging into Damascus or on the shores of Aqaba. There are so many shots that I want to just frame and hang all around my house. It’s stunning work.

At the end of the film I just stared at the screen for some time, questioning everything I had just seen. The ending leaves you in such a somber place, which is perfect for a film that is so epic. Here is what I thought about as the credits rolled: What is the price of Freedom? Don’t all revolutions need a leader to push us through and stoke the flames of justice inside all of us? Is it better to gain freedom through death and destruction or by diplomacy and talks and treaties? Spike Lee poses this question in “Do The Right Thing”, and it’s a question that is as timeless as time itself. What will we do in the name of justice, freedom, and self defense?

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #1037: WAR OF THE WORLDS (directed by Byron Haskin) 

This movie has no right being this good, especially for 1953. The first 30 minutes are just freaking brilliant. So well paced, so well shot, and the effects are pretty impressive, all things considered. The acting from Gene Barry is particularly strong throughout; it never strays into that melodramatic cheesiness you see from many of the early sci fi films of the 50’s. I wish you could say the same thing about his co-Star Ann Robinson. Oy. 

The only sin, in my eyes, is it shows the aliens, and shows them pretty early on. Not only are they kind of goofy looking, but the mystery of not knowing what the aliens look like would have made the second act a little stronger, as it’s the only place that tends to drag just a bit. But only a bit. All in all, I think it’s a damn good movie that has aged incredibly well. Definitely one of the best, if not THE best pioneers of science fiction films. Also the 4K restoration by Criterion is just stunning.

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #328: MURMUR OF THE HEART (directed by Louis Malle) 

Nothing like a bit of sex and jazz to start the day.

Seriously. I love this movie so fucking much. It’s such a honest and unapologetic look at those teenage years when all you can think about is sex and exploring your sexuality. Youth in revolt? Yeah, but it’s not chaotic. Here it’s subtle and nuanced. And just so blunt.

I chuckled watching this, because for the past two weeks there has been such an uproar online over the new French film CUTIES. Many claim that it’s inappropriate to have young actors deal with mature themes on screen. I would PAY to see those weak minded people watch this movie: a film that shows a 15 year old boy (the actor is 14-15 as well) masturbate with his brothers, use his cat to get him off, lose his virginity to a woman 10-15 years older than him, and oh yeah, eventually have sex with his own mother.

Now do I say this to be crude? Not at all. I truly believe that art holds a mirror to life, and art should be as honest and controversial as real life is. And for the record, Louis Malle directs these taboo moments with such delicacy that it doesn’t even cross your mind that what you are seeing could be wrong or immoral. It is one of the most honest coming of age films I have ever seen, one that isn’t afraid to show how filthy and horny we all are. As our young protagonist says: “There is no more childhood.”

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[mndvx]

chadwickboseman It is with immeasurable grief that we confirm the passing of Chadwick Boseman. 

Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it these last 4 years as it progressed to stage IV. 

⁣A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much. From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. ⁣⁣

It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther. ⁣He died in his home, with his wife and family by his side. ⁣

The family thanks you for your love and prayers, and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time. ⁣⁣

Photo Credit: @samjonespictures

[criterioncollector96]

I don’t usually reblog on this page. But this is devestating news. Rest In Power, King.

[criterioncollector96]

AMAZING ANIMATION: PONYO (directed by Hayao Miyazaki) 

I don't need to try and remember what it was like being a young kid anymore, I can just watch PONYO, and I am instantly a kid again.

SO IMAGINATIVE. If Spirited Away is Miyazaki's masterpiece, and Princess Mononoke is his epic, then this film is Hayao at his most innocent and childlike. His imagination is through the roof with this movie. What he's able to do with animation here is transcendental, supernatural - spiritual even. It reached way down deep into my soul, into the back of my head, and found tiny little boxes that hadn't been opened more than 10-15 years. Miyazaki-san made me remember what it was like to view the world through the eyes of innocence and wonder and color and awe.

And, like always, he's able to pack some really mature themes into this film - parents' fear of letting their children grow up, old age, pollution of the sea, humanity - but all the while telling a story that children from 1 to 100 can sit down together and just be swept away into the beauty and magic of his colors and brilliance. I really didn't think that there would be another Studio Ghibli film that I would consider to be in my Top 5. But, damn, Ponyo is just such a special movie that now holds a beautiful place in my heart.

