@@jinthefifth980not explicitly. For me what ties it together is as the end is that there were sea “monsters” living among the regular people trying to hide who they really were so they don’t get treated differently
While the movie might not be explicitly queer, it does bear mentioning that 'Città Vuota', the song that plays during the end credits of the movie, after Luca left for school... is about someone who's desperately longing for their lover to come back home, so the city won't feel so empty anymore and so they can spend the rest of their lives together.
That last line from the grandma, "some people will never accept him, but some will. And he seems to know how to find the good ones" gets my queer lil heart every time.
That line hits so hard. I cried just as bad if not worse. For me personally, I feel it for my son, who deals with autism and is nonverbal. He's only 5 and the disgusting remarks he has gotten from others already when he has his meltdowns in public due to being unable to communicate his wants/needs and feeling overwhelmed or when he's happy and stims. I wish people would stop judging just because they don't understand. Most times they don't care to understand either. If they would just accept and love people for who they are or simply move along then the world would be a better place. The fact that line hits for so many people is sad. We as human beings need to be kinder to one another. I apologize for those who have made you feel less than for simply being you. You are enough. You are worthy of being loved. Never forget that.
@@insertname777 i'm semi-verbal (sometimes entirely nonverbal, sometimes for days, weeks, or even months) and autistic and i got a degree in linguistics :) it's true, lots of people aren't very accepting or understanding (especially doubled with other disability/health stuff and being nonbinary, pan-ace, and intersex....) but i've found a good handful of people who get me ♥ i have a partner and we live together and he doesn't treat me any differently when i'm nonverbal (besides maybe asking questions a bit differently, and probably being a bit more gentle) and i'm self employed as an artist because i find working outside my home, especially with a strict schedule imposed by someone else, really challenging but i did work in a bakery and at a banquet hall as a server (i even did weddings!) so it's totally possible several of my close friends are Deaf, so the speaking thing hardly matters at all when I'm with them (we either type or do some basic sign, one of them teaches ASL in a college but i'm not fluent in ASL, neither is another Deaf friend) there's so, so many possibilities for your kid and I hope he (and you!) know that ♥♥♥ and seriously if your kid is having trouble with having friends because of being nonverbal, and if there's no other nonverbal/semi-verbal autistic kids around in his age group where you are, i highly recommend trying to find Deaf/HoH kids around his age, especially if you're able to teach him some basic ASL or have them use picture cards - it could really help in meeting kids that can better understand him where he is
@@insertname777 as an autistic adult who struggled with being understand as a kid, i just wanna say you’re doing great. it really sucks when the world doesn’t show kindness or at least the benefit of the doubt, but (coming from experience) having a supportive parent makes it so much easier. with a parent like you, he’s gonna be a wonderful person
I really like that they didn't shy away from Giulia's family status. Her parents are divorced. She spends most of the time in the city with her mom and spends summers with her dad. Her mom isn't dead, she just doesn't have a role in the story. And it also helps to explain Massimo's side of the connection with Alberto. He has his daughter and they have a great relationship when she's there, but she's with her mom most of the year. So here's this dad with so much love and care to give, but he spends most of his time alone. Then this kid shows up in *desperate* need of someone to love him and be there for him. So of course they connect! They are what each other needs most. And I really do think Massimo needs Alberto as much as Alberto needs him. 🥰
I agree! I also love that Alberto's situation is also openly and honestly portrayed. Children (and grown-ups!) who have experienced parental abandonment are being seen by this movie, and also given the gift of a happy ending that doesn't require a deus ex machina of the parent who magically shows up with a convenient "I was kidnapped by wizards" type excuse for being gone. It's an excellent example of family being a far wider net (oops, sorry sea monsters! 😅) than just blood relations.
10:50 - Yeah, this movie came out around the same time as Encanto. Loved how those two movies made everyone wonder "who is Bruno and what did he do to piss off both Disney and Pixar?!"
I love this silly little fish movie. I love that the whole point of the film is that they're kids. The antagonist is a bully, the big event is a yearly race, and then end of the film is Luca and Giulia going to school. It deals with so many conflicts, internal and external, through the lens of being a kid during summer and I think it's incredible. (Also, there's a wee short film called Ciao, Alberto which focuses on Alberto staying in Porto Rosso with Massimo and I love it so much)
36:06 NOOOOO You need to watch the credits sequence, there's illustrations of what happens in their lives once Luca starts going to school and Alberto starts working with Massimo! There's also an end-credits scene of Uncle Ugo!
