My penguin friend. 2024
Director: David Schürmann.
With Jean Reno, Adriana Barraza, Nicolás Francella, Alexia Moyano, Rocío Hernández, Ravel Cabral, Juan Queiroz, Pedro Urizzi, Pedro Caetano, Amanda Magalhães, Juan José Garnica, Wilson Rabelo, Thalma de Freitas, Roberto Borenstein, Duda Galvão, José Trassi , Rafael Pimenta and Maurício Xavier.
SUMMARY:
Inspired by a true story; an enchanting adventure about a lost penguin who is rescued from an oil spill and changes the life of an unlucky fisherman. They soon become unlikely friends, so closely bonded that not even the vast ocean can separate them.
Maudlin sentimentality is a tone that one would expect from a family trait such as My penguin friend. That doesn’t necessarily excuse it, but it’s something to prepare for. What’s more frustrating is that some of the characters’ illogical, poor decisions are dismissed as tragic mistakes meant to elicit sympathy, when in reality all you can feel is, “Well, what did he think was going to happen.” Knowing that this is supposedly inspired by a true story doesn’t help.
Luckily, director David Schurmann (from a screenplay by Kristen Lazarian and Paulina Lagudi Ulrich) has international star Jean Reno in the lead role as Joao, an eternally grieving fisherman living an unfulfilling life alongside his wife (played by Adriana Barraza). He encounters a distraught Magellanic penguin, whom he nurses and grooms back to health (with striking gentleness that visibly shows his emotional walls are slowly starting to fall), and soon the two become friends. When he’s carpentry, the penguin is right by his side, pecking at a wooden leg with his beak as if to help. The penguin, later named DinDim for reasons I won’t give away, eventually leaves the place too, but returns frequently over the years, shuttling between Brazil and Argentina as if to show infinite gratitude for saving him.
The problem here is the maudlin, over-the-top, and downright silly reason why Joao is grieving in the first place. It stems from an incident decades ago in which he lost his son in a boating accident just before his birthday. Even though Joao knows the weather isn’t right for it, he decides to take the boy to the ocean anyway. This isn’t the only confusing decision the characters make here; that decision is left to some marine biologists who take DinDim out of research captivity (it’s a long story and formulaic for the genre), absolutely certain that he’ll be fine and adjust. Let’s just say five minutes later, the film kicks into emotionally manipulative overdrive again.
This son is also given a prologue, which also introduces a love interest (who still lives nearby when the story jumps forward) and gives him a birthday present before this tragedy. However, no one would ever fault the narrative for making these people feel like real characters, but more like vessels for endless melodrama. Of course, this quickly becomes irritating and disappointing, especially since Jean Reno has some chemistry with his cute penguin co-star (he uses real penguins, which adds a layer of sincerity to the friendship) and does a great job of conveying the character’s grief and weathered, depressed state of mind, not to mention growing affection for the creature.
Despite this, DinDim goes massively viral on the internet (another overused and unbearable cliche, mainly because filmmakers never understand how social media and YouTube work) and brings with it another subplot involving a freelance journalist. Once Joao and DinDim get close and the latter heals the former, there’s a constant sense that the film, which is only 97 minutes long anyway, feels like it’s constantly fighting to take the story somewhere else where it’s exciting. Who and what the Penguin represents is clear as day.
To be fair, the documentary-like shots of penguins jumping out of the sea and crossing it in unison or simply watching DinDim in his everyday life far away from Joao provide some moments of amusement. There is a lot to suggest that My penguin friend would work better from DinDim’s point of view, although the title would of course have to be changed (perhaps back to the original, better, The Penguin and the Fisherman.). Anything to escape the cloying melodrama would have been preferable.
Assessment of the flickering myth – Film: ★ ★ / Cinema: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the reviews editor at Flickering Myth. Find new reviews here, follow my Þjórsárdalur or Letterboxd, or email me at [email protected]
