GKIDS Retrospective: 'My Life as a Zucchini'

We continue our series of reviews chronicling all of the (non-Studio Ghibli) animated films distributed by GKIDS Films — some of the most original and breathtakingly beautiful animated films from around the world — and how they hold up for an American audience.

The entire retrospective is found here, and this time we’ve got…

My Life as a Zucchini (2017):
Claude Barras, director

What’s it about?

10ish-year-old Icare lives with his single mother, an abusive alcoholic who sits in front of the TV all day, drinking beer. One day, Icare accidentally makes a mess (with mom’s empty beer cans). Enraged and drunk, his mother climbs the stairs toward Icare, threatening to beat him. Icare then accidentally pushes her down the stairs, killing her and orphaning himself.

This isn’t a spoiler. This all happens in the movie’s first few minutes, before the title card even comes on screen. And with this setup, you might think My Life as a Zucchini would be an insufferable downer. Thankfully, nothing could be further from the truth.

After his mother’s death, Icare (who prefers to be called Zucchini) bonds with the police officer handling his case. He’s sent to live in an orphanage with a handful of other kids his age – all of whom have traumatic backgrounds that led to the home.

And lest you think this will play out the Annie/Miss Hannigan/horrible orphanage trope, think again. The orphanage – and the women who run it – becomes a warm and inviting family to the children who live there. I mean, they take a weekend trip to the mountains and have a dance party in their cabin!

The film centers on Zucchini’s time at the home as he makes friends with the other kids, battles the bully, deals with his grief, and falls in love. And despite the film’s dark premise and frank dealings with childhood trauma, it’s a life-affirming feel-good story that will leave you all smiles.

It also has a “happily ever after” ending that might feel forced to some, but the film is based on Gilles Paris’s autobiography, so it’s ostensibly relating real-life events.

What are the cultures at play? And how about the languages?

The film is a Swiss production, set in Switzerland, and in French. There aren’t a whole lot of cultural barriers to understanding for an American audience, aside from the decency, love, and humanity shown the children at the orphanage. These kids clearly aren’t products of the U.S. foster care system. Also, the bond that develops between Icare (Zucchini) and the police officer will probably feel more than a bit unrealistic to many viewers, especially now.

Re: the language, there’s an English dub. And it boasts some big names – Nick Offerman, Will Forte, Ellen Page, and Amy Sedaris – but I’m going to recommend the original French. It’s vastly better. The English dub just feels… stilted and awkward. Plus, as much as I love him, I can’t hear anything other than Ron Swanson whenever I hear Offerman’s voice.

Will my kids like it? Is there anything objectionable for young kids?

As I said above, the film has a dark premise, and all of the kids at the orphanage have experienced trauma – from living with abusive parents to having their parents get deported to witnessing one parent kill the other. In the words of one of the kids, “there’s no one left to love” them.

There’s not much objectionable. There’s some innocent 9-year-old conversations about sex, which involves “exploding willies” and the woman agreeing with the man about everything (i.e., she keeps repeating “yes, yes, yes”). There’s also a crudely drawn sketch of a naked man and woman. But that’s about it.

Will I like it?

Unless you hate beautiful things. I adored it. At a shade over an hour, it’s short. But the stop-motion animation is sublime, and you’ll be left wanting more. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes (where it lost to… Zootopia; which, ok, I like Zootopia, but let’s be honest – Kubo and the Two Strings should’ve won that year). My Life as a Zucchini was also Claude Barras’s feature film directorial debut, which is just all-around impressive.

How can I see it?

GKIDS and Universal released a Blu-ray edition of the film that has a making of featurette, the trailer, and the short film The Genie in a Tin of Ravioli (also stop-motion animation directed by Claude Barras). The film is also available digitally from most retailers and is currently on Netflix (with both French and English audio).