Steve Reviews: My Life as a Courgette (My Life as a Zucchini)

oh hey there courgette how's life oh you know just chilling oh courgette yes i have a question um do you think your willy's gonna be okay my life as a courgette is a 2016 french stop-motion film directed by claude barris it follows the life of a young boy named ecarr who is nicknamed courgette who has wound up in an orphanage after escaping an abusive home with his alcoholic mother and by escape i mean he ended up killing her oh yeah it's going to be one of those types of films with this being a dark stop-motion film centered around a young child with an alcoholic mother yeah i can see why this film got recommended from my marion mac's review the fun fact about this film is that in the us the film is actually titled my life as a zucchini as that's what a courgette is called over there so in the us dub our character is called zucchini rather than courgette my name is zucchini i would be quick to mock the americans for this but we kind of did the same with the 2016 film zootopia where in the uk it's actually titled zootropolis for some reason and so the uk dub has all the characters refer to the city as zootropolis rather than zootopia even though you can clearly see their mouths are saying zootopia anyway let's take a look at the critically acclaimed film my life as a courgette or zucchini if you're american we open up on a small blue head boy named icar who goes by the name corsair we quickly get the impression that life isn't too great for courgette as a torn photograph indicates that his parents have split and we see that his mother is a raging alcoholic whilst upstairs building a tower korja accidentally knocked some beer cans down the stairs and then this happens we're gonna get the spanking of your life boy that escalated quickly jesus talk about going from naught to a hundred not only is courgette from a troubled home but he's also just murdered his own mother and the scene just holds there while he sits and clutches onto his kite it really is a brutal moment and you can only imagine what's going on through his mind which is why we're going to be joined by our friend courgette who will be here to give us a better insight into a courgette's life this film is nothing like my life it mocks my suffering thank you courgette the film's opening titles roll and we cut back to courgette who is sat with a police officer named raymond who is trying to get information on what happened your mom is gone a car my name is corzette courgette did your mother give you that name it's interesting how a car still wishes to be called the nickname that his mother gave him which shows that despite the abushi chone courgette still has love for her with his mother dead and his father missing courgette is taken to a local orphanage what say you courgette this all looking very relatable to you i also lost my mother at a young age but not for my own actions i was ripped away from her while still attached to a stalk my siblings and others around me were crammed into a dark container fearing for our lives and although screaming in our minds the atmosphere was silent then when we eventually saw the light that's when the darkness really set in as we were in a strange new location where day by day we would be taken away by strangers not knowing who they were or what their intentions with us may be like an orphanage it's nothing like an orphanage life at the orphanage doesn't get any better for courgette though as he is soon bullied by the other kids especially a redhead kid named simon who you can tell is an [ __ ] because of his menacing skull head t-shirt i mean our new friend courgette more like a potato with that head oh says you you carrot topped prick we see that simon is the self-appointed leader of the other kids in the orphanage and seems determined to make courgettes life as miserable as possible and this is where i was thinking okay classic story we have our main antagonist who bullies the others eventually the kids will stand up to him he will get sad open up about his tragic backstory and then they will all make up the end but to my surprise it doesn't happen like that i mean it does but it all happens much quicker than i expected icar i mean potato i i mean courgette stands up to simon and the two quickly form a friendship as they talk through their problems turns out simon's mum was a drug addict which makes you wonder how he got that scar on his head and we also learn about the other kids such as bee who had her mom deported or alice who we assume was sexually abused by her father she had these nightmares every night it was bad all of these troubled backstories have led to the kids developing strange behavioral patterns which highlights the psychological impacts that childhood trauma can have even not so obvious ones where one kid had a mum who was a clean freak so this has caused her child to also be paranoid about germs to the point where he will even consume large amounts of toothpaste causing him to throw up courgette begins settling into the orphanage but things soon get shaken up as a new girl named camille arrives oh wow this is escalating quickly turns out camille lost her parents and is hiding away as she doesn't want to go back home with her on the arrival of camille gets the boys talking about girls and sex oh she kind of wiggles around too and then all of a sudden pow explodes wait is that the willy yep i have seen cool world and can confirm that is what happens courgette however is more curious as to why camille was in the orphanage so he and simon sneak out to take a peek at her file they find out that camille's dad murdered her mother and then proceeded to take his own life