The streets of Havana in the afternoon. The aged Chico finished polishing his shoes and walked slowly home with his toolbox in hand. From time to time, acquaintances greeted him, a few young people listening to rap music, an old lady on the balcony facing the street, and a car mechanic downstairs. Chico just responded indifferently, his expressions and movements filled with exhaustion. It was not until he returned to the dwelling, turned on the radio, and heard jazz music, that there was a hint of satisfaction on his face. Pour a glass of wine, light a cigarette, open the window, and let the setting sun and peace of Havana sprinkle on your body. At this time, the host of the "Voice of Yesterday" program on the radio read: "I'm about to broadcast a song "My Breath" that won the Blue Tie Award of Radio Havana, Cuba 60 years ago. Rita." With the music, old Chico's fingers could not help strumming on the window sill, and in his cloudy eyes, he seemed to see the entangled past...
The story of "Chico and Rita" is in Chico's Slowly unfolding in memory. I didn't watch much European animations (mainly French animations) before, but almost every one left a deep impression on me, such as "Crazy Dating Beautiful City", "Suicide Store", "The Secret of the Book of Kells" ", etc., both the style of painting and the expression of connotation are very different from Hollywood animation. Although the current mainstream animation is still dominated by Hollywood and Japan, European animation is definitely a force that cannot be ignored. The main creator of "Chico and Rita" came from Spain and was nominated for both the Annie Award and the Oscar for Best Animated Feature that year, but unfortunately they all ended up under ILM's "Rango". Considering "Rango"'s technical accomplishments, acclaimed acclaim, and various metaphors, "Chico and Rita"'s failure seems to be understandable.
Compared with "Rango", "Chico and Rita" is a completely different face, and love and music constitute all the elements of the film. The former is the legendary love affair between Chico and Rita spanning six decades; the latter is a nostalgia and tribute to Cuban jazz. In addition, director Fernando Chuba and cartoonist Javier Mariscal also went to Cuba to conduct a field trip. After a lot of materials, the film faithfully depicted the street bars and customs of Havana in the 1940s and 1950s. Combined with love and music, it is like a fresh Caribbean breeze blowing in the face, which makes people indulge in it unconsciously.
In this film, the quality of the music and the artistic quality are absolutely heavyweight, whether it is Bepo Valdes who made the original music for the film, or Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gilles mentioned and appearing in the film Pi, Chano Pozzo and others are among the greatest musicians in the history of Cuban music or jazz. I can't help but sigh that the artistic appeal of Latin jazz is really powerful. Even an audience like me who is not familiar with jazz can't help but like every piece of music in it.
Of course, it's hard to tell which of the elements of love and music in this film is more important, or that the two are already blended together. If music and musicians are both "real", then love is "virtual", but the parties to love are connected by music, and then establish a connection between the virtual and the real. So that even if this love itself is not lacking in clichés, it is enough to make us move.
Chico and Rita's love story follows the classic path, with splits and closes, and extreme ups and downs. Originally thought that the end of loneliness at the beginning of the film was the final ending of Chico, but there was still a turning point. As Haruki Murakami said in "Norwegian Forest" - when we are young, we pursue passion, but when we are mature, we are obsessed with mediocrity. After we seek, hurt, and betray, we can still believe in love as always, which is a kind of courage . Everyone has their own forest, lost people are lost, and those who meet will meet again. Chico and Rita have their own sins and others' troubles, but in the final analysis, they all stem from the impulse and confusion when they were young. In addition, people who are engaged in art are inherently more emotional than rational, and they are driven by passion. To, points are also driven by passion.
Their reunion in their old age reminded me of Ariza and Fermina in García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera. They touch each other in the dark with bony hands more than half a century later, their kiss exudes the sour smell characteristic of old people, and Marquez's description is meticulous and moving. Chico and Rita were the same. Chico, who played the piano well, polished his shoes for many years, and Rita, who was born with a good voice, worked as a janitor in a motel for forty-seven years. At this moment, the glory of the past and the identity of the artist have long since passed away, and what remains is pure love, a direct dialogue with their own lives after they have tasted the joys and sorrows of a lifetime.
Gathering, separation and reunion have been ill-fated, and the broken mirror and reunion have turned white. Perhaps it is not too late, only those who have seen fireworks and love know the beauty and desolation of the world.
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