Nimona (2023)

I am a fan of animation because I believe it can do what live action cannot, even in the age of CGI "live action." We can enter stylized worlds that don't have to conform to realism and in doing so (as if often the case in written fiction) we can set ourselves just outside our lived experiences enough to examine our real world in ways that are too difficult in real life. The new film Nimona, a film that was almost not made, is a breathtaking and beautiful examination of how outgroups are scapegoated to maintain corrupt power structures, and while it works as general allegory it is also beautifully specific. This is a story about queer and trans characters and how their existence is villainized to advance specific ideologies of control. 

Thank goodness Nimona was made as it likely is more relevant today than it has ever been. 

The road to this film was fraught with the animation Studio Blue Sky (a studio I am not a big fan of) struggling to get it together, only to be purchased by Disney who cancelled it due to concerns over its 2SLGBTQ+ themes. But Annapurna and Netflix swooped in and saved the day, crafting a gorgeously animated film with a rollicking adventure plot, that centres explicitly a queer man and a gender diverse character by making the story about their lived experience as outsiders. Disney recently included their actually first explicitly gay character in Strange World which was great but the character's queerness wasn't central to the plot and therefore non-threatening. Nimona's central thesis is that queer and trans people are essential to the overthrowing of corrupt power structures, outlining exactly how homogeneity is used to oppress and control populations. 

The film is gorgeously animated and expertly structured. The story blends futurism and medieval fantasy to create the kind of world rarely seen in mainstream films which sets a powerful backdrop for it's adventure plot. And a fun adventure it is. Even if you ignore the moral-to-the-story aspects of Nimona, the film is inherently watchable both narratively and visually. The lead performances by Moretz and Ahmed are wonderfully fleshed out. And it's all accessible to any age despite the heavy themes being examined. This is the sort of story that children will see and understand inherently the good and evil being portrayed. 

And for queer and gender non-conforming people, including young people, Nimona gives them not only a place to be seen, but validated because, like I said, the message isn't just that queer and trans people are okay but that they are essential. Very big thanks to Annapurna and Netflix for getting this film made and making it available. 

Nimona

Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang, Frances Conroy, Lorraine Toussaint, RuPaul, Indya Moore

Directors: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane

Writers: Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor