One of the most original at this year’s Cannes Film Fest, Chicken for Linda!, debuted quietly in the festival’s indie-centric sidebar, the off-kilter ACID (Association for the International Distribution of Independent Cinemas) showcase, without much promotion or fanfare.
Grade: B+
Chicken for Linda! later took the top prize at Annecy, the world’s leading animation festival and the Cesar Award (French Oscar) for Best Animation of 2023.
The Crayola-colorful hand-drawn feature from directing duo Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (The Girl Without Hands) captures vividly the relationship between a single mother and her child.
Premise:
Linda can’t remember her late father, so she asks her mother to cook his signature chicken dish, but the main ingredient is difficult to come by.
Narrative (Spoiler Alert)
Paulette is a widowed mother who feels guilty after unfairly punishing her daughter Linda. She asks Linda what she can do to atone, to which Linda replies that she wants a meal of chicken with peppers, which is her remaining memories of her father before his death;.
Against all odds–a strike that has virtually shut down the city– Paulette sets out to buy a chicken to make the dish; never mind that she does not know how to cook.
The vibrant color palette paints each character differently: Linda is smeared in yellow, Paulette with orange.
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Theatrical release poster
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Here is a smart, vivid toon that, in the hands of other directors, could have been both frivolous and cruel (Linda really wants the chicken dead!), but the directors find the right tonal balance, leading their text to a wistful, satisfying closure.
Chicken fir Linda! gets its U.S. theatrical release this month (almost a year after its Cannes premiere), so I expect the animation to qualify for critics awards in 2024.
