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SALONICCO DOCUMENTARI 2022

Recensione: Long Live My Happy Head

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- Il documentario in parte animato di Austen McCowan e Will Hewitt è la storia agrodolce di un malato di cancro che combatte la sua malattia con creatività e umorismo

Recensione: Long Live My Happy Head

Questo articolo è disponibile in inglese.

Scottish documentary filmmakers seem to be increasingly embracing animation: at Sundance, we saw the captivating imposter documentary My Old School [+leggi anche:
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, and BFI Flare and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival are screening Austen McCowan and Will Hewitt's Long Live My Happy Head this week. It tells the story of a cartoonist fighting brain cancer with creativity, humour and an invincible spirit.

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Gordon Shaw is an Edinburgh-born man who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour when he was 32, and was told he had seven to ten years to live. The directors start filming him in 2019, when he is 37 and already deep into his comic-book series Bittersweet, in which he deals with his predicament with a sense of humour true to the title. He calls his tumour Rick, and in his drawing, animated for the film by award-winning British animator Ross Hogg, Rick looks like an expressive, angry pink skull that he often argues with. His comics are in black and white, with dashes of pink colour, and interviews with Gordon are usually conducted in front of a pink wall.

His comic book is a hit at the Medical Graphics Conference, and we can see that this means a lot to him. He is an engaging person to talk to, making people laugh with ease. Gordon is strong and spirited, but a feeling of despair can be detected under the surface. He has ups and downs, the latter usually hitting after a doctor's appointment – despite his chemotherapy, the tumour keeps growing. But even an MRI scan inspires him: he calls the machine sounds “horizontal techno”, and actually, with a musician friend, he creates MRI Soundsystem, an art installation that fuses those bangs and buzzes into a musical composition. A short animated sequence in which he flies out of the MRI machine into space pumping his hands to the rhythm is especially exhilarating.

Gordon has a wonderful support system in his brother and in his partner Shawn, a businessman from Virginia, USA. Their loving, long-distance relationship is impeded by the fact that the tumour can easily become active on a long-haul flight. But Shawn is again inspired by his boyfriend and other people who care for cancer patients, and starts a new comic-book series on carers.

The film is an emotional viewing experience, as it is easy to connect with the protagonist, and for many people, it is even easier to relate to his carers. Gordon often films himself, especially after COVID-19 puts him in isolation, so there is a lo-fi feeling to these segments, while the filmmakers also visit Shawn in his Virginia home, where at one, heartbreaking point, he breaks down in tears.

The animation sequences are plentiful in the first half, but as the story progresses along with the cancer, they are utilised less and less. This decision could stem from the attempt to follow Gordon's (and Rick's) emotional development, but we get to miss the animated Gordon, even though the live one is no less expressive and sweet.

However, the issue of facing one's own mortality is what eventually overflows from the picture, through all the eye-catching animation and the engaging editing rhythm. Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres' playful electronic score is replaced with strings that range from mournful to hopeful in the final segments of the film.

Long Live My Happy Head is a production by Edinburgh-based Melt the Fly, with the participation of BBC Scotland. Germany's Rise and Shine has the international rights.

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