'If Anything Happens I Love You': Missing this is crime
Reviewing a short film is tough without inadvertently giving out spoilers. If Anything Happens I Love You released on Netflix on November 20, but doesn't catch attention instantly. Now a short film released by Netflix usually comes with sky-high expectations, but you wouldn't pounce at this film's cover poster at the first go, amid other flashy impressions in their catalogue. Why? Because you're mistaken!
The film screams emptiness and you know it
The poster is as empty and predictable as it looks. You see the film's title and a smiling school-going girl, making your brain deduce that something wrong has to happen to her. Honestly, you are right. And that's where you might think that the 12-minute-span of this flick should be like a breeze for tough buddies. But, you are mistaken, again.
Astounding artwork and animation style keep you glued to screen
The painstakingly beautiful artwork of Korean animator and animation director Youngran Nho welcomes you to a family dead inside. It used to be a family but has now reduced itself to a man and a woman distancing themselves across the dinner table, as all they think of is blame each other for pretty much anything under the sun. After all, their daughter died.
The animation is as raw as the shadows painted
All frames are hand-drawn, which is a distant dream from the techniques of the Pixars and Disneys of the world. Also, each of them gives the feeling of water-soaked paint. That is because each background panel has been drawn via watercolor on paper and scanned thereafter. That emptiness is diverted by shadows, which take the shape of each family member, and pain.
Grief presented remarkably, the poignant story haunts from within
You shut yourselves out of whatever you have been doing and watch the film because you can't deduce this silent venture without giving your complete attention. For writer-director duo Michael Govier and Will McCormack, it was a smart move to give Nho a chance to stand out with an animation style that enriches the concept of grief with minimalism and devastating undertones.
A true masterpiece, our verdict: 5/5
That's what the film is. It makes you empty. It makes you hope for some respite, knowing in your heart of hearts that the dead won't return as you revel in your own imagination. Composer Lindsay Marcus enhances the melancholy. Such a monumental tragedy is effortlessly peppered with happy memories and you wouldn't even notice yourself welling up. It gets 5/5; a true masterpiece!