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #29: PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (directed by Peter Weir) 

There's a wonderful moment in this film when two people are in a greenhouse. The one man is going on and on about how there has to be an answer to a local disappearance. The truth will eventually come out. The end will happen and we will all know what really occurred. The second man laughs and says, "there are some questions that have answers, and some that do not. Do you know that there are plants that can move?" He strokes a certain plant rather sensually, and the plant curls its flowers and droops. Why does it do that? How?

This enigma, this open-ended mystery is at the center of Picnic at Hanging Rock. I've never been so happily mystified, so content with not being able to wrap my head around a movie. To try and describe this movie, what it means, what it's about would only be doing it a disservice, and would be rather pointless. This movie is an atmospheric moment in time, a glimpse of that bizarre reality just beyond folds of time. However, what I will do is ramble off some phrases, feelings, words that I think capture this film and the vibe it gives:

-sexual awakening and desire

- we do not know the true force of all things natural and unnatural in this world. There are forces at work in the ancient crevices of this world that are remnants of an age long past. That are dark and threatening.

- Homoerotic tension.

I'm sure there is more to get from this film, and that definitely requires many more viewings. But, what an interesting experience quite unlike any film has ever given me.

[criterioncollector96]

COMING TO THE CRITERION COLLECTION: MOONSTRCUK (directed by Norman Jewison) 

THE BEST ROMANTIC COMEDY EVER.

When I tell you I GASPED when I discovered this wonderful film was being added to THE CRITERION COLLECTION! I just couldn’t believe it. This has been a favorite of mine and my family’s for years...decades. Every year or so we will all get together and watch, quoting the entire time as we go, as the movie is probably one of the most quotable films of all time. 

Coming from a huge Italian family, this movie feels like home to me. Cher and Nicolas Cage give their best on screen performances. The script is brilliant, but I guess that's what happens when you get a Tony Award Winning Broadway playwright. He even won Best Screenplay at the Oscars for this film! It's just the perfect blend of comedy, romance, drama, and some good old Italian banter. A film that tries to wrap its head around that age old question: why do we fall in love?

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #45: TASTE OF CHERRY (directed by Abbas Kiarostami) 

This was a very meditative experience - less of a "movie", in the traditional sense of the word, and more of a 99 minute therapy session with myself. I won't try to say anything profound or enlightening, because I think the beauty of this film is that everyone will have a different experience with this film; you will take away whatever you bring into it, whatever your mind and mood is that day. What I will say, is that I know we all go through stressful times in our lives, and sometimes it might feel too much. But please know that there are people in your life that love you and care for you and would be lost without you. You, yes you, have made an impact on more people's lives than you can possibly imagine. And if you ever feel like you have thoughts that you just can't manage, and are living in the USA, please call this number (1-800-273-8255) or visit this website: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org It is the 24 Hour National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and it can help you to realize that whatever you are going through, you are not alone and it truly will get better. 

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION #34: ANDREI RUBLEV (directed by Andrei Tarkovsky)

 I am not usually at a loss for words, but I’m finding it difficult to express myself, in terms of the effect that this film just had on me. Isn’t it funny though that a movie about artistic expression and the challenges of channeling inner creativity leaves me, well, at a loss. It’s hard to review this as a movie, because, well, the space in my brain and my soul which this movie now occupies is not where most films live. This film, in every sense and definition of the word, a work of art. It exists not as simple entertainment, but as an outward artistic expression of the human condition - of man’s contemplation of life, death, religion, success, failure, war - it’s all there.

Now, as someone who is in the middle of writing a musical, and is deep in the creative process every day, this film highlighted so much of my own feelings about the creation of art: the fear of success and failure, the feeling of losing your way, the feeling of losing your inspiration. There’s a moment when Andrei takes paint and smears it all over a blank wall in frustration and agony, and I completely related to that feeling of despair. A standout moment is when Andrei meets a young bell maker who is almost acting as the antithesis of Andrei. Whereas Andrei contemplated and took caution at every step, the young bell maker dives headfirst, almost recklessly, into a task that he has no idea if he will be able to complete. Which is the best way to approach art? Ignorant and reckless, leading with gut and heart, or careful and methodical? Who’s to say?

There are so many other emotions and themes that are brought up, I could write pages and pages. I’ll spare you all that, however there is another moment that I want to talk about, if you’ll indulge me. Andrei constantly grapples with a changing religious dogma in his head. The people around him view God, Jesus, and Judgement Day as fire and brimstone. God is something to be feared. But Andrei doesn’t see that. He sees the issues in the world when God is used as a fear tactic, to oppress people. That was in 1406, and it's still happening in the world today. My favorite quote sums it up perfectly: “Everything is an eternal cycle, and it repeats and repeats itself. If Jesus returned to earth, they would crucify him again.”

