Review: My Life As A Courgette
Blu-ray: My Life As A Courgette (2016)
9 year old ‘Courgette’ (his nickname from his mother) is fatherless and lives in relative squalor with his alcoholic mother. When his solo attempt at amusing himself with empty beer cans that he collected from the litter filled floors goes horribly wrong, it results in the accidental death of his mum and him being taken into care.
Now confined to an orphanage that is filled with other unfortunate children who have suffered various mistreatment by the adults in their lives, Courgette’s only stability comes from kindly officer Raymond, who takes sympathy on the poor boys tragic circumstances and is a regular visitor.
Surrounded by children whom he has no knowledge of and who are all under the thumb of playground bully Simon, Courgette must learn anew to trust and love those around him in an attempt to put together the fragile pieces of his life which have been shattered into pieces.
This French animated movie is a tale of sorrow, laughter, fear, hope, imagination, and above all else; the strength of friendship and positivity in the face of adversity.
Starring characters that are more ‘caricatures’, it takes only a few minutes to have any sense of disbelief in them swept away, as the subtle animation imbues each and every one of them with their own individual charisma that shines through their over sized heads and features.
The French language voice track is filled with superb performances that capture the essence of each of the children, and are so nuanced in their delivery that at times you don’t even need to read the subtitles to understand the meaning. There is also an English language dubbed track too which also does a fantastic job of capturing the characters, but I would certainly recommend watching it in its native language first.
At only 65 minutes, the running time is lean but it manages to tell a full and well rounded story that will leave you feeling warm hearted at its conclusion, while also haven taken you through a gamut of emotions in-between.
The picture quality is stunning and each individual carving on the characters heads can be seen in clear relief, yet it takes nothing away from the believability that you are watching children with hearts and emotions, thanks once again to the voice acting, animation and story.
My Life as a Courgette is a movie that stays with you long after the end credits have rolled, and one which you just KNOW will be rewatched again in the not too distant future. It is rated PG here in the UK and I would certainly think twice before letting any children aged about 8-9 or under watch it, as it touches on incest, death, and mental/physical abuse. Yet despite the occasional strong subject matter, it has friendship and positivity at its core which is the main thing that you take away from watching it.
An absolutely wonderful movie that transcends language, religion and race. Watch it and know that there IS love in the world.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Introduction by Peter Lord (Aardman Films)
- The making of My Life as a Courgette
- Courgette ‘Audition’ footage
- Courgette, Your A Star! & Festival D’annecy
- Into Film Animation Workshop
- Trailers
My Life As A Courgette will be released on 18th September, 2017 and you can buy it by clicking HERE. ALL money raised by purchasing from Amazon via our website is given back to our listeners and followers in upcoming competition prizes. The more people buy, the bigger our prizes!
Review by Dave (host of 60 Minutes With) from a disc kindly supplied by Thunderbird Releasing.