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Portorosso, the fictional setting of the new Pixar movie,Luca,is a bright daydream of Italy.
Cobblestoned streets wind their way up hills; residents pepper their speech with ejaculations like Santa Mozzarella!
; and each year the kids compete in a triathlon of swimming, cycling, and pasta eating.
The pastoral charm doesnt stop at the shoreline.
But how could anything dark happen in an animated world so mild?
Of course it is!
Im a good kid!
Lucais not, ultimately, a love story.
But it is a story thats explicitly about otherness and self-discovery.
The symbolism lends itself to interpretations of queerness, or as an allegory of assimilation.
What happens when she sees you?
When anyone sees you?
Alberto demands when Luca starts talking about following Giulia to school.
Lucais so intent on meaning something that it only ever halfway inhabits the delightfully colorful world it lays out.
What it does have are some groovy Italian pop songs and a setting as pleasant as a summer afternoon.
The light glimmers off the surface of the ocean without any worry of going too deep.
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