A Pixar Animaton Studios Film
Story by Domee Shi, Julia Cho & Sarah Streicher
Screenplay Written by Julia Cho & Domee Shi
Directed by Domee Shi
**** (four stars)
RATED PG
There is a reason why it's called "the formative years."
I may have mentioned it before upon this site and so, I may be mentioning it again but in my mind, I just find it unfathomable when adults proclaim to possess no memory of their younger selves, especially the period of their adolescence.
Absolutely everyone's lives are unique to themselves and memory is and of itself is especially precious, elusive, unforgiving and malleable, therefore possesses different meaning and layers to every person. But then again, as unique as our lives are, every one of us experiences the same periods of life biologically which then affects us cognitively, psychologically and emotionally, giving us the building blocks of self-discovery in the lives of ourselves.
Which leads us to puberty...
As for me, I continue to harbor an extremely close relationship to my younger self, so much so, that I sometimes question if I have mentally aged at all even as my teen years are far behind me. I still feel as if I am the same misfit kid that I have always been, with the same passions, hopes, fears, failures and life long needs that have all congealed into whomever I happen to be...for better or worse. And so, I remember. Boy, do I remember! To that end, I have the ability to access those memories very easily and confidently, where I can put myself emotionally back into a moment and bask in the everything so enlightening and awful about that time of life.
Because of that ability to access, maybe that's why the coming of age film genre is one that continues to speak so loudly to me. As a youth, it served as a guide. Now, it is a memory. And when it connects, it is forever truth and purity regardless of how old I happen to be. With the arrival of Domee Shi's "Turning Red," the latest feature from the venerable Pixar Animation Studios, we not already have a full fledged return to gold standard level material from Pixar, as well as one of the very best films of 2022, we have one of the finest entries in this specific genre as the truth and purity of growing up is voluminous in its astounding presentation.
Set in 2002 Toronto, Domee Shi's "Turning Red" centers around Meilin "Mei" Lee (so engagingly voiced by Rosalie Chiang), an energetic, 13 year old Chinese-Canadian student ready to take on the world and who sees herself as a confident adult (if the Canadian Transit System proclaims 13 year olds to being adults then why not?).
Mei is an exemplary student at school who excels at Math. She has three best friends in the "tomboy-ish" Miriam (Ava Morse), the dry and droll Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and the perpetually furious Abby (Hyein Park), with whom she shares an obsession with the boy band 4*Town (which inexplicably contains five members--nice touch). Despite teasing from the school bully Tyler (Tristan Allerick Chen), Mei remains steadfast and (almost) unflappable. While Mei adores her family, which includes her gentle, reticent Father, Jin (Orion Lee) and her strict, overprotective Mother, Ming (Sandra Oh), and enjoys caring for her family's temple to their ancestor Sun Yee, she increasingly hides the truth of herself from Ming, fearing her disapproval and ultimate rejection.
One night, after enduring a painfully embarrassing episode involving a clash between Ming and her school life, Mei awakens the next morning to discover that she has been transformed into a giant red panda--a result of her genetic and mystical connection between her ancestors and red pandas combined with whenever she experiences an overwhelming emotion or anxiety! While she is soon able to understand and even control her transformations, how will she be able to hide it from Ming and her friends, and most importantly, how will she ever be able to attend the 4*Town concert, a time when her panda might become at its most unleashed!
Screamingly funny, deeply perceptive and emotionally resonant to a nearly primal degree, Domee Shi's "Turning Red" is a gorgeously animated and executed film that reaches the same universal and existential heights as past Pixar achievements "Inside Out" (2015) and "Soul" (2020), both directed by Pete Docter as also as experienced in Disney's superlative "Encanto" (2021). Again, we are given a film that showcases and celebrates the glory of representation and how crucial it matters when it comes to presenting experiences of those under-represented in the movies, for when was the last time we gathered a window into the Asian-Canadian experience? As with both "Soul" and "Encanto," the absolute joy and wonder Shi is clearly having with being able to displaying her own culture is palpable. "Turning Red" is a love letter to Domee Shi's heritage, to Toronto and she has invited all of us to her party!
Beyond any cultural aesthetics, the full purpose and intention of "Turning Red" is to display the emergence of adolescence, and the onset of puberty from a decidedly female perspective and here is where Shi's film succeeds, greatly earning its place as a companion piece alongside the likes of John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" (1984), Will Gluck's "Easy A" (2010), Kelly Fremon Craig's "The Edge Of Seventeen" (2016), Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird" (2017), Bo Burnham's "Eighth Grade" (2018), Olivia Wilde's "Booksmart" (2019) plus television series from "My So-Called Life" (1994-1995), MTV's "Daria" (1997-2002), Paul Feig and Judd Apatow's "Freaks And Geeks" (1999-2000) and finally, Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle and Sam Zvibleman's "PEN15 (2019-2021).
Yes, Domee Shi's "Turing Red" is that strong, a film that is essential, never disposable entertainment and one that is the type of Pixar film that one can grow with, as it will will mean different things to the viewer as they age. Domee Shi deftly and energetically showcases with tremendous empathy, pathos and high comedy the struggles and strain of transformation when growing up including all manner of biological changes that exacerbate the emotional changes. I love how her teenage characters are all depicted in their awkward stages visually, with their overly expressive wide mouths and in-transition bodies, clearly in developmental stages from children to teens.
