The popular Oscar nominate film, ‘If anything happens I love you’ is capturing the hearts of people all around the world no matter their age. People have already started creating challenges such as asking everyone to watch the movie without shedding even a single drop of tear, and not many have passed the challenge. The movie really is an emotional rollercoaster to go through, everyone should have the privilege of watching such a beautiful production.
The movie revolves around how two emotionally distant parents deal with the loss of their daughter. The film starts out with an image of a couple sitting across each other at two ends of the table, eating dinner. They do not communicate but are isolated in their own thoughts of grief and bitterness. At the start, we don’t really understand why they seem so distant: physically and emotionally. Maybe their marriage is ending, or they had a big fight.
As the husband moves out, we see a blue blotch of paint on the wall, which stands out from the black and white screen on display. We then see the mother carrying the laundry in a basket, as she stops in front of a room as their cat follows them. She seems to be contemplating whether to go in or not. This is when it becomes clear, the couple grieves due to the loss of their child.
A shadow of the little girl always seems to follow the mother and father around, trying to show them the good when everything seems to be falling apart for the couple, but unfortunately, can’t be seen by either of them.
The little girl’s shadow tries to hug the mother again as she cries holding the shirt of her dead daughter. As a football rolls down into the little girl’s room, it kicks the phonograph and turns on music.
This is the couple reunites to visit memory lane with their daughter and look at the happy moments they had, filled with love. This is the first time they sit together, reminiscing after a long time which is what makes it so hard for them to remember.
We see a trip they go to as a family, their daughters 10th birthday, her first kiss with a boy, how the blue blotch of paint came to be on the wall. The daughters and parents shadows go visit back the happy moments the three of them had until the day she goes to school. THAT day.
Her parent’s shadows do all they can to stop her from going in but in vain.
We see a horrifying scene later where we can hear sounds of gunshots and children screaming. This was the day the shooting happened and their daughter lost her life.
We come back to the original scene as the parents sit in bed, crying in each other’s arms as they grieve their daughter’s life. They sit in silence, sobbing silently in each other’s arms, not being stopped by the barriers of emotional distance.
McCormack and Govier’s 12 minutes long, Oscar-nominated film is truly a delight and an emotional ride to watch. There will be laughs, chuckles and tears as they take you through how parents cope after the loss of their child. It takes you through phases of flashbacks, horror, love, care and guilt.
Along with being a real tearjerker, this film promises to spark interesting conversations among the viewers and shows us the horrifying repercussions of shootings and the loss of children. The simple 2D animation of the story fits perfectly with the mood, tone and vibe of the story along with it being with no dialogues.
The Oscar nomination for ‘If anything happens I love you’ is truly well deserved.
By Suhaani Hardikar
