Inside Out

Joy from sorrow. The joy of animation. The joy of discovering a new world. The gradual familiarisation with the rules of Riley’s inner universe (the film is most communicative in this respect even before the opening credits), which is entertaining in its appearance and everything that it references (psychoanalytical metaphors like dream factories, modern art, Disney movies from the 1950s), is gently incorporated into an adventure story about a budding friendship. The amusing falls, thrilling action scenes, jokes with the “maintainers” of the mind and the goofing around with Bing Bong – who is annoying in a Jar Jar Binks kind of way, but the filmmakers know that – all serve a purpose and help us get to know Riley in detail (notice the degree to which her identity is defined by playing very action-packed contact ice hockey, which is definitely not a traditional pastime of girls in American movies). We are thus entertained by the dynamics of the relationships between the characters, what happens and how the whole thing works. What happens “inside” has a direct influence on what happens “outside” and the relationship and plot lines are thus doubled, so there is always something on which to focus our attention and there is no risk that the film will get out of control. There is justification for the fact that neither of the parallel stories offers a traditional villain. The solution to the girl’s inner emotional crisis lies not in overcoming/eliminating obstacles, but in accepting them as part of her own personality (we recently saw an adult version of this in Wild). Few American films, let alone American animated films, have ever dared to cast doubt on the materialistically oriented ideology of individual happiness in this way or to assert that we should also value negative emotions (you never know when anger turned into a blowtorch might save a life). Unlike most feel-good genre films, the feeling of happiness here is not the goal or the solution, but only a means of finding inner peace, which does not derive solely from the individual’s own decisions. As Riley realises through the memory of losing a hockey match, followed by her parents comforting her and the encouragement offered by her friends, joy and sorrow work together best when we have someone to confide in. As we often retrospectively realise in real life, much later than Riley, happiness is other people (and hell is too, but that’s for another film). Thanks to this, the new Pixar movie speaks to all generations without for even a moment being preachy or blatantly lecturing us on the right way to live. Despite that, I can’t estimate how much children will enjoy a film that thematises (and very imaginatively visualises) nostalgia for childhood. For me, Inside Out is one of the most powerful film experiences of the year so far. Yes, I was moved. In this case, however, I don’t see that as having yielded to emotional manipulation, but as proof that the film worked flawlessly on every level and led me to exactly the emotional state that the filmmakers were aiming for. 85% (26/07/2015) (less) (more)