Five minutes into Netflix’s latest animated feature, Orion and the Dark, I was reminded of Kamal Haasan’s titular character from the 2000 Tamil film, Thenali. Orion (Jacob Tremblay), an elementary school kid, orates a monologue listing his fears, most of which are a result of extreme overthinking. But unlike Kamal’s film, Orion has no traumatic past that causes his fears. He’s just a little kid, who’s afraid of everything, but most of all, the dark. The feature, adapted from a children’s book, goes on to introduce Dark (Paul Walter Hauser), who attempts to convince Orion that there’s no reason to fear him.
Emma Yarlett’s children’s book, of the same name, works with only this abovementioned premise. But Charlie Kaufman, writer of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, develops a whole new world around this simple one-liner, and it goes beyond the conventional edicts of writing. Kaufman, along with first-time filmmaker Sean Charmatz, makes Orion and the Dark meta-fiction, as they break the fourth wall, within the edifices of the narrative world.
At a crucial point in the story, we come to know that Orion and the Dark is a story narrated by Orion himself to his daughter Hypatia. This angle is further explored all throughout the film and also makes for an amusingly surreal conclusion. But beyond this self-referential factor, the film has a lot more to offer with regard to the concepts of darkness and light, even though it is just a children’s film.
Unlike the usual idea of light being associated with positivity, light is the antagonist (not in an evil way though) in the film. And the film goes beyond just Orion overcoming his fears, and addresses the importance of darkness, by making Dark, an immortal being, as human as possible. We also get introduced to ‘night entities’ like Sleep, Quiet, Sweet Dreams, Unexplained Noises, and Insomnia, which maintain the balance during the night. The physical characterisation of these characters is well-thought-out and brilliantly animated. For example, Sweet Dreams (a calm Angela Bassett) has a colourful and serene persona, because she resembles all things sweet. Insomnia (Nat Faxon), on the other hand, has wings and is always restless because it’s his job to jolt people awake.
The visual game of Orion and the Dark is par excellence, like any other Dreamworks animation. We are transcended into the world of night and darkness, as we see the stars, the fireflies, and as Dark himself says in the film, “the wrinkles on actors’ faces.” The film faces a few lags, here and there, as it suddenly introduces more magical realism towards the end of the film. But, Kaufman has ensured that even these loose ends are all tied up eventually.
At the end of the day, the film explores a truth: every being, even if it is the mighty dark, needs validation and reassurance. Even Orion, one of the most conspicuous constellations, relies on the dark to radiate its brightest rays.
#Experimental #writing #elevates #elementary #film #Cinema #express