Yet, as cleverly evidenced in the film's title, "Turning Red" is about a girl's discovery of her own budding sexuality in its explosion of pheromones and hormones, masturbation and menstruation. Domee Shi's gleefully unapologetic vision captures this stage of life in its wondrous, horrific, metaphorical and deliriously funny glory, all the while nailing the sloppy, sweaty, smelly realities that accompanies the arrival of puberty, which always seems to find the worst possible times to derail whatever emerging inner confidence you are trying to build and cultivate for yourself.
The terror of having the worlds of home and school collide. The horror of having your family know your most intimate secrets, feelings and even bodily functions, which feel so singular even though every adult you know has already experienced everything you are enduring. Wanting to be left alone but not forgotten. Desperately needing love while pushing it away. Proclaiming to be mature but dissolving into an infantile mess at any slight. The confusion, the chaos, the anxiety of EVERYTHING, Domee Shi captures it all with tremendous skill, artistry and a wide open heart that so empathetically embraces her younger self, the younger selves of us watching and all of the kids going through it right now.
And still, "Turning Red" probes even deeper.
As absolutely wild as "Turning Red" becomes, the film never loses sight of it heart and soul. It is a film where the emotional reality fueled through a certain magical fantasy, enhancing the Mother/daughter conflict between Ming and Mei as the relationships that Mei is formulating and solidifying with her posse is taking a greater significance than the one with her Mom...such as it is with growing up, attempting to discover oneself away from the confines of what you were born into and the challenges of defining expectations for yourself rather than adhering to the expectations of your family yet still wanting acceptance and approval.
Just that would have been more than enough for the film to explore and it still would have been terrific. But "Turning Red" probes deeper still to great comedic and dramatic effect as the inner conflicts Mei and Ming have with themselves is entirely ignited by the intergenerational trauma passed down through the women of their family, therefore making "Turning Red" a film about repression and the societal shame and fear that mercilessly becomes attached to a girl's growing sexuality and women's inherent sexual energy.
Now, Domee Shi has a mountain of fun with the metaphor of the film's title and Mei's transformations into a giant red panda, i.e. Mei's emerging sexuality and Ming's buried sexuality. "There's no way that she can keep her panda in!!" exclaims Ming at the mere thought of Mei attending a 4*Town concert. Tyler threatens to inform Ming that Mei has been "flaunting the panda all over school." And so on.
But within the jokes, the slapstick and hilarity, there is deep sorrow and pain felt, especially when we are introduced to more members of Mei's family and witness the conflict between Ming and her Mother (Wai Ching Ho)--watch the changing shape of Ming's mouth at a mere phone call from her Mother--and how all of the women have created a most unfortunate cycle of repression by denying themselves their natural instincts and desires, therefore burying the purity and truths of themselves. Therein lies the sadness of "Turning Red," to deny oneself what is wholly natural, to feel ashamed of a process that is normal which then stretches outwards to stifle others as well as oneself, to feel that who you are naturally is not worthy of acceptance, of nurturing, of attention, of attraction and of love and should ultimately be bottled away to become "acceptable" to others and the larger society.
The push/pull narrative of this conflict as witnessed through Mei and Ming, Mei and her Grandmother and Mei and her friends, is made universal by the film's climax which is thunderous in its truth and comedy and on a whiplash dime, it swan dives into an emotionally shattering meeting of the heart, mind and soul.
This theme of repression becomes urgently crucial as we find the character of Mei on the cusp of becoming at a personal crossroads of allowing herself to become or deny herself to herself for the sake of her family forever. "I only wanted to go to a concert!!!!" Mei wails angrily and rightfully and that one line pierced my heart. For I remember the times when I only wanted to go to a concert, a natural rite of passage, both truthfully and metaphorically, and was denied by my parents over and over and over again and how those demands have reverberated over time and have proven to be so difficult to wrestle with and unravel.
To be denied the truth of yourself by others only teaches one to deny oneself as they age and so much is lost in this vicious cycle that is most likely never presented through malice but with the best of intentions and love filtered through worry and fear. Mei is on the precipice of a difficult decision that rests on top of an already difficult transition and we are witness to how repression has damaged Ming, the family and to a different degree, Mei's Father! Regard him closely as he not only has a lovely late film scene which reminded me of great Father/daughter moments on both "Sixteen Candles" and John Hughes and Howard Deutch's "Pretty In Pink" (1986) combined with some shadings of a buried interior life akin to the devastating final moments of Luca Guadagnino's elegant "Call Me By Your Name" (2017). But, that is another movie entirely!
Yes, over the years there has been some minor criticism that Pixar films have taken on a tendency to manufacture emotion rather that have stories unfold naturally and allow the inherent emotion to communicate to viewers, thus allowing us to release our own. "Turning Red" reaches its conclusion with a blindingly white hot surge of fully earned and deeply felt emotion that encourages you to relate and release rather than repress. Domee Shi has created her film without shame or fear and it encourages us to respond in kind...and I have no shame or fear in admitting to you that it wrecked me.
Domee Shi's "Turning Red" hysterically and beautifully pinpoints the time of life when you are at the mercy of not only your emotions but everyone else's emotions concerning your emotions. Your need to control the uncontrollable and the impossibility of going with the natural flow of life because nothing truly makes sense. You are just truly learning to find yourself when seemingly every other influence is attempting to define yourself for yourself whether asked or not, and with intentions both positive and negative.
And it also serves as a heartfelt warning against being loyal to everything and everyone at the expense of not being loyal to the truth of yourself.
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