(courtesy IMDb)
SNAPSHOT
GroM wakes up one morning to find that his mouth is stuck in a sour face. He, who wants to be happy and smile. His friend LobO comes visiting and together they embark on a journey to find a GroM’s smile. They try with a circus visit and with magic potions, but it only makes things worse. Will GroM ever Smile again? (courtesy IMDb)
Smile is proof positive that the road to true empathy and understanding often lies in the whimsical and the quirky.
We’re used to the path to good mental health being very serious and sober, and while that’s often true, this delightful slice of animation is evidence that sometimes what you need is to look at life a little differently.
That’s not easy, of course, and much of what makes Smile, written and directed by Jonas Forsman, such an impactful gem is that it knows that smiling again isn’t something you can simply conjure out of thin air, especially not when sadness and depression are dragging you down.
What you need when you feel alone and sad down in the abyss is the love and care of a good friend which GroM, the protagonist of Smile, receives in spade from his devoted pal LobO who sticks with his friend until his smile comes back again.
While he definitely wants GroM to smile once again, what’s key here is the LobO doesn’t demand that of him or put a time limit on his friend’s recovery, simply hanging in there and doing what he can until joy once more returns to gorgeously green face of GroM.
It’s a beautiful tale of friendship and connection and it speaks to how important being part of a village with other people is inherently basic to good mental health and keeping or bringing back, a smile to our faces.