‘Chicken for Linda!’ evokes a missing parent, a favorite dish and a bold way forward
Carlos Aguilar April 12, 2024
Some memories float in the ether of our subconscious waiting for a catalyst to bring them back to the foreground
of our mind
. The key to unlock them may come in the form of a dish seasoned with
a
ineffable nostalgia. That kind of unforgettable flavor is what the
sublimely
uproarious,
sublimely
gorgeous
ly
hand-drawn musical
wonder
Chicken for Linda! serves. From co-directors and life partners
Sbastien Laudenbach
and
Chiara Malta
, its an early and hard-to-beat contender for the title of
the
best animated feature of the year.
Mimicking the technique of Laudenbachs 2016 solo project The Girl Without Hands
(
a much darker fable but
an
equally breathtaking
)artisanal picture
, this new collaboration utilizes charmingly simple line drawings for the characters. Theres a volatility to how the
ycharacters
move through the world that denotes the human involvement behind every single frame.
The It’s an
approach
that
rejects using color in a
ny obvious
realistic way
that reflects reality,
; instead
,
each character is
always
represented by a single hue, while the hand-painted backgrounds aim for a similarly symbolic quality
rather than that of a detailed illustration
.
In direct opposition to the homogeneity of
the
photorealism that
often
dominates U.S. animation (thankfully,
the
stylized
appearance of
projects like the Spider-Verse movies
is
are challenging this), Chicken for Linda! looks as if
it was
directly ripped from the pages of a
n artist’s
sketchbook
belonging to an artist with an irreplicable method
.
With a tenderly existential opening, the film After
immediately announc
inges
itself as an idiosyncratic proposition,
“Chicken for Linda!”. Then, the filmmakers
drop
s
us into a household in disrepair:
inside
a working-class Parisian apartment
complex
where Linda (
voiced by Mline Leclerc
), a relentlessly determined and vivacious young girl, her mother, Paulette (
Clotilde Hesme
), and their cat have lived even before the
passing death
of the girls father when she was
still
an infant. Later, in a striking
ly animated
sequence that shows Paulette driving at night as
s
washes of color represent
passing
car headlights,
young
Linda
inquiries asks
about the afterlife and
about
her dad, whom she barely remembers, with heartbreaking sincerity. Paulette can only offer curt answers.
Far from rosy, the emotionally layered mother-daughter dynamic
here
is laced with both believable harshness and unconditional devotion, creating a portrayal that makes the depiction of childhood in most American family-oriented
media
films feel
utterly
simplistic. Theres a gravitas to
seeing
watching Paulette cry after committing an injustice against her spirited daughter,
mistakenly accusing her of losingthinking that
the ring her late husband gave her
had been lost
. Regretful, the flawed mom promises to cook the chicken with peppers that Lindas Italian father, Giulio (Pietro Sermonti), used to make.
But Paulettes
intentions risk being thwarted plan could hit a snag
because of a general labor strike not a rare event in France. All businesses are closed, so
how where
can this atoning single mother purchase the main ingredient? Linda wont let it go. The idea of this recipe is her only connection to
her dad
. The search
for chicken
launches
the
adult and child into a
literal wild chicken film-long
chase
. E
,
e
ach jaw-dropping occurrence fold
ings
new people into
this a
hilariously madcap escapade
. One cant resist the sidesplitting antics, all rendered eye-catching by the vibrant aesthetic approach
.
That even the most seemingly inconsequential supporting characters display recognizable human behavior (often
realistically
unflattering and messy) and well-defined personalities further attest
s
to the deftness of Malta and Laudenbachs writing. Theres Lindas aunt Astrid (Laetitia Dosch), a fiery
Y y
oga instructor who eats copious amounts of candy to cope with frustration; a rookie police officer; a gentlemanly truck driver; and a pack of rowdy kids (Lindas friends) left alone while their parents are out demonstrating in the streets.
Each of the narrative seeds planted (a leak in Lindas apartment, a batch of peppers left in the oven too long,
or
Astrids sweet tooth) pays off, yet never in an easily predictable manner. And yet, though every piece eventually finds its place, this colorful entre of a movie possesses an unruly spirit, as untameable as the
live
chicken that Linda and Paulette are after.
But its the
movie’s
musical numbers which
ones that
rival
those part of
Disney productions
in for
thematic poignancy and visual whimsy that surprise the most. Centering the adult characters, these fantastical sequences provide insight into the very real preoccupations grown-ups face,
rendered
with a childlike playfulness that Linda (and younger viewers) can comprehend. The tunes function as intergenerational bridges
:that
proof
that ageaging
doesnt grant you all the answers.
In many ways, we adults are still just kids who got older now trying to do the best we can.
It’s mind-blowing how
many ideasmuch
the extraordinarily kinetic Chicken for Linda! packs in
to
only 76
unmissable
minutes, brought
into existence to life
by a minuscule team with a
ninsignificant
fraction of the resources that studio offerings (with half the wit and depth) have. This tale of parents and poultry more than earns the exclamation point in its title. It sweeps you into a whirlwind of ingenuity
,
bite after animated bite
leaving an aftertaste of pure delight
.