So, I’ll remember this film not as a film, but a feeling, an atmosphere, a moment in time where I didn’t move for 3 hours while watching this. I was hypnotized by a movie that managed to reach way down deep into my subconscious and expose my own fears, confirm my own feelings, and even educate me. I can’t wait to revisit this film time and time again, where I will undoubtedly be revealed new themes and moments to take with me. To Tarkovsky, I leave the words of his Andrei Rublev, “I see the world with your eyes. I listen to it with your ears. With your heart…”

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

CRITERION COLLECTION SPINE #24: HIGH AND LOW (directed by Akira Kurosawa) 

Whew. Any time I finished a movie by the master Akira Kurosawa, I'm always just so exhausted from constantly marveling at how he does what he does. Now I never went to film school, I have no knowledge of technical filmmaking. However, I am a New York actor, and have trained in acting all my life - and I just have to wonder if Kurosawa-san ever trained in theater as well? His shots are so beautifully blocked (I think this is the film term? Blocking in theater means how the characters are positioned in any scene and how they move around any given space) and he's able to tell full stories without dialogue, with just the framing of the camera and how the characters interact with the space and actors around them. It's such a treat to watch.

The first hour or so of this movie legit feels like watching a stage play. It all takes place in a large living room but never feels limited to that setting. The dialogue is so crisp and interesting that you can't help but just lean forward as you watch. The subject matter and story is tense and riveting, only further enhanced by Kurosawa's filmmaking and the actors insane job at delivering a lot of dialogue quite organically. Toshiro Mifune, in my opinion, gives one of the best performances of his entire career - he's so broken here, so conflicted, and he pulls it off gorgeously.

The second half of this movie is almost an entirely different beast. Kurosawa is working with a larger cast, many different locations, yet he's able to make these changes feel consistent with the first half of the film, all the while making it exciting to the audience to see new places and meet new characters. And just because we are in larger areas, doesn't mean the film sacrifices that excellent blocking when the characters were confined to one room. It doesn't matter if the characters are in a living room, a car, a night club, or on the coast - each person feels like they are exactly where they are supposed to be to tell the story to its full effect.

What is also super impressive is Kurosawa sets up this movie as one thing, and you spend an hour or so following this setup, and then once the payoff happens, you realize that there is almost an hour and a half of film left. I know I sort of questioned, "how is he going to keep this interesting, when we've gotten the big payoff?" I was stupid to question the genius that is Kurosawa. He sort of jabs you in the ribs and slyly whispers, "yo, you think this shit was over? WELL FUCKING WATCH THIS" and then completely turns the movie into almost a different genre. The only movie I can think that has done this effectively since is Bong Joon Ho's "PARASITE".

And then, of course, there is what this movie is trying to say, or what it's getting at. I think, of course, the themes and messages of a film are always up to interpretation, and Kurosawa usually didn't like when people looked too much into his films. However it's pretty hard to ignore the messages of social structure and of class disparity. The message of morality and the struggle between the rich and poor, or as this film is aptly named, the HIGH AND LOW.

Find me on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/michaelzak/

[criterioncollector96]

AMAZING ANIMATION: MIRAI (directed by Mamoru Hosoda)

MY GOODNESS what a wonderful movie. I love animation so freaking much, especially when it's used to tell complex and metaphorical stories like this. Mirai is about childhood and how we learn empathy at an early age by allowing our imagination and dreams to teach us about the world around us. It's about growing up and realizing one's personality and identity in their family. But the way the director of this movie chooses to show that is so mind blowing - fantasy!

Through Kun's daydreams and imagination, he learns about his parents, and his sister, and even his dog! He learns that they are all individuals. He spends a rainy day with his mom, wreaking havoc around her childhood house and learns that she, too, was a messy little kid. He plays fetch with the human spirit of his dog. He gets a lesson in determination and bike riding from his deceased great grandfather.

It's all so wonderful and fantastic, but through all of this we see young Kun begin to grow up and recognize his place in his family. And that's empathy right there, that's human nature. The fact that animation can deliver messages this deep, while still telling a story that kids and grownups can enjoy and be dazzled by - that's masterpiece worthy right there.

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