If Anything Happens I Love You

Voices of: N/A
Directed by: Michael Govier, Will McCormack
Rating: PG
Genre: Animation, Short, Drama
Length: 13 minutes
2020

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two parents try to cope in the aftermath of an unspeakable tragedy.

Review:

Tim: I sat down to watch If Anything Happens I Love You because it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. I knew nothing else about it, so I was not prepared for the emotional wreckage the film would leave me in. The movie depicts every parent's worst nightmare. It is so tragic that mass shootings have become almost commonplace in the United States. When so many of them involve children, it becomes almost unfathomable. It's something that I worry about every day and pray I will never experience (I sincerely hope no one ever has to). This short takes us on an unforgettable journey into pain, despair, and ultimately, something more.

The animation felt like it perfectly captured the tone and the focus of the story. It's dreamlike quality felt so appropriate to two people moving through life in the aftermath of a tragedy, like life itself is a dense fog. Memories float up, hit you at different times. The range of emotions, from denial to anger, depression, feeling completely and totally lost. I can't imagine what it must be like to lose a child, but this film forces you to consider it. I'm honestly a little teary-eyed right now, thinking about my own children and how losing them would break me.

What I loved about this short film is that the emotions never feel manipulative. It's not telling this story to evoke deep emotions and then high-fiving itself for what it accomplished. Directors Michael Govier and Will McCormack (who also wrote it) treat the subject with the gravity and seriousness it deserves. The short film asks you to walk a mile in these parents' shoes, to contemplate the experience. It injects humanity into an event we see on the news nearly every week. This is an important movie, a sadly timely movie. It reminds us of these tragedies that take place all too often in this country. Heartbreakingly, it reminds us that our leaders aren't doing nearly enough to prevent it.

I certainly don't want to watch this movie ever again, but it's so well done, so powerfully made that I could easily see myself revisiting it. I'm glad If Anything Happens I Love You was made. It's an important movie and I hope more people will watch it and learn from it. If nothing else, hug your children tightly and enjoy every minute you have with them. From the message to the emotions this short film evokes, this is a movie that well-deserved its Academy Award.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



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