Elementarythe movie that closes the 76th Cannes Film Festivalmarks the return of Pixar to the Croisette and to theaters, according to the director of the animation studio, this time with a love story “a la Romeo and Juliet” where the four elements coexist.
Being in Cannes, “after the covid eclipse period, means for us return to theaters!”, celebrated Pete Docter, whose film will be released in June, in conversation with AFP.
The director of the studio founded in 1986 and bought by Disney in 2006 insists: “We want the public to see our big screen movies, With other spectators around, it’s a pleasure.”
After the closure of theaters caused by the pandemic, Disney chose to put some of its feature films on the Disney+ platform, such as Soul.
“At Pixar, we’re following the same strategy of toy storythat is, finding ideas with a universal message and showing our films to as many people as possible” in movie theaters, Docter emphasizes.
The new film begins with a story of friendship between Flam, a fearless and resourceful young womanand Flack, a sentimental and funny boyguided by his heart, in a city where the four elements coexist.
However, the chemistry takes away all hope of flirting or love between the “Flamboyants”, fires that feed on logs and carry their babies on rolling barbecues, and the “Aquatiques”, characters who, like the hero Flack Lamare, run he risk of evaporation at high temperatures.
Inspired by his own experience, South Korean director Peter Sohn (a big dinosaur) drew on his love affair with an American of Italian origin to convey a message about “difficulties and misunderstandings between cultures”Docter told AFP.
As always with Pixar, the feature film is aimed at both adults and children.
This animated film also uses special effects in “almost every shot” for the shape of the characters, such as a constantly moving flame in the wind.
“When Peter Sohn said to me, ‘I want characters made of fire and water,’ I said ‘fantastic.’ But I had no idea how to do it,” recalls Docter.