The blend of hyper realistic sets and backgrounds with the more cartoony looking characters is such a fun visual experience, I love the shift in 3D animation towards doing more than just hyper realism in movies like Luca, Turning Red and The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Something that really touched my heart in this movie is the fact that the dad was just born without his arm. (I was born missing my right hand) like there’s no crazy story it’s just the way he is I found that representation really important
Luca and Alberto were actually confirmed to be a couple by one of the directors in 2024, which is why there was a resurgence of Luca fans earlier this year!
No, they said it was "talked about," and in my opinion, it would've taken away the innocence of this movie. They were just two little boys having fun, that's it.
@@PrettySaditty1920 what's not innocent about having a crush?? it happens to kids in elementary school all the time.... but if it's because they could be GAY, that's your problem
@@SkwithOv Don't put words in my mouth. Read my post again. I replied to a comment that was inaccurate about the friendship of two boys. They were NOT a couple. I don't have a problem with gay relationships. That's a personal matter. I have a problem when people try to make something more than what it is. These characters are supposed be kids. Let them just be kids and be friends is all I'm saying.
@@PrettySaditty1920 You've misunderstood something. Luca and Alberto aren't "together" in the duration of the film but they very much are considered to reach that point and the film is just them at an age before that part comes. The actual artists of the actual damn movie have shared romantic art they drew of the two of them. Stop being weird and trying to deny what has been fully embraced as the reality by the artists involved in it. You suggesting that "kids" and "gay" are opposing concepts is really disgusting. Most people have their first crushes in kindergarten, including gay kids. You gonna call them weird? Yell at kids for getting butterflies around someone? Examine your homophobic rhetoric before you spew it.
@@jijitters Who the fuck was talking to you? I dont have to examine a damn thing nor defend my opinion to anyone- especially not to someone who literally insulted me in the same way you assumed I would about these fictional characters.
A minor detail that I love about this is how being revealed as a sea monster was built up to be this big thing, and it felt like a big thing and it really was one for our main characters, but then we see that the two grannies have been living there, just hiding and vibing, and Luca's grandma has also been going there in her sea monster form quite frequently as well (so there are sea monster supporters in the village). The coming out parallels and how everyone deals with being out differently, feels comfortable in different stages with different levels of openness, it's all so clear to me. The parallels are paralleling!!
When luca was dizzy, and fish were swimming around his head, it was a play on a cartoon seeing stars. You get it? Because Luca still thinks the stars are fish!
If you want to be even more broken (from happy tears), you should watch the Luca Short, about how Alberto learns to let Massimo become a father figure. It's really sweet and ties the story together very nicely ❤
28:28 naw cause same, the first time I saw this scene I bawled my eyes out especially after having heard it’s a queer coded film. We the gays are often abandoned and rejected by the people around us even if they knew us our whole life’s it doesn’t matter, they fill their own heads with ignorance and their hearts with fear where acceptance and love should be smh. Massimo holds a special place in my heart for his actions in this scene 😢
Fun fact one of the movie’s writers and artists released a few drawings where Luca and Alberto are a couple, including their first kiss which they envisioned happening a handful of years after the movie :) so they are semi-canon gays actually
7:50 "Piacere, Girolamo Trombetta!" is a joke put in by one of the directors (I think.) He grew up in a small Italian town like Porto Rosso, which is fictional. Translated, it means "Nice to meet you, my name is Twisty Trombone!" and as you do the handshake, you mime the silly name. Speaking of Porto Rosso, that's an Easter Egg. This movie's animation style and vibe was inspired by Studio Ghibli's movie "Porco Rosso," about a WWII pilot who is a literal pig named Marco "Porco" Rosso, the Red Pig. The animation fluidity and some of the cheats they do look like Ghibli animation, and the fictional Italian town is named after the Ghibli movie.
three reasons (no matter how slightly weird they are) why I watch and subscribed to this channel. 1) It's giving everything it needs to give 2) read number 1 3) Call me weird or whatever but niall's voice is so satisfying to hear. I don't know if its the accent or whatever but its just....satisfying.
Not quite. It was talked about during production, but ultimately they went with a theme of kids being kids, and it being a friendship (which could be more later, but not quite yet). To quote: "In my first picture I realized we hadn't done kids being kids, so that was kind of part of me thinking about that. It's also specifically a little bit pre-romance. That was something that I was interested in as well because there's just that moment that maybe we're not thinking about boyfriends and girlfriends yet, which is really more about friendships." In a different quote that I can't find right now I saw him talking about his initial plans not involving them being gay at all, but he supports all kinds of interpretations and head-canons that the viewers see in this.
This is such an unique movie. Not so action packed, and with a simple yet realistic plot. And just kids being kids... and of course, a bully being that way just because he can. There's no indication he has a bad life or anything that excuses his behavior. Ercule is that way because he can, and those petty people are truly the worst.
