Film and Media

'Inside Out 2', new emotions in the sequel to the Pixar masterpiece

Also among the novelties is a great auteur feature film as 'A Tale of Two Seasons' by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

by Andrea Chimento

21 June 2024

3' min read

Key points

Two Seasons
Read and tears

3' min read

Nine years later, the magic remains the same: the big star of the week in our cinemas is 'Inside Out 2', the sequel to the wonderful 2015 film, one of the great masterpieces of animated cinema of the past decade and among the peaks of Pixar.

Riley has grown up and is about to face high school, while her mind is grappling with new emotions: Anxiety, Envy, Boredom and Embarrassment will try to coexist with Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust, but the relationship between the old group and the newcomers will be much more complicated than expected.

Riley, meanwhile, will spend a few days at a hockey camp, dividing her time between her best friends and the chance to gain new experiences that could shape her immediate future.

Opened by a hockey game, 'Inside Out 2' is a film that immediately makes it clear how the theme of teamwork, rivalries and alliances is at the centre of the entire narrative, thus creating a metaphor between the situation experienced by the protagonist and the game played by the emotions inside her mind.

“Inside Out 2”e gli altri film della settimana
Photogallery4 foto

The arrival of puberty presents itself as a major alarm that makes all the classic emotions more pronounced, in addition to the entry of those new characters that will expand the facets of Riley's psychology by leaps and bounds.

Risades and tears

Although far from the brilliant results of the 2015 feature film (but it could not have been otherwise), 'Inside Out 2' is a sequel that brilliantly reasoned about what we have inside us and offers some visual and narrative choices of great depth: from the depiction of a stream of consciousness to that of an anxiety attack, the film directed by Kelsey Mann offers a wide range of reflections, capable of shaking audiences of all ages.

From the fleeting appearances of Nostalgia to the gags with the parents, the funny moments stand out, but, in the best Pixar tradition, these alternate with moving passages, culminating in the touching final part.

The long wait was thus decisively repaid and 'Inside Out 2' is preparing to conquer the domestic box office as well, after the excellent results achieved in the United States in its first days of release.

Review of two seasons

Another must-see film of the weekend in theatres is 'A Tale of Two Seasons' by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

The protagonist is Samet, a teacher at an institute in a small village in eastern Anatolia who has a great desire to one day move to Istanbul: the man has to complete a four-year teaching cycle while waiting to be accepted at a school in the capital, but a completely unexpected event dashes his hopes.

He and a colleague are accused of inappropriate behaviour by two female students at the school and it will be the beginning of a nightmare for Samet from which it will not be easy to wake up.

Presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2023, 'Tale of Two Seasons' is one of the most significant films among those released in Italy in recent months: what strikes the mark is above all a screenplay that speaks with great force about moral issues, social relations and human relationships.

Opening with images of a totally snow-covered landscape, the film plays with the symbolism of nature and with a series of dialogues of great theoretical and dramaturgical poignancy, especially when the protagonist is on stage with a girl who could help him get through the difficult moment.

It is undoubtedly a tough viewing (it is almost 200 minutes long), but the overall design holds up at a distance and also offers several passages of great cinema, confirming the extraordinary talent of the Turkish director, already the author of memorable films such as 'The Three Monkeys' and 'Once Upon a Time in Anatolia'.