I saw this in the HK European Union Film festival, and thought it was a nice story, very well done but for some reason, the tone is a bit flat. It seems to want to make it "suspenseful" with what goes on "upstairs", and attempts to shock the audience although the answer was already given away in the first 5 min.
It's a story that is universal, when the kid decide to send their burdensome grandparents to a home since they could no longer cope with looking after them. In comes Emilio, an ex-bank worker who refuses to see reality, and the quirky Argentinian Miguel who helped bring a bit more comical relief.
While it started well, with the introduction of an interesting array of characters, it fell a little flat along the way as it didn't seem to know where it wanted to go with all these personalities. In the end, they redeemed the confusion by explaining a little the story behind some characters, and then a half-hearted attempt to bring drama into the movie that ended tragically and too quickly to make any notable impact... and then Emilio becomes a vegetable. Then suddenly you're introduced to the foul mouth paraplegic squatter whose presence is like a red herring...
If you're into a film that is full of action and coups, this unfortunately doesn't cut it. It's just melancholic, nothing more. Animation is well done, and the story rounded enough, but at the end, it's another story about grandparents left in old people's homes... it has been done to death in a way. The final credit song was a nice touch, sung by a real life woman (they said 101 years old?) in one of the homes, with ironic lyrics and slightly foul language! Overall, it's just well done, nothing more.
It's a story that is universal, when the kid decide to send their burdensome grandparents to a home since they could no longer cope with looking after them. In comes Emilio, an ex-bank worker who refuses to see reality, and the quirky Argentinian Miguel who helped bring a bit more comical relief.
While it started well, with the introduction of an interesting array of characters, it fell a little flat along the way as it didn't seem to know where it wanted to go with all these personalities. In the end, they redeemed the confusion by explaining a little the story behind some characters, and then a half-hearted attempt to bring drama into the movie that ended tragically and too quickly to make any notable impact... and then Emilio becomes a vegetable. Then suddenly you're introduced to the foul mouth paraplegic squatter whose presence is like a red herring...
If you're into a film that is full of action and coups, this unfortunately doesn't cut it. It's just melancholic, nothing more. Animation is well done, and the story rounded enough, but at the end, it's another story about grandparents left in old people's homes... it has been done to death in a way. The final credit song was a nice touch, sung by a real life woman (they said 101 years old?) in one of the homes, with ironic lyrics and slightly foul language! Overall, it's just well done, nothing more.