Elio

Written by Andreas Babiolakis


Fitting in can be difficult. It can feel impossible. I know this challenge all too well, having been a misfit in school and the black sheep of the family. Outside of bullies — who project their own insecurities onto others — this wasn’t really anyone’s fault. The people I wanted to be associated with weren’t trying to isolate me. Family wasn’t aiming to make me feel different. At the same time, even with my death metal and industrial-goth phases in high school (photos won’t be used as references), I wasn’t striving to be peculiar or left alone. The truth is that no one can figure out why some youths or teenagers are ostracized. I could chalk my own experience up to me being peculiar as a result of my then-undiagnosed ADHD, but that’s me reflecting on memories in hindsight, so I cannot safely say that this was my experience with confidence.

Pixar’s latest film, Elio, does not try to answer this struggle that many children face, but it does hope to console young viewers who may feel like the titular protagonist. It also aspires to be a comfort blanket for children who have experienced loss, seeing as Elio (Yonas Kibreab) is a boy who has lost both of his parents and is now staying with his aunt, Major Olga Solís (Zoe Saldaña) of the Air Force. Olga abandons her hopes of becoming an astronaut so that she could provide Elio with a guardian and a home; her affinity for space proves to be an inspiration for Elio, who — after years in Olga’s care — learns that he also wants to travel across the galaxy. After years of trying to get abducted by aliens (a representation of how he doesn’t feel as though he fits in on Earth), bullies begin to taunt and harass Elio for numerous days: a reoccurrence that leads to the eventual transportation of Elio to the great skies above. Aboard an alien ship, Elio is incorrectly deemed the ambassador of Earth. Before Elio can clarify who he is, he is wrapped up in far too many conversations. He then allows the charade to continue: for once, he is important and relied upon, in his eyes. Before Aunt Olga can get too worried about Elio’s whereabouts, the jelly-supercomputer, OOOOO (who is named suspiciously similarly to the now-defunct witchhouse project, oOoOO down to the amount of letters in their names, but I’m probably the only nutjob who will bring that up in an Elio review) creates a clone of Elio to send back to Earth in his place.

There’s a lot going on thematically in Elio. The notion of a near-identical clone replacing Elio on Earth is a clear depiction of unconditional adoration and support; a loved one will be able to sense the slightest differences in their favourite person, and no one can replace them (even if they are almost exactly the same). Meanwhile, Elio is going through extreme lengths to even feel like he is a part of something; why should one have to perform literal miracles to just be accepted? Then there is the Glordon subplot. Glordon (Remy Edgerly) is a space worm (or something) whose father, Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), is a sinister warlord who wants his son to become a soldier of sorts. In the same way that Elio doesn’t feel like he connects with his aunt (outside of their love for outer space), Glordon feels alone; isolation is a universal concept. However, as much as Elio exhibits thematically, it holds back narratively and conceptually. Elio is told via enough standard ideas and turns, as if we have seen this sort of story before. In a film where a child is traversing the universe, it should have felt more like an eye-opening, genre-pushing affair like Don Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow (which was told via stick figures and a mere percent of the budget that Elio possesses). Instead, Elio feels as adventurous as Pixar’s Luca: a story confined to literally one location (the fictional town of Portorosso in Italy).

Elio has high aspirations; even if it doesn’t quite reach its potential, it is a pleasant film nonetheless.

Elio may feel stifled of its potential because of its hyper-focus on its themes of belonging (which are well handled, but its intergalactic world building do suffer because of how prioritized the thematic dynamics are), but it is still a pleasant and sweet film. It is indicative of Pixar’s output has been lately where concepts are dialed back as to make these films as applicable to young viewers as possible whilst forgetting that motion pictures that are meant to encourage children should not be scared of pushing them. Elio shouldn’t be mature to the point of disturbing kids or making them feel uncomfortable, but we don’t need to look too far back in Pixar’s oeuvre to even find Soul: the film that remains Pixar’s last great picture. In Soul, we feel like the afterlife is this expansive, brilliant environment rich with creativity and endlessness; Soul makes sure to make everyday life feel just as explorative and brilliant.

In Elio, we visit space via a ship, but what do we retain from this? Only the talking points of what one’s worth is in the world. This is important, and Elio handles each viewer individually and well (I know I said I have felt like an oddity for all of my life, but I think the open secret is that we all feel this way and don’t realize it until we are all aimless adults trying to find our purpose for the umpteenth time). However, I wish that Elio was also the promised journey that the title character craved; even if the message is that his worth was within him this whole time, wouldn’t the payoff of the adventure Elio wanted have been just as sublime? I feel like Elio scratches the surface of how connective it could have felt. I was pleased with the film and even felt the occasional emotional moment, but I was quickly back to my daily life once those credits rolled. If the biggest theme of the film is to own your characteristics that make you authentically yourself, Elio spends too much time trying to fit in or be liked, from familiar art designs, a villain who is misunderstood and highly capable of change, and an incapability of trying something new. The end result is a nice film, but a safe one at that. When we’re flying through outer space, feeling lost and abandoned, and questioning our place in the universe, safety and comfort should be the destination (at the hands of realization and character development), not the entire ride. For one final comparison, we can look at Wall-E which leaves us wanting more and rethinking our whole lives and the planet we live on. It encouraged us to go to impossible lengths. Elio comes back down to Earth despite being a sci-fi trip; we needed to feel like we went somewhere.


Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.