The one thing I love the most about this movie is how Julia's (The red hair gorl) Father and alberto (I can't spell names sadly) having a father-and-son relationship and how Alberto didn't had a father but he finally has a father figure and I LOVE HOW JULIA'S FATHER WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO FIND ALBERTO AT THE DEAD OF NKGHT LIKE "Biatch I ain't coming back until I find Aleberto"
yes omg your point about Luca being very simple in a comforting, slice-of-life way!! italy’s filmmaking history in the 1940’s introduced a genre called neorealism in which a lot of movies centered regular people in their daily lives with no dramatic plot, for the sake of representing what the italian people were genuinely going through at the time. i think Luca adopts a little bit of this history into its story and it’s so cool :D
You can look up some official sketches for Luka. I don’t remember who exactly drew them, it was someone who worked on the movie, but basically there were Luca and Alberto a little bit more grown up, kissing under an umbrella and also some sketches of them cuddling on a bed. Very cute
I think it might've been the main story director! They said they had had a scene planned at the end where Luca and Alberto reunited four summers in a row when Luca comes home for summer break, with the last one ending in a kiss
I’m so happy we got films like Luca, Encanto, and Coco, beautiful films that aren’t big and tell stories about families. Stories don’t need to be explosive and action packed to be good, I’m just happy that some people are still making these stories because they’re important to tell.
Anyone who denies the Queer lens of this movie is blind. It's so touching, especially with the idea of found family, literally connecting them all together. So breathtaking.
Luca is so underrated and as time goes by I hope it will become viewed as one of the classics as it deserves. It has heart, warmth, style, beauty, and subtext that really makes it shine as both a movie and story :)
The queer parts of Luca are understated and based on potential in such lovely ways 🩵 If you look up McKenna Jean Harris (Luca's storyboarder and it's short director), you'll see that she's quite artfully weighted in :) There's a swell and short pinknews article abt it! 💓
this animated film captures the beauty and magic in little things and childlike wonder like no other 🫂 maybe a little ghibly esque in that way, but the *love* shown by every character in this is just so pure and magical 🥹 the friendship and paternal love portrayed will always be so special to me AHHHHH okay I have to stop crying now beautiful video as always, Niall 🩵
i love this movie! it makes my gay heart so happy 13:25 100% agree someone said exaples of queer metaphors being there are the "corrupting influence," the "sending him away," the concept of "outing" and bonding over a shared secret, Alberto's "stay there, you're still safe," "how am I going to know your okay?" i ALSO love the idea that the two older women who reveal themselves as sea monsters at the end are basically outing themselves in solidarity. AND the grandma's line "some people will never accept him. but some will. and he seems to know how to find the good ones." in a queer light. i just think it's so coded and wholesome I believe the director said it wasn’t gay, the animators said it was lmao. I think someone in the writing team said so too. And Jack D Grazer (who is the voice of Alberto) said for him the characters were queer too (while promoting this movie he came out as bi )
5 дней назад
i was literally searching if you had reacted to this yesterday so this notification made me so happy, your videos are always great when I need something comforting to watch
I always interpreted it as being queer personally, with the sea monsters representing queer people and Guilia being an ally. However I like that its also not like...explicitly stated (Though i believe the creator did confirm it later) considering Alberto is 14 and Luca is 12/13. Also find this idea cute because of the two old ladies who live together at the edge of town that are shown at the end to be sea monsters lol Theres also some really cute stuff in the credits (i dont know if you watch those on the patreon) and a short called "Ciao, Alberto" about his life with Massimo. Also fun fact: The movie "Luca" takes place in Summer 1959
The way I SCREAMED when I saw this notif. Also if you have seen Call Me By Your Name then you should reconise some sences that have simularities and the final sence is basicly a copy of the train sence in Call Me By Your Name. Also the maker of this movie confirmed that Luca and Alberto were supposed to have a romantic connection so they are cannon. Also seamonster is basicly their term for queer people
The undertones of them saying that he needed to go to “the deep” which is like going to a conversion camp. The parents basically saying we love you but we can’t love you if you’re like this. Luca needing freedom and finding it in Alberto. Her saying “i feel like i don’t know who he is” too. I could go on
There's a short for this movie called "Ciao Alberto" which focuses on Alberto's and Massimo's relationship after Luca and Giulia left for school and it's sooooo worth checking out X'3
I didn't think I'd get so emotional seeing this movie again, but I cried so hard watching this reaction JAJJAAJ thank you again for such a great video!
