Wrinkles
From recent efforts like The Illusionist and Up to 1986’s When the Wind Blows, animation as a medium has served elderly protagonists particularly well; the form’s limitless visual possibilities have also provided several of cinema’s most potent ruminations on memory and the passage of time. Spanish production Wrinkles is another great example of this.
Focusing on a man slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s, and the morally questionable roommate he befriends at a care home, it ventures into territory that many live-action films have explored, but without the usual coating of saccharine sentiment. Wrinkles is a nuanced, rich look at human frailty and the beauty of life, alternating between frank and tenderly humane notes with perfect precision, making the conventional beats its story does hit genuinely poignant. Ferreras’ film, based on a comic book of the same name, also maintains a fine balance between the graceful gut-punches and well-judged humour regarding the film’s centrepiece friendship. [Josh Slater-Williams]