"Please don't ask about my leaves": The Charming and Magical Life of Timothy Greene.

At this stage, it is relatively apparent that I enjoy a good children’s film. Their stories are those that we can all connect with and speak to us on a deep level. Sometimes they play on our sense of nostalgia and connect with the child inside of us and other times strike a chord with your life as a parent. These films pare back some of life’s most essential questions down to their bare bones and remind the viewer what is at the core of such questions and what life is all about.

When I think about it, it is a little surprising that children’s films are filled with such deep, thought-provoking topics, seeing as children have nowhere near the same life experience that an adult would, which makes me think that such films are aimed at the parents watching along with their children as their greater frame of reference allows them to have a more poignant experience. They reflect on their own lives and wonder about their children's lives to come as they grow up. So, it would seem an adult would get so much more out of a children's film than a child would. Of course, as one rewatches their childhood films, their stories take on entirely new meanings due to the different perspectives that life experience brings. Still, there is nostalgia and a longing for the simplicity and innocence lost through ageing.

Despite children not always being able to apply such deep topics found in their targeted cinema to their own lives, they no doubt understand the emotion and core meaning of the story. The complex and heavy themes I have seen in children’s films have been handled with elegance, beauty and intelligence. The creators respect a child's ability to understand and empathise, and no topic is off-limits. The subject of today's blog is no exception to this: The Odd Life of Timothy Greene (TOLOTG).

This particularly poignant and memorable film popped into my head the other day while I was trying to remember an actor's name by recalling what I had previously seen him in. I am glad I did because it is one of the coveted Fi’s Favourites titles.

As I mentioned, children’s films have a habit of basing their themes around topics most adults dread to think about, let alone talk about, and TOLOTG is no exception. Here we see the skilled and expert handling of one of life most difficult topics: infertility. Now, you could be forgiven for thinking such things have no place in a children's film, and on the one hand, I can see why, but once you have finished this film and seen its graceful handling of such a topic, all you will have is immense respect and love for it.

Children’s films take away all the jargon and waffle and focus on things' core and true meaning. TOLOTG reminds us what family is. It may not always be people who share your genes, but people who love you, care for you and nourish you to help you grow. As we all know, true families have never looked more different and all that truly matters is that you are loved and cared for. Had this film gone to some great length to explain infertility, it would have gone on to be a loser. Instead, it redirects us to what’s essential about family. Such an emotional core can take on some of the more challenging aspects of the world, as we always have that core to come back to.

TOLOTG also takes some of the concepts I had spoken about when I wrote about Japanese Anime and other Asian films. Anime, in particular, is just a masterclass in the use of metaphors. TOLOTG uses nature and, in specific, leaves as a metaphor for the relationship between parent and child. When I say it like this, it may seem like a very obvious metaphor, but it is more complex than it first appears. The concept of raising a child is turned into a very literal picture of ‘growing’ a child. Timothy is grown by his parents. Parenting and gardening are more similar than not when you think about it. Both require a great deal of care, time and patience. A child and a seedling are watched over and need to be given the right environment in order to thrive. In TOLOTG, Timothy is already ‘grown’ by his parents and it is he that watches his parent grow and develop into better parents, and the landmarks of his life, and subsequently of his parents' lives, are marked by the falling of leaves from his skin.

Plants and nature are so often used in Anime. I believe this is because, visually, they say so much. There is so much meaning behind an image of a barren tree, especially if contrasted with the appearance of a tree in full bloom. Nature has a life cycle and its features, no matter how cynical you are, evoke something in us. We understand nature. We live in it every day. We don’t always pay attention to it, but it speaks to us when we are reminded of it.

As with any truly great children’s film, an element that I think is key to their success is the element of fantasy. The fantasy in TOLOTG requires you to suspend your belief, but it doesn’t lessen the impact of the narrative or ‘dumb down’ the emotive topic. Our reality can be cruel and harsh, not to mention challenging to comprehend. At times, fact is stranger than fiction. It may seem like a cop-out to use fantasy to ‘deal’ with reality, but that isn’t what happens here. In TOLOTG, as with many other animated and live-action children’s films, fantasy is being utilised to understand reality better, looking at a topic from a new perspective and learning and understanding.

Many other elements to this film make it so charming and wonderful to watch: its set design, quirky characters and delightful performances. Some may say it's a little twee and as American as apple pie, but at its heart, it is simply a moving story about parenthood and the meaning of family.

As with most Fi’s Favourites, this film is undoubtedly a tear-jerker, so tissues at the ready. No matter how cynical you are and how much you try not to give in to this films sickly sweet ways, I don’t think you will be able to resist it. So give in to it, immerse yourself and enjoy.