SummaryIn a Parisian laboratory, a severed hand escapes its unhappy fate and sets out to reconnect with its body. During a hair-raising escapade across the city, the extremity fends off pigeons and rats alike to reunite with pizza boy Naoufel. Its memories of Naoufel and his love for librarian Gabrielle may provide answers about what caused the...
SummaryIn a Parisian laboratory, a severed hand escapes its unhappy fate and sets out to reconnect with its body. During a hair-raising escapade across the city, the extremity fends off pigeons and rats alike to reunite with pizza boy Naoufel. Its memories of Naoufel and his love for librarian Gabrielle may provide answers about what caused the...
Simply put, this is an expertly directed first feature. Clapin’s willingness to be patient as a scene unfolds, to let the hand experience the surreal images from its perspective, to let the quiet captivate the audience is beyond impressive.
I Lost My Body tells a heartbreaking story about Naofel, a guy with a tragic backstory who just wants to live the normal life that was taken away from him. The movie made a really good job in making me connect with him and what he passes through the movie and it did it with great visual storytelling and great dialogue. His journey throughout this movie is genuinely interesting. The story is not told in chronological order. It switches back and forth between different situations and stages of his life, but it is with a purpose and not just like at random. Every single scene adds to his character. He feels like a flawed character. If anything this is his movie. This is a character study movie and he is the character that the audience "studies". Not saying that the rest of the characters were underdeveloped (well, besides Gabrielle, the girl, I guess pretty much every other character is just there as a plot device). The animation and visual style fits perfectly the intended tone of the movie. This movie looks beautiful. The score is also beautiful. There were some moments where I thought that the music felt out of place, but nothing that ruins the movie or anything. The rest of the movie has a score that makes already powerful moments even more powerful. I'm glad to see that Netflix is distributing more independent animation, specially a movie like this which is more adult-oriented. This feels like a passion project. This is an animated movie made with love, with creative ideas. Watching a movie like this feels like a breath of fresh air in an industry dominated mostly by Disney. It is definitely one of the best animated films of the year and I highly recommend it.
Anyone who’s willing to meet this movie on its own terms and roll with the dream logic it requires will be rewarded with a resonantly cathartic saga about the struggle to find beauty in a world that forces us to leave parts of ourselves behind.
All of this letdown occurs only in the last 15 or so minutes, however. Until then, it’s good grotesque fun watching the hand make its way across town, scuttling Thing-like on its fingers. (Make it a double feature with the Addams Family reboot, if you like.)
You may also feel so exhilarated watching an insanely creative voice in animation flex his storytelling muscles that you don’t realize the huge lump in your throat.
I Lost My Body left me stirred with emotion, something I never thought a movie where the main character is a severed hand could do. A masterpiece to be sure.
I Lost My Body follows Naofel a man who is simply going through the motions trying to find meaning after the death of his parents as a severed hand tries to make its way through the bustling city in truly delightfully, creative sequences. It's difficult to say much more about the plot without spoiling anything but it's a simple almost mundane storyline serving as little more than a device to explore powerful themes such as, longing, fate, love and purpose. It can be positively odd at times which I love and it truly has some incredible displays of sound design, editing and animation.
And oh, the animation! Vibrant and full of movement it cleverly conveys the scenario as clear as a mirror. The fps is very low allowing for a certain grit and character in the movement. As previously mentioned the hand sequences are incredible giving the everyday world a new perspective as we follow a severed hand below trains, across rooftops and throughout apartments. It has an amazing soundtrack as well, something which often cannot be said for most films unfortunately. Overall, I Lost My Body is a bizarre, delightful tale that is sure to make audiences a little more curious about the world around them once the credits role. It very much feels like the type of movie I'll rewatch every year or two to try and decipher it's symbolic meaning. It has become one of my favourite animated movie for sure. Highly recommend! I hope you found this review helpful.
A recent entertaining and intriguing french movie available on Netflix. The animation is as gorgeous as the colours. The main topic and the way it is approached is great. There is an interesting balance between mystery and real facts of the characters' lifes. The music is terrific as the movie is not afraid of mixing truly varied genres and influences. The characters are cool and lovable, they all have an interesting role to play in the story even if some of them are overly stereotyped and show predictable behaviours. The end (no spoil) was kind of really disappointing to me. At the end of the day I feel that this movie exudes a similar energy to another popular french movie called 'Amélie': they both have that 'believe in yourself and your dreams despite the reality of life' message. It is surely poetic and the story is unexpected but the movie misses to link reality to the fiction when it is supposed to do so, making it seem **** and incomplete.
Production Company
Xilam,
Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Cinéma,
SofiTVciné 6,
Indéfilms 7,
La Région Île-de-France,
Région Réunion,
Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
Agence Nationale de Gestion des Oeuvres Audiovisuelles (ANGOA),
John Cohen Productions,
Novel Entertainment Productions,
Williams Street,
Xilam Animation