(courtesy IMDb (c) Fish Films)
SNAPSHOT
John, unable to understand the illness that drives his grandfather between past and present states, stumbles into an old album full of photographs. The images guide his imagination, transforming his grandfather’s memories into drawings that shape their relationship into a history of memory-building and remembrance. (courtesy IMDb)
Napo is just beautiful.
Giving off serious first twenty minutes of UP vibes, while being something quite poignantly and movingly its own, Napo explores with so much empathy and love, and some gorgeously vivacious animation, how powerful memories, new and old, can be.
With no dialogue, the film brings alive how life can seem to fade to sepia and nothingness in old age, as if all the vivacity is gone, but how, there always remains a spark and it can make all the difference in the world to not just the person affected by the loss of memories but to their family too.
It reminds us how meaningful belonging and family can be, and how while we might think we have lost those bonds, they never really go away, even when the person we love does, and that they endure in what we remember and treasure and love.
The approach to grief too is wonderfully handled, acknowledging how savage sadness and loss but can be, but that that’s not the end of the story and might well be the beginning of another chapter.
Honestly, this is a gem; watch it and be moved and always hold close those you love and your memories of them, as well as helping them stay in touch with theirs.