I'm a fan of art-house and independent movies, and I generally look at what the critics say to make decisions about what I should watch. But once in a while there is a movie where my impression is so massively different from the 'received view' that I am baffled about what goes on in the minds of critics. RED TURTLE is just such a movie.
The story is seemingly simple: Shipwrecked guy stuck on on island wants to escape, builds a series of rafts, but gets held back by a gigantic red sea turtle. Eventually, the two develop a complex (and convoluted) relationship which is, to be honest, quite difficult to explain.
Let's start with the good things first. The imagery is truly beautiful. Lots of landscape shots of oceans, sunsets and the island. While the music, emphasizing string and piano tunes, is a bit generic, the minimalistic style is compelling and unique. The animation is so well done that the first appearance of the red turtle is a proper WOW moment. There are also some genuinely cute side characters, such as the hilarious little crabs that keep running up and down the beach. The pacing is generally done well, and the atmosphere of serenity that pervades the movie is persistent.
While I was impressed by the style of the animation and the mood, it was the seemingly fantastic (or metaphorical?) elements of the movie that just threw me off. I was constantly struggling whether the happenings are to be interpreted figuratively or literally. This is a very subjective judgment, but I personally could just not cope with that ambiguity. And I couldn't cope with the semi-spiritual elements of THE RED TURTLE. It's not that spirituality doesn't have it's place in cinema—but spirituality, metaphors, and all that... they need to serve a purpose! Whereas movies such as KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS fail by hitting you with a blatantly obvious message over the head, this one goes the other end and shrouds everything in vague mysticism. But then, I left the theatre wondering what I should learn from this movie? What did they want to tell me? A dash of ambiguity is good because it keeps you thinking—but ambiguity is definitely best served in small portions. This one was hard to digest.
If there was a message, then I felt that the message too much emphasized traditional family values and actually was quite conservative in its depiction of gender relations. But here again different interpretations are possible because the movie never wants to commit to anything in particular.
Besides the pretentious mysticism, there are some obvious cliché moments. Romance is depicted with bright light and bodies floating into the sky—come on! And there's dream sequence after dream sequence—never a good way to progress a story!
Finally, I was wondering what the intended target audience was. Maybe THE RED TURTLE might appeal to some kids, but they will surely find a lot of the metaphorical content difficult to understand. And they may be put off by the slow pacing. For adults, the (suggested) messages may come off as trite and the fantastic elements as distracting. THE RED TURTLE tries very hard to be a meditation about love, nature, and all that. The 'everything is connected' and 'respect nature' themes are surely valuable if executed right.... but if these themes are left to mere allusions they become pointless. Mere mysticism without a resolution is not enough to fill nearly 90 minutes of playtime. A movie needs a clear goal and a clear progression of ideas— THE RED TURTLE has neither.
The story is seemingly simple: Shipwrecked guy stuck on on island wants to escape, builds a series of rafts, but gets held back by a gigantic red sea turtle. Eventually, the two develop a complex (and convoluted) relationship which is, to be honest, quite difficult to explain.
Let's start with the good things first. The imagery is truly beautiful. Lots of landscape shots of oceans, sunsets and the island. While the music, emphasizing string and piano tunes, is a bit generic, the minimalistic style is compelling and unique. The animation is so well done that the first appearance of the red turtle is a proper WOW moment. There are also some genuinely cute side characters, such as the hilarious little crabs that keep running up and down the beach. The pacing is generally done well, and the atmosphere of serenity that pervades the movie is persistent.
While I was impressed by the style of the animation and the mood, it was the seemingly fantastic (or metaphorical?) elements of the movie that just threw me off. I was constantly struggling whether the happenings are to be interpreted figuratively or literally. This is a very subjective judgment, but I personally could just not cope with that ambiguity. And I couldn't cope with the semi-spiritual elements of THE RED TURTLE. It's not that spirituality doesn't have it's place in cinema—but spirituality, metaphors, and all that... they need to serve a purpose! Whereas movies such as KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS fail by hitting you with a blatantly obvious message over the head, this one goes the other end and shrouds everything in vague mysticism. But then, I left the theatre wondering what I should learn from this movie? What did they want to tell me? A dash of ambiguity is good because it keeps you thinking—but ambiguity is definitely best served in small portions. This one was hard to digest.
If there was a message, then I felt that the message too much emphasized traditional family values and actually was quite conservative in its depiction of gender relations. But here again different interpretations are possible because the movie never wants to commit to anything in particular.
Besides the pretentious mysticism, there are some obvious cliché moments. Romance is depicted with bright light and bodies floating into the sky—come on! And there's dream sequence after dream sequence—never a good way to progress a story!
Finally, I was wondering what the intended target audience was. Maybe THE RED TURTLE might appeal to some kids, but they will surely find a lot of the metaphorical content difficult to understand. And they may be put off by the slow pacing. For adults, the (suggested) messages may come off as trite and the fantastic elements as distracting. THE RED TURTLE tries very hard to be a meditation about love, nature, and all that. The 'everything is connected' and 'respect nature' themes are surely valuable if executed right.... but if these themes are left to mere allusions they become pointless. Mere mysticism without a resolution is not enough to fill nearly 90 minutes of playtime. A movie needs a clear goal and a clear progression of ideas— THE RED TURTLE has neither.