Obviously a kids movie and filled stiff acting all around with the over the top Appalachian accents. Even Laura Dern seemed to phone it in. But Chris Cooper and the dark tones of the coal mines was interesting way to represent coal culture and of course the complicated relationship of Homer and his dad and that he ultimately respected what his dad did for the family. Favorite scene was Homer’s dad showing that he cared by hearing about his run in with Von Braun at the science fair.
Caught this at the 2019 Human Rights Film Festival in NYC and the filmmaker did a Q&A explaining that the doc is “not plot driven but rather character driven”. I did enjoy the nuance of their every day lived but often wondered about the context of many of the their conversations. I felt like it tried to capture the essence of the folks in Venezuela being affected by the political crisis but can’t say for sure not having lived there.
This movie started out as a pensive commentary on relatable and heart wrenching parent/child dynamics and gradually turned into a hairbrained adventure comedy. But thoughtout the characters were compelling and the artistic style sucked you in with the free form coloring book style animations. This story is really told in a way a child would really embrace including the dreamy song interludes.
