For the fantasy blockbuster Schlummerland, 150 million dollars, the tribute from Panem director, Aquaman himself and a complete computer-generated dream world opened up. All this for the story of a girl whose father disappears at sea and who deals with her grief with sea monsters.
In comparison, Sea Sparkle is tiny, like film plankton. The contribution in the Berlinale section Generation tells a story amazingly similar story: The father of a girl dies in the North Sea. She thinks a monster is to blame and wants to convince the rest of the world of that. Sea Sparkle succeeds where the Netflix blockbuster fails: it stabs you straight in the heart.
The Netflix film starring Jason Momoa suffers from many problems
If, like so many Netflix films, you have banished Schlummerland from your memory at the beginning of the credits, this might help as a refresher: The comic adaptation chases a girl with a stuffed pig through soulless dream worlds in search of her father. The only thing that leaves you even colder than the endless CGI orgy is the unfortunately fidgety performance of the otherwise so chilled Jason Momoa.
The still-Aquaman actor throws himself into the character of the con man Fip with fervor and horns, dancing and chattering like a Jack Sparrow impersonator at Disneyland Paris, redefining the concept of artistic miscalculation.
Sea Sparkle
Beneath the CGI overflow, the breathless adventure story and Momoa’s antics, the film’s main character perishes, the grief of Nemo (Marlow Barkley) degenerates into a screenplay cliché that only exists to initiate a plot.
Sea Sparkle knows what really counts in the monster story
The 12-year-old Lena (Saar Rogiers), on the other hand, gets enough space in Sea Sparkle to get under our skin with her sadness and her anger. When we meet her in the Belgian film, she sails ahead of everyone in a competition. She impresses from the first second of the film.
That’s why it hurts all the more when the stubborn girl despairs of grieving for her father in the course of the film. If she initially seemed like she could achieve any goal she set her mind to on her own, after the heavy loss, stubbornness becomes a snare.
More from the Berlinale:
A shadow in the water, driftwood, a giant tooth – this is their evidence of the monster that is said to have got lost in the North Sea because of climate change. Only one wants to believe her, an intern at the local aquarium. Maybe he doesn’t make such a big and eccentric figure like Hollywood star Jason Momoa, but proves to be a good friend nonetheless. Lena pushes everyone else away: her mother, her siblings, her best friend. Their defiance leads directly to isolation.
Sea Sparkle
The Belgian siblings Domien Huyghe and Wendy Huyghe processed the loss of their own father in the screenplay for Sea Sparkle. Her personal connection to the subject is particularly noticeable when dealing with the young Lena, while other elements of the film seem somewhat artificial.
We get into the girl’s rough emotional world at eye level, especially her anger. The strength of the film – especially in comparison to Schlummerland – remains its concentration. Also uses Sea Sparkle Fantasy elements and visual effects for the depiction of the mourning work, but follows his goal as persistently as his heroine follows the tracks of the monster: The polar star of this inconspicuous but lovable film is called Lena and she certainly doesn’t need a Jason Momoa on her journey.
