I saw the most amazing movie last night!

http://www.incrediblejojo.com

Being frugal, we don’t generally splurge on entertainment. But when I received a message from a friend yesterday afternoon and watched this trailer, I knew I wanted to go.  When I showed it to my husband and kids, they agreed.  We just rearranged our plans and WENT. Amazing what a difference 90 seconds can make!  I dare you not to love this:

Such an experience!  This film is a genre unto itself.  It has all the realism of a home-movie, with the outrageousness of a cartoon.  It’s scandalously riveting for children while HORRIFYING to parents; a uniquely HARROWING, OUTRAGEOUS COMEDY.  It’s so well done, it’s hard to not suspend disbelief.  Yet the tongue-in-cheek comedy embarrasses you for doing so.  At times I felt the blood drain out of my face  -watching the children literally dangle in peril-  doubting I had the constitution to withstand another second.  Then I’d be laughing at both myself and the film when it repeatedly refuses to take itself seriously.  (Hello angry hobo clown!)  And throughout it all I’m weeping constantly at the profoundness of the evolving relationship between this boy and his “annoying” (aka: baby) sister.

Yes, that’s an unattended naked baby, chewing the meat from a live bear trap.

As a mother of a boy and baby girl, for me I guess it really does all boil down to the reluctant but committed dedication of this boy to his baby sister.  Like you hope YOUR kids would have if it was YOUR dumb fate to drive off the road leaving your kids to fend for themselves.

Jojo & Avila escaping wolves

And it was amazing how much my kids were not only entranced, but *got* the movie.  When at first the boy opts to ditch carrying his sister in favor of his backpack full of toys, my 3 y/o daughter immediately protests, “WHY IS HE LEAVING THAT BABY ALONE?!?”

Screening Incredible JoJo at Boston International Kids Film Fest (photo Emily Falcigno)

Here’s a glimpse of the director, Brian Schmidt -con bambinos- who wrote the movie with his wife, Ann-Marie Plastron:[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1925850436/incredible-jojo-and-his-annoying-sister-avila]

Because this was its premiere at the Boston Film Festival, he’d flown in for the screening from California and did a  Q&A afterwards!  Naturally my son was the first to raise his hand; “Are there prizes for kids who dressed up in their pajamas and boots?”   (There were.)

Gavin and Directors of both Festival and Film

Then I did some unfocused blubbering and thanking him for artfully coming SO queasily close while successfully *skirting* issues that would have been awful and difficult to explain to the children (e.g. contents of garbage bags thrown in the river by spoofed mafioso types, ahem).

JoJo’s infectious face

Another kid asked, “Was that a real hobo?”  to which he replied, “Well, he IS an actor in L.A., so probably, yes.”  And, “Did the baby really eat the snail?”  The reply; “I don’t know how many of you have experienced this, but that snail is probably one of the LEAST disgusting things my children put in their mouths as babies.”

It would definitely make Mark Twain proud

The MUSIC is also wonderful.  And the ILLUSTRATIONS in the credits are truly fantastic.  (Illustration is what Brian Schmidt originally went to school for.)   This film is their first.  I can hardly wait to see what they do next.  Here’s their Facebook page: [https://www.facebook.com/JojoAndAvila]

Incidentally, the Boston International Kids Film Festival is really something quite special: “to help young people learn to use the media so that it doesn’t use them. We want to empower the next generation to find their own unique voices as they discover the power and potential of visual media.”  Here’s the website homepage with a wonderful little preview trailer about it:  [http://bikff.org]

Nov 7-9, 2014

And maybe it was my imagination this morning, but it seemed like my son exercised a little extra generosity towards his sister when she asked him to spin her in the spinny chair after breakfast.  Here he is modeling his new PRIZE RACCOON HAT like JoJo’s, generously gifted to him by Mr. Schmidt last night for wearing pajamas and boots (a great look for any occasion, if you ask me):

CJ & Gavin in JoJo Raccoon Hat

(Of course my daughter’s face is overflowing with eggs.)

And here, because apparently we cannot get enough of JoJo and Avila, is another version of the trailer [2mins]:   [http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/de2d0bade4/trailer-for-incredible-adventure-of-jojo-and-his-annoying-little-sister-avila]

(And heads up because this swooning new obsession of mine is not over!)