'Chicken for Linda!' review: A bold path for animation

Some memories float in the ether of our subconscious waiting for a catalyst to bring them back to the foreground. The key to unlocking them may come in the form of a dish seasoned with ineffable nostalgia. That kind of unforgettable flavor is the outrageous and sublimely beautiful hand-drawn musical “Chicken for Linda!” it serves. From the co-directors and life partners Sébastien Laudenbach and Chiara Malta, it is one of the first and difficult to beat for the title of best animated film of the year.

Mimicking the technique of Laudenbach's 2016 solo project, “The Girl Without Hands” (a much darker but equally impressive fable), this new collaboration uses disarmingly simple line drawings for the characters. There is a volatility to the way they move through the world that denotes the human involvement behind each frame. It is an approach that rejects the use of color realistically; Instead, each character is represented by a single tone, while the hand-painted backgrounds seek a similar symbolic quality.

In direct opposition to the homogeneity of photorealism that dominates American animation (thankfully, stylized projects like the “Spider-Verse” films are challenging this), “Chicken for Linda!” It looks as if it were ripped straight from the pages of an artist's sketchbook.

After immediately announcing itself as an idiosyncratic offering, “Chicken for Linda!” takes us to a rundown house: a working-class Parisian apartment where Linda (voiced by Mélinée Leclerc), a relentlessly determined and vivacious young woman, her mother, Paulette (Clotilde Hesme), and her cat have lived even before the death of the girl's father when she was a child. Later, in a striking sequence showing Paulette driving at night as washes of color represent the headlights of passing cars, young Linda asks about the afterlife and about her father, whom she barely remembers, with a heartbreaking sincerity. Paulette can only offer brief answers.

Far from rosy, the emotionally charged mother-daughter dynamic is laced with believable toughness and unconditional devotion, creating a portrayal that makes the depiction of childhood in most family-oriented American films seem simplistic. There is gravitas in watching Paulette cry after committing an injustice against her spirited daughter, wrongly accusing her of losing the ring her late husband gave her. Regretful, the imperfect mother promises to cook the chicken with peppers that Linda's Italian father, Giulio (Pietro Sermonti), used to make.

But Paulette's plan could be hampered due to a general labor strike, something that is not uncommon in France. All businesses are closed, so where can this sacrificial single mother buy the main ingredient? Linda won't let it go. The idea of ​​this recipe is her only connection to her father. The search for the chicken launches adults and children on a movie-long chase, and each surprising event involves new people in a hilariously wacky escapade.

The fact that even the most seemingly inconsequential supporting characters display recognizable human behavior (often unflattering and disordered) and well-defined personalities is further proof of the skill of Malta and Laudenbach's writing. There's Linda's aunt Astrid (Laetitia Dosch), a passionate yoga instructor who eats copious amounts of sweets to cope with frustration; a rookie cop; a gentlemanly truck driver; and a group of rowdy children (Linda's friends) who are left alone while her parents demonstrate in the streets.

Each of the narrative seeds planted (a break-in at Linda's apartment, a batch of peppers left in the oven too long, Astrid's sweet tooth) pay off, but never in an easily predictable way. And yet, while each piece eventually finds its place, this colorful main course of a movie possesses a rebellious spirit, as indomitable as the live chicken Linda and Paulette pursue.

But it is the film's musical numbers, which rival Disney productions in thematic intensity and visual whimsy, that are most surprising. Centered on the adult characters, these fantastical sequences provide insight into the very real concerns adults face, portrayed with a childlike joy that Linda (and younger viewers) can understand. The melodies function as intergenerational bridges: proof that age does not give you all the answers.

It's mind-blowing how many ideas the extraordinarily kinetic “Chicken for Linda!” It packs in just 76 minutes, and is brought to life by a tiny crew with a fraction of the resources that the studio offerings have (with half the ingenuity and depth). This story about parents and poultry more than deserves the exclamation point in its title. It drags you into a whirlwind of wit, bite after lively bite.