Worth: $17.99
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Cast:
Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Bobby Moynihan, Steve Carell, Alan Kim
Intro:
... a family film in all the best ways, to the point where it arguably has more to substantively offer adults than to kids.
After cornering the cinematic market for sensory horror with the A Quiet Place series, writer/director/actor John Krasinski’s latest feature is quite the departure from both his horror genre breakthrough and even the comedic drama The Hollars, which he made before that.
Krasinski has now gone full Spielbergian family-friendly fantasy, right down to tapping one of the master’s go-to DPs, Janusz Kamiński, to tell a story about imaginary friends and the fantastical imagination of the young and young at heart.
After Jeff Wadlow made the similarly premised dog’s breakfast Imaginary earlier this, there is nowhere to go but up.
Krasinski, Kamiński, and composer Michael Giacchino manage to take what has historically been one of the most over-exposed locations in popular media (New York City) and make it feel fresh and magical again. The moody and synapse-sparking colour palette, the meaningfully unrealistic rendering of the titular Imaginary Friends (British VFX studio Framestore 100% understood the assignment on this one), the blinding beams of sunlight – pure fairy tale bliss across the board.
From that foundation, Krasinski approaches fantasy much as he did horror with A Quiet Place, relying more on context clues and visuals to dig deep into the characters as opposed to just outright telling the audience. In AQP, that led to an atmosphere full of dread and panic, whereas here, it lets the fantastical resonate without feeling the need to dissect or explain it. Imaginary friends are real, tangible, and they mean a lot to the kids that created them; not much else needs to be said.
IF starts out echoing Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, as it puts the cynical-before-her-time Bea (Cailey Fleming) and jaded IF matchmaker Cal (Deadpo… err, Ryan Reynolds) together to find new homes for the insanely-stacked cast of IFs. But the further it goes, and the more it zeroes in on the underlying emotional wavelength of the story, the more successful is its message of a full-chested yearning for the hope of childhood. Not an absolute regression into such things, but taking the strength of youth, before life’s meddlesome practicality and coldness broke the heart, and using it to bolster resolve in the now.
It all wraps around the commendable trust that Krasinski places in his audience to follow along without needing to be explained everything; he even shows actual parental instinct as part of his filmmaking toolbox. After all, matching the right idea with the right audience is as much a part of filmmaking as it is of Bea and Cal’s efforts in the film.
IF is a family film in all the best ways, to the point where it arguably has more to substantively offer adults than to kids. Beneath the cuddly CGI and nostalgic pining, there’s a legitimately thoughtful perspective on not succumbing to the idea that things like fun and hope are parts that die off upon coming of age. It’s quite the tear-jerker on top of that, with moments of reunion and resolve that adults should hold no qualm in getting a bit misty-eyed over. There’s no need to ask “What if…?” about this one, as its brilliance is a matter of stone-cold fact.
