Alice Oscura, Featured Writer
Synopsis: If Anything Happens, I Love You is a 12-minute animated film released on the 20th November on Netflix. It is the story of two parents struggling to cope with the grief of losing their daughter in a school shooting.
Review: This animated short is nothing short of perfect in its representation on how grief over the sudden and traumatic loss of a child affects each parent individually and their marriage. In this particular story the parents still live in the same house but have become basically estranged from each other by refusing to communicate and express their emotions with each other. The brilliance in animation comes through the use of the parents’ shadows representing their true emotions.
The impact that such a short, emotionally packed film has is monumental as you don’t have to be a parent to understand and feel what the characters are going through. The reality is that people deal with loss in their own way and sometimes it is easier not to talk about it in order to dull the pain.
However, this film shows us that it is through our memories of our loved ones that we keep them alive in our hearts, and that way they become a part of you.
With little to no colour other than a little bit of blue, this animation manages to do what many full-length feature films are unable to do and that is to bring home one of life’s many hard lessons — Life is too short people. Spend all the time that you can with your loved ones because one day you can be kissing them goodbye for the last time and you will never know it. It also highlights the fact that the shooting in the school represents the increasing violence in our society and sometimes for no good reason.
Grab that box of tissues and have them handy before you watch this guys. It is a work of art that is short and to the point and packed with a super powerful message for people whose hearts are hurting because they’ve lost someone.
Alice’s Score: 9 out of 10
For Julien’s review of Netflix’s Over the Moon you can click here.
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump.
I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. You can find me as Dark Alice Reviews on Facebook, my Instagram is alice_oscura and my Twitter handle is @lise_veliz2. For more on me you can click here.