THE STORY – When Alzheimer’s begins to erase her mother’s vibrant personality, Sarah leaves her exciting life as an activist and artist in 90’s San Francisco to return to her eccentric family in the conservative small town she recently fled. Initially confident she can manage the situation, she soon realizes she must accept the harsh, disorienting reality of the disease to become the daughter her family needs.
THE CAST – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Abbi Jacobson, Bryan Cranston, Samira Wiley, Beanie Feldstein, Seth Rogen, Wanda Sykes, Bowen Yang, Pamela Adlon & Sarah Silverman
THE TEAM – Leah Nelson (Director/Writer), Sarah Leavitt & Trev Renney (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 102 Minutes
Few things scare me more than Alzheimer’s. Gradually losing one’s faculties, abilities, and memories is just about the most upsetting thing that can happen to a person. And not only is the one with the disease affected, but their friends and family experience a similar loss as they watch someone they love slowly deteriorate. Given how distressing Alzheimer’s is in our real world, it may be surprising to hear that “Tangles,” based on Sarah Leavitt’s graphic novel memoir about her mother’s decline after being diagnosed with the debilitating disease, manages to be just as funny, beautiful, and unexpectedly uplifting as it is heartbreaking. Giving motion through animation to Sarah Leavitt’s illustrations, director Leah Nelson’s film is a stunning story of one family’s struggle, told with such specificity and detail that it’s impossible not to grow attached to the characters and totally drawn into their world. To watch “Tangles” is to feel temporarily and lovingly adopted by a strongly bonded family going through powerful hardship.
Sarah Leavitt places herself at the center of her story, with her on-screen facsimile voiced by Abbi Jacobson. “Tangles” covers an important, upsetting chapter in her life, starting shortly before her mother Midge’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) Alzheimer’s diagnosis and following the two women (along with the rest of the family) as they journey through the expected lows and unexpected highs as her disease increasingly changes her. Feeling a strong sense of responsibility for her mother’s well-being, Sarah temporarily puts her personal life on hold, leaving behind her job as an illustrator at a queer magazine and her new girlfriend, Donimo (Samira Wiley).
In bringing Leavitt’s non-fiction graphic novel to the screen, “Tangles” makes the seemingly obvious choice to use line drawing-style animation that calls to mind Leavitt’s illustrations, albeit with more cinematic detailing. But “Tangles” goes a step further than simply capturing their essence: it’s a rare black-and-white animated film that invites even closer comparison to the original illustrations. This stark visual choice gives the film a documentary feel, which only makes the moments where the animation expands into the realm of the surreal stand out even more. As both Sarah’s family and personal life grow increasingly fractured, the film’s drawing style moves further away from realistic representation. There are simply too many notable sequences to list them all. There’s the scene where a Mexican street parade warps into a demonic nightmare when Sarah realizes that they’ve lost Midge in the crowd. Or the abstract expansion of Midge’s attempt to complete the famous “draw a clock” neurological test. Or the simple yet powerful moment when Sarah returns home to care for her mother and is shown literally wading through deterring waters as she approaches her family home.
It’s not always easy to specifically pick out the work of an animated film’s director, but with “Tangles,” Nelson’s hand is wonderfully apparent. The film unwinds in an impressionistic fashion, with smart transitional images to connect scenes (one moment that cuts from Sarah’s frustrated face to a smoke-breathing dragon figure at a Chinese restaurant is particularly effective). Nelson has also smartly assembled a soundtrack consisting entirely of female-fronted rock groups and singers from the era, as if we’re taking a ride with Sarah in her car listening to her preferred tunes. And unlike many animated movies, “Tangles” takes its time, quite literally letting the story breathe. Sarah gets several moments to herself where we see her take a second for herself to pause, inhale, and cry after difficult interactions with her mom. It’s choices like these that make “Tangles” a truly great film, filled with details that anyone who’s gone through similar situations will recognize, and those who have been lucky enough to avoid such strife will still understand.
Sarah’s family is definitely the type that some would charitably describe as “crunchy.” During an early scene, Midge and her sisters are shown singing a repetitive, chanting tune together in the living room, which Sarah brushes off as totally normal when Donimo asks about it. And one pivotal flashback shows Midge taking Sarah to a gay pride parade at a young age. This is hardly the kind of family that would make a big fuss about any members of the group straying from the world of heterosexuality (there is one hilarious montage that shows how Sarah basically discovered her sexuality through a series of phone calls with her mom). Still, it makes for a refreshing queer story, especially given that it takes place nearly three decades ago.
In order to portray such a loving family, the film brings together a stellar ensemble of well-known actors to provide their voices. Abbi Jacobson’s Sarah is charmingly awkward, but unafraid to raise her voice, especially when she feels like the only person taking full responsibility for their mother and giving the situation the appropriate degree of seriousness. Julia Louis-Dreyfus fully invests her endless talents into her portrayal of Midge. Her casting plays upon the audience’s expectations of and connection to her as a beloved performer, essentially using her as a shortcut to viewers’ hearts. Here, Louis-Dreyfus stretches herself, playing a role unlike anything else she’s done before. She’s got pathos to spare and gives Midge a believable stilted quality once she starts to lose her mental faculties. Louis-Dreyfus is one of our most unassailably talented performers, and “Tangles” shows that she still has more to show and explore as an actress.
“Tangles” is an excellent example of a film’s form matching its function. The graphic novel upon which it’s based could’ve easily been developed into a live-action film, especially given the very real and very big-screen-friendly dramedy plot. But this is the story of a main character who expresses herself through her hand-drawn art, and the film understands the importance of her manner of artistic expression, choosing to stay in the world of animation to bring her drawings to life. “Tangles” represents the best of what animation can do: it conjures up a story through human artistry that turns our feelings and impressions of the world into a visualized reality. It’s a masterpiece of emotional storytelling, using humor and heartbreak to tell a tale that far too many can relate to, but will move anyone who watches it.
