Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light

Czech (and Slovak) animation has again risen to the world-class level in recent years. This has most recently been confirmed by the Czech-Slovak-Hungarian stop-motion film Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light, which received an award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Thanks to its amazing colours, lights (!) and original visual ideas, Filip Pošivač’s feature-length debut looks so good that I wanted to slowly pause every shot and savour it for a moment. In terms of its superb craftsmanship alone (for example, Denisa Buranová’s dynamic cinematography, which takes something from live-action filmmaking and contributes to the originality of the creative concept), this is an extraordinary film in which it never once seemed to me that the filmmakers made any compromises, let alone skimped on anything. And the story, written by Jana Šrámková, is also exceptional, not only in the domestic context, in the way that it is both comprehensible for children (judging from their reactions) and appealing to adults on a deeper level as it tells the story of the little big adventure of an eleven-year-old boy who glows. Since this film has quite a few thematic levels (depression, parenthood, self-realisation), you may find a different key to interpreting it, but for me the main thing was the unusually sensitive (and extremely relatable) narrative about the experience of a child who is neurodivergent (or simply different in some way) and – despite his loving, hyper-protective parents – tries to find his place in society, which is represented in the film by a single multi-storey apartment building. Based on the example of the titular duo, the film shows that it is quite beneficial to meet people or at least one person with whom you can identify (Tony is the only one who can see Shelly’s imaginings) and accept yourself in your own differentness to such a degree that you gain the courage to step outside of your own private (fantasy) world and to share with others your own inner light, which you had long seen as a limitation. Some have the good fortune to do that when they are eleven, some when they are twenty-nine. A beautiful film. (07.10.2023)

This animated family film about the friendship between a glowing boy and a girl with a lively imagination, who live in an apartment building that is a picture of a society contending with the thirst for power, anxiety and the inability to listen to itself, manages to appeal to children and adults alike. Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light deals in depth with the theme of accepting differences and sensibly shows us how, despite those differences, mutual understanding can lead us to accept ourselves much more self-confidently. The film provides a valuable lesson without the necessity of literally explaining everything and combines magical fantasy elements with the sorrows of both growing up and parenthood, and hints at other serious issues without losing its radiant fairy-tale nature. In addition to that, it works beautifully and deliberately with colours and light. (04.01.2024)