with camille witnessing the whole thing oh yeah it's chosen her eyes saw the whole thing oh wow that's uh pretty [ __ ] the next day the kids get ready for a ski trip i have a question um do you think your willy's gonna be okay asking the important questions on the trip courgette and camille begin to bond and we get some more insight into camille's backstory turns out her aunt isn't the nice person that she lets on to be and only wants to take custody of camille for the support funding she'll receive soon the trip is over and the kids head back to the orphanage [Music] yep let's make the move on her while she's sleeping that's the romantic way back at the orphanage camille's aunt turns up and demands that camille is returned to her so the kids formulate a plan to sneak camille out with courgettes as he goes on a day trip with the police officer raymond that he originally met at the station however camille was soon discovered but what i like is how the adults actually deal with this in a sensible way normally you'd expect the adults to be oblivious to the aunt's true evil nature but here they actually seem to realize what's going on so raymond agrees to let camille come along with them and informs the orphanage of the situation who also agreed along the trip they spot courgette's old house and raymond agrees to let him see his old place where did the tape go what follows is actually a pretty touching scene as courgette just stops and stares at the chair his mum used to sit in again it's moments like this that really make the film where no dialogue or even much movement is taking place yet we still know what is going through the character's mind there's another great moment like this in the film when the kids are on the ski holiday and they see a little boy being helped up by his mother and the camera just holds on the kids staring at them and you can just see the thought process going on in their minds as they look onto a world that they think they will never have the kids then head to raymond's apartment where he reveals that the kids can stop over for the night if they wish is this for us you like it yes whoa there raymond i know that they're in love and all but the same bed jesus they're like nine hey remember on the bus i wasn't sleeping i know you creeped on me in the bus and i thought it was totally hot this romantic moment is cut short however as camille's aunt turns up and takes her away probably a lucky escape to be fair the next day a judge arrives at the orphanage to decide whether camille should be allowed to stay at the orphanage or go with iran the aunt appears to be winning her case that is until you're a little just like your mother but your stupidity will work give it here now yep turns out simon managed to sneak his music player to camille who managed to record her aunt's true intentions you've dug your own graves silly girl good job there you little carrot-headed prick so the aunt is exposed and camille gets to stay so all is good and happy now right well no raymond tells courgette that he has applied to be the foster carer for both him and camille this causes conflict as simon becomes upset that courgette and camille are ditching them courgette tells simon that they won't leave but then simon actually turns around and says that they do need to go as they may never get another chance like this again in what is actually a really nice moment kroger and camille leave the orphanage and what is a pretty bittersweet goodbye as although they've been adopted the rest of the kids remain behind and as simon stated the likelihood of them ever getting adopted at this age is pretty low you don't get it at all no one wants to adopt kids as old as we are we get a final shot of courgette flying his newly decorated kite where the film ends and the credits roll and that was my life as a courgette despite only having a run time of just over an hour my life as a courgette manages to successfully showcase the struggles going on in our troubled characters though not seemingly dark on the surface levels such as sank like mary and max my life as a courgette shows a more hidden darkness and that being the psychological effect these kids go through [Music] we get long pauses which allow us to stop and imagine just what is going through our character's minds subtle elements such as how ikar despite having an abusive mother still values her as he holds on to the nickname that she gave him and even holds on onto the symbolic items such as one of her beer cans which is both touching and also sad despite this bad set of cards the kids have been dealt they still try to remain positive and optimistic which i think is represented through the bright and vibrant color palette they still manage to have fun and help one another to overcome their individual challenges which overall actually makes this a pretty wholesome film yeah i think i understand now just because things aren't going too great doesn't mean you should give up things can get better but they can only do so once you allow them to courgette and his friends weren't given the greatest start but they still fall on and maybe that's what i need to do life in the fridge right now may be dark and cold but it doesn't have to stay that way and with the right attitude maybe things won't be quite so dark and cold in the future you

Channel: undefined

Views: 523,456

Rating: 4.9711003 out of 5

Keywords: steve reviews, my life as a courgette, my life as a zucchini, stop motion, review, dark kids movie

Id: b-GLG9HHMeo

Length: 14min 0sec (840 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 30 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Kekkersboy]

Never heard of this Gonna have to check it out