I've heard this film described as Pixar's take on a Ghibli film, and honestly I agree. It's so laid back with some fantastical elements but is mostly just a story about life. It really reminds me of My Neighbour Totoro in a good way, in that it's relatively low stakes and it's people just trying to live their lives. It's a bunch of strong characters trying to navigate their way through life and learn about the world around them, with some obstacles to overcome and overall just feels really good and warm and wholesome. I hope this film becomes a My Neighbour Totoro of a new generation, if it wasn't that already. It's a good comfort film.
This movie was me, my mom, and my little brothers favorite movie to watch before I moved away and the ending always has me sobbing, it was nice to cry with someone else while watching this movie again 🥹❤
This movie breaks me every time. The writing plus the amazing soundtrack makes it perfect. And being able to relate to the feeling of feeling trapped by your own parents, makes me sob. The end of him on the train and Alberto yelling "GO LUCA!" kills me
This movie is a absolute masterpiece a lifetime gem I still can’t watch this movie without crying or going through all the emotions 😂😅 my favorite part of the movie is at the end when Luca gets to leave and travel the world and gets to go to school it just made me so proud
such an underrated recent film! everyone lately seems so focused on hating on disney and pixar films from the past decade (which is partially justified but not entirely) and people just completely overlooked this one it felt like, but its so beautiful and sweet. and im more than aware that it wasnt intended to be queer but WOW it was so queer
This movie catchures childhood so perfectly. all the problems and the dreams they have. when I watched it first I just cried so bad. I just wanted to be a child again. Just for a day. Going on adventures with friends and dream about something big.
YESSS!!! the gasp that left me when i saw you post this omg!!! i’ve been waiting for you to watch this soo much!! comfort movie and comfort youtuber in one yep!!!
23:52 no bc why is that true though lmao 😭 and I recognize her voice!? anyone else think she might've played the voice of Mirabel's mum or Louisa is encanto??
I actually once wrote a Luca/Good Omens crossover where I dropped Aziraphale and Crowley into the Luca universe. I even changed the race to swimming, running and drinking tea! It's called You're My Best Friend, and under ICanSingNoRequiem.
I’m crying as well Niall!! This film came out around the time I came out as bi to my mother, so it’s really dear to me. Thank you for watching this!!! ❤❤ Love your reactions!!!
This movie reminds me of another movie called Over the Moon on Netflix it gives me the same kind of vibes!!! ✨ it’s simple, funny and comforting. Would 100% recommend
I just KNEW you would love this film. It is jus such a wonderful story and anyone that has struggled with growing up and being themselves instead of hiding who they are it just hits so good. I absolutely love this movie so much. You need to watch the short film about Alberto as well.
This movie didn't get talked about enough. I found out about it after my son watched it at a sleepover 2 years ago and watched it every night for the rest of that summer. It was so sweet and cute.
Felt the need to tell you that RU-vid knows creator's audiences. I saw the thumbnail earlier, saved to watch later, saw it again just now and here I am🌊
This is really a lovely story all around. I don't get queer from this story, but I can see where some people do. For myself, I take it as connection more than anything else... which is very powerful in its own right.
I think one of the moments that resonates with me as queer coded was two elderly women who outed themselves as sea monsters at the end when they saw the societal change and younger sea monsters be more accepted. It just reads so much like an older queer couple who went through so much hate now getting to breath a bit as times begin to change.
Okay, but now I VERY desperately need to see you reacting to the short. It's called Ciao Alberto, and it is such a heartbreaking, yet healing little story that takes place after this.
Omg yay. I was hoping you would do this! It’s my favourite Pixar Movie! It’s adorable. As always your reactions are amazing and such a joy. Highlight of my day this!
To the “Let kids be kids” people out there: Let queer kids be queer kids. Despite the directors words, the text of the movie reveals that this is an allegory for being queer. Whether their relationship is an allegory for their first queer friendship (very important) or the very early days of a romantic one, the secrets and the fears about being found out and sent away or [unalived] are intrinsic to the queer experience. Compare Luca to other simple films about kids being kids like The Sandlot or the French film My Father’s Glory, which have strong childhood friendships but do not have queer coded text or subtext. TLDR: Luca is a queer coded film due to what is in the text.
You'll make such a great parent one day (if you want kids!). Beautiful life advice. PS: Your videos always make me feel better because I go through so much and never cry, but when you get emotional at the same things that make me, then I cry with you and it's healing lol
being nd and queer- watching this movie for the first time I saw myself in both alberto and luca- like the angry kid who just needs love and the awkward and terrified kid who wants to find themselves- this movie is so good- it is so simply but it’s so emotionally complex god best comfort movie ever
