2014-09-11
N/A
14 min
A seven-year-old girl longs for a bicycle so that she can be more like the other kids in her Norwegian town, but her embarrassingly unconventional, modernist architect parents see things differently. Academy Award-winning animator Torill Kove weaves memory and fantasy together in this droll and charming look at the pain of childhood alienation.
Three sisters live in a small Norwegian town with their slightly eccentric mum and dad. They are both architects and he's the only man in town with a moustache! It's a very regulated life these girls live, especially when compared with their neighbours downstairs who have just about everything they need to have a lively time. The siblings want a bike. They ask their parents and promise to share it, even to ride it all at once if needs be. OK, they agree - but it will be a special bike eventually coming from the UK. Meantime events with the family downstairs take a bit of an unfortunate turn and the girls realise the grass maybe isn't greener. It's quite an interesting concept this. The three girls - with decent age gaps between, wanting what they want whilst their parents still want to exercise a degree of control over not just them, but what they do and have. They are even bribed by their resident grandmother to behave and not bicker! I didn't love the linear style of the animation but the story is worth telling about growing up and independence.
