The lesbian kiss is the only thing we remember from the movie, and it's sad in many ways

"Light Years," Pixar's new film, has only hit theaters, but seems to be designed to line up the Disney Plus catalog in the future.

Only one thing we will remember from him: a short and sterile lesbian kiss, which proved that we are light years away from never dark

Avner Shavit

17/06/2022

Friday, June 17, 2022, 00:00

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From the movie "Light Years" (Film Forum)

Star rating for movies - 3 stars (Photo: image processing,.)

This weekend, the Disney Plus streaming service finally arrived in Israel, and with it, of course, all the Pixar movies for generations.

Precisely at this timing, in a rather confusing way, also came the cinema of the animated studio's new film, "Light Years," which is only available in theaters.

This is an exceptional project also in terms of its plot, so it is important to dwell for a moment on content as well, and not just on the distribution model.

Well, this is ostensibly another film in the mythology of "Toy Story", which has already spawned four films in the past - one groundbreaking, two exemplary, an even more exemplary third and a rather forgotten fourth.

But this is not a direct pledge of these hits, but a kind of side-extension of them.

At the heart of those films, as I recall, stood a boy with a collection of toys.

One of them is that of a space pilot named Buzz Lightyear.

Now, it turns out that within Pixar's fictional universe, the toy was a by-product of a fictional movie starring this character, which came out in the mid-1990s.

"Light Years" is this movie.

This is a sophisticated and original move - we are used to direct sequels.

"Light Years," led by producer Geislan Sussman, screenwriter Pete Doctor and director Angus McClain, have found an interesting way to get around this.

But sophistication and originality end at the starting point.

As the plot unfolds, so too does it turn out to be a fairly routine and not particularly ambitious space fantasy, reminiscent of quite a few films we’ve seen before - for example Christopher Nolan’s “Between the Stars”.

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Important to clarify: does not cost Disney Plus, not the direct pledge of "story toy".

From "Light Years" (Photo: Film Forum)

The film, of course, is released in Israel in a dubbed version and in an English version.

Originally, Tim Allen dubbed Buzz, and this is where Chris Evans got into his shoes.

In his voice, the space pilot turns out to be a classic Hollywood hero - a professional who made one small mistake, and had to carry it with him all his life.

This mistake occurred during a challenging mission, leading to Buzz and all of his team getting caught up in a distant star and failing to get out of it.

Others around the protagonist, such as his partner and best friend Elisha, moved on.

They learned to build a new life for themselves in the new place.

The arrogant pilot insists on trying to correct the concept, and embarks on flights at a particularly high speed each time - so high that his time moves faster than on a star that has left.

Each time he returns, it turns out that four years have passed.

An entire life passes without him, and he loses, for example, all the milestones in the lives of those close to him.

One of them is related to a kiss between two women - an image that led to the genesis of "light years" in many Muslim countries, which has become the main title around the film.

Relative to the noise surrounding this affair, the relevant scene turns out to be appallingly short and sterile.

On the one hand, Pixar still needs to be appreciated.

After all, they are facing difficult external and internal pressures here.

External pressure comes from the bizarre coalition that has sprung up against them and unites Muslim states, states like Florida and Texas and Channel 14;

And the internal pressure from the studio executives, who are worried about the commercial harm due to the loss of potential audiences.

In the procedure, it is a story about an individual who learns to work in a team.

From "Light Years" (Photo: Film Forum)

On the other hand, and this is of course true of Hollywood movies nowadays, the representation of lesbian love in "Light Years" is so negligible that it can be missed if narrowed down.

In the context of the whole plot, this "scene", if you can call it that at all, is a negligible curiosity - more of a check mark than anything else.

It should also be said fairly that alongside the objections, its combination nevertheless also makes Pixar good PR and yields both cultural and economic capital, because the liberal audience in America is also the public that has more money.

Finally, and sorry for the cynicism, it's hard not to wonder - is not there also some political spin here, which allows the studio to focus the discussion on the plot detail marginal and ignite the fire from all the film's flaws?

There are many flaws, so it's simpler to start with the virtues, or rather to say - the virtues.

There's one good thing about the film: like Pixar's previous films, "Light Years" also follows an individual learning to work in a team.

Buzz was used to solo flights, but at the Cliff of Times he was required to collaborate with the diverse group that gathers by his side: Elisha's granddaughter, who also teaches him an important lesson on how to measure profits and losses when it comes to passing times;

A charming cat-cat, clinging to him as a loyal and resourceful personal assistant;

A particularly elderly and eccentric criminal;

And another unsuccessful one, dubbed Taika and Ititi, one of the currently active cinematic anchors ("Turn: Love and Thunder" directed by Marvel will be released next month).

All of these provide the film with flickers of color and character, but most of the time it has a hard time rising.

The star in which the protagonists are trapped is pale and uninteresting - Pixar have failed to build a rich and complete fictional universe this time;

The plot is monotonous, repeating itself and repeating elements we’ve seen in other films;

The humor is endearing at best, and in any case lacks the layers and layers that were in the classics of the studio;

And the whole result is murky and gray, in every way and especially visually - it is enough to look at pictures from "light years" to understand that there is not much light in it.

Turbid and grayish.

From "Light Years" (Photo: Film Forum)

In the past, Pixar films were an event - the studio would release at most one new film every year, and usually the result turned out to be a canonical classic.

In recent years, their productions have become routine.

Quantity went up and quality went down.

Sentences we've never written have already become clichés - "It's a likable movie, but relative to Pixar's previous films it is not ...", "It's a fine movie, but in Pixar's movie parade it is screwed at the bottom ...".

These statements are already chewing, but what to do that they are the most appropriate way to sum up the "light years".

The storm surrounding that lesbian kiss is ultimately what we will remember from this film, proving that we are still light years away from never dark.

And what's more than that?

As usual with Pixar productions, the American media operates in the mode of automatic paragon, but really there is no reason to get excited.

Although "Light Years" only airs in theaters, it seems that the purpose of its existence is to upholster the Disney Plus catalog in the future with a little more content.

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