To be born into this world is to in some ways embody a kind of paradox: to be an empty vessel and also to be, in a way, a god.
That’s at least how the titular child of “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain” considers herself — God, that is. How can she not? After all, everything around her is discovery and creation, as she encounters a flood of new wonders: language, the sunrise, hungry carp, rainfall, the beach, Belgian chocolate and, eventually, death.
Directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han, this sweetly humanist film carries surprising philosophical heft. Amélie (Loïse Charpentier), a young Belgian girl in Japan, eagerly explores her surroundings with her family and her doting babysitter, Nishio-san (Victoria Grobois), after living in a vegetative state the first two years of her life.
We see Amélie’s budding world through plain, if often beautifully composed animation, a reflection, perhaps, of her nascent perceptions, all big colors and contours, as if the universe before her is so much to absorb that it has yet to take its full shape. But eventually, Amélie’s wide-eyed innocence is confronted by harsher lessons of loss and disappointment.
The movie is an imperfect gem — some of its ambitions toward grand emotional sweep are not without seams and it can at times feel like an overextended animated short. But it’s hard not to be charmed by its warm existentialism (in a children’s film, no less) and its belief that the greatest wisdoms can be found in the way a child sees and learns.
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Rated PG. In French and Japanese, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 17 minutes. In theaters.
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