I remember seeing images and clips for this Swiss-French cartoon during its cinema release on film review programmes, it was rated average by critics, but I know it got attention during Awards Season, so I was hoping for something worth my time. Basically Icare, who prefers to be called "Courgette" (or "Zucchini" in America) (Erick Abbate), lives with his mother (Susanne Blakeslee), who has become a violent alcoholic, due to Icare's father abandoning the family. In a drunken rage, his mother comes after him, as she comes up to the attic, he slams the door on her head, accidentally causing her to fall down the stairs to her death. Courgette is taken in by Police Officer Raymond (Nick Offerman), he keeps one of his mother's cans and a kite he made with a drawing of his father as a superhero as mementos. Raymond brings Courgette to an orphanage, there he is initially picked on by Simon (Romy Beckman), one of the kids, who tries to force him to say what happened to his parents. One day Courgette and Simon fight over the kite, after which Simon warms to him, he explains that he knows about the backgrounds of all the children in the orphanage. Simon tells the backstories of all the other kids, whose parents are either deceased or, in his own case, in trouble with the law, Courgette then tells him what happened to his own mother. One day, new girl Camille (Ness Krell) arrives at the orphanage, on first fight of her Courgette develops a crush. Simon and Courgette sneak into the office to see Camille's files, they find out that she witnessed her father murder her mother for cheating on him, and then killed himself. Camille does have a living relaive, her Aunt Ida (Amy Sedaris), but she is a spiteful woman who only wants custody of Camille for the money she will get. Whilst on a class outing to a snow resort, Courgette and Camille start to bond, he refashions his mother's beer can into a toy boat for her. Courgette grows close to Officer Raymond as he regularly sends letters and drawings to him. Raymond plans to spend a holiday with Courgette, on the same weekend that Camille is supposed to spend with her aunt, but Camille instead stows away in Raymond's car. Raymond reluctantly agrees to bring both kids to the outing, the three of them enjoy themselves at an amusement park. They return to Raymond's house, where Raymond reveals that he has a son that never talks to him. Aunt Ida suddenly appears and angrily takes Camille away. A few weeks later there is a custody meeting for a judge to determine if Aunt Ida will take Camille in. There, Camille plays an MP3 recording of her aunt's voice, where she insulted her mother and yelled at her, Aunt Ida loses her temper right in front of the judge, destroying her bid for custody. Raymond finally decides to take both Courgette and Camille in as foster children. Simon is initially angry, but he ultimately accepts that a reluctant Courgette should go with Raymond. Before leaving with Courgette and Camille, Raymond takes some group photos of the kids outside of the orphanage. While living with Raymond, Courgette continues to write letters to the kids at the orphanage, maintain that he, Camille and Raymond still love them all. Courgette now keeps a group photo of the kids on his kite. Also starring Will Forte as Mr. Paul, Ellen Page as Rosy, Susanne Blakeslee as Ms. Paterson. At first glance, you'd assume this is a brightly coloured children's film, in reality it is something of a sad one, it has a heartfelt approach dealing with difficult subjects, such as loss and abuse. The character designs are bold and unusual (Courgette being blue-haired with a red nose), and the characters themselves are well-thought out, especially the children who are impressively authentic, talking like real kids would about certain subjects, it is an odd length, being just over an hour, but it doesn't need to be any longer, an interesting alternative stop-motion animated drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature Film, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Animated. Worth watching!
Review of My Life as a Zucchini
