Luca

the only people i ever see talking about this movie anymore are yaoied out 14-year-olds and that is sad. not because it's sad to be a yaoied out 14-year-old but because it's sad this movie doesn't get the attention it deserves. i've seen this movie at least 10 times which probably isn't a normal thing to say about this film and mean but here we are allow me to explain myself i saw this film for the first time when i was thirteen, and i think that basically tells you everything you need to know when it comes to my feelings about it. i'm also gay, which is helpful. i think the thing was that at the time i saw so much of myself in all of these characters that it became impossible for me to watch this movie and not just fall in love with it completely. i got the pop figures and art book for my birthday that year and a stupid little machiavelli stuffed animal for christmas from a friend of mine. this is to say that i am VERY biased. however!! i am still a film student and a writer so i still have real thoughts about this thing to speak a bit more seriously about this film-- it carries this very delicate and specific balance between its themes and its target audience that i think works just so so beautifully. i love that the metaphor but also the deep affection between the protagonists get to co-exist. i love all of the thinly-veiled queercoded conversations between these characters and the people that love them. luca's talk with giulia towards the end where she sends him away and his and alberto's first little swim over to portorosso are probably some of my favorite scenes ever. i'm pretty sure pixar and some of the people that made this movie have said before that luca is less of a queer allegory and more of a story for anyone that's ever felt like they don't belong -- and while i can't exactly disagree with that, i can't imagine this film being written without queer people in mind, and it does such a beautiful job of handling all of the experiences that come with being a gay kid while also being a story that younger audiences can enjoy and digest and understand. i think if this movie had come out when i was nine i would have had a much easier time as a child lol pixar is just so good at making movies for Everyone and this is a really good example of that the score here is also a personal favorite of mine. hearing the main theme alone brings a tear to my eye. and like yeah this movie has the stupid 2020s pixar style but i think it works here for how expressive and sort of storybook-like the characters need to be. and i would be embarrassed saying all of that if this story wasn't so beautiful and lovely and if i didn't feel so seen by it, but it IS beautiful and i DO feel seen by it and i honestly feel like we need to start grouping this film in more with queer films when we talk about them. i also just love love love the script here. it's such a simple little story about kids competing in a bike race but it all feels so high-stakes and important and the dialogue is so clever and fun and heartfelt. it's one of those movies where you can feel all of the care and attention the team that made it put into it. i think the only bad thing i could say about luca is that it has some pacing moments that feel a bit odd, but they don't distract from the heart of the film or take you out of its story. just go watch it if you haven't already my chest has hurt for the last five years every single time i hear that stupid mina song. one of The Most Slept On pixar movies by FAR. up there with ratatoullie i think