A select number of American theaters will screen next month a very interesting animated film we spoke about some time ago, which counts among its producers Seth Rogen and his wife Miller. Titled Tangles, it is directed by Leah Nelson and is the adaptation of the autobiographical graphic novel “Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me” by Sarah Leavitt, who also co-wrote the screenplay with the director and Trev Renney. Strictly in black and white, the film is a tragicomic account of a family undergoing a profound change. The protagonist is naturally named Sarah, and when her mother Midge is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she is forced to leave San Francisco, where she had moved for work, and return home. It will be difficult and painful for her to care for her mother, but as she reconnects with her quirky relatives, she will discover the strength of emotional bonds.
Leah Nelson took quite some time to transform the graphic novel into a film, because a part of the story is entrusted to brief notes, fractured sentences and drawings, and thus it was challenging to give the screenplay a narrative structure. When the director came across a producer who spoke to her about the project, her mother was ill with Alzheimer’s. She read the graphic novel and was moved, but she also laughed—and a lot—so she decided to embark on the endeavor. She then turned to Seth Rogen and his wife Miller, to whom she spoke about her intention to shoot a black-and-white film with small bursts of color. Even Miller’s mother had suffered from Alzheimer’s, with which she had lived for 16 long years, and thus the producer found herself relating to the story. As for Seth, speaking about the film he stated:
Sono stato attratto dalla sfida di prendere un argomento come questo e trovare il modo per tirare fuori umorismo e bellezza, intensità e importanza, cercando di evitare il più possibile la tristezza (…) Permettere al pubblico di fare un’esperienza emotiva che non è ciò che immagina e trovarti a ridere in mezzo a tanti momenti tristi credo rifletta la maniera in cui molti hanno vissuto una simile esperienza, nella quale la tristezza e la gioia si incontrano in modi inaspettati.
And here is the beautiful trailer for Tangles, which relies on the voices of Abbi Jacobson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Beanie Feldstein, Seth Rogen and Samira Wiley.
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