Marona – L’extraordinaire voyage de Marona (2019)

Directed by: Anca Damian | 92 minutes | animation, drama, family

A dog’s life is not a bed of roses. That is, if as the ninth of a litter of puppies you are just the dog that is the child of the bill. That fate befell the cute dog Marona in the fantastic animated film of the same name by Anca Damian from 2019. The Romanian filmmaker had already experimented with animation in her documentary ‘La montagne magique’ (2015), but this is her first real animation film. She engaged the Belgian illustrator Brecht Evens and art directors Gina Thorstensen from Denmark and Sarah Mazzetti from Italy to bring her modern fairy tale to life using various animation techniques. ‘Marona’ actually starts at the end: the endearing dog with the cute heart-shaped nose comes to a tragic end and looks back on her past life and the owners she loved unconditionally. “Marona’s fate is as simple as it is essential, individual and universal,” said the director. “Live in the present, enjoy small things, empower yourself with others – these are the ‘lessons for happiness’ a dog can teach people. Or as the song at the end of the film describes it: ‘Happiness is something small, almost nothing, a bowl of milk, a big wet tongue, a nap, a place to bury a bone, a hand, a smile’. ”

Marona looks back with satisfaction on her rather turbulent life. Her father was a proud but short-sighted Argentinian Mastiff of good descent, who doesn’t like ‘trash cans’, except for that one beautiful dog who would give him nine puppies. Marona is the ninth and is initially also simply called ‘nine’. Not long after her birth, she is separated from the other puppies and after her father rejects her, she ends up on the street, where acrobat Manolo takes care of her. He takes her in, gives her a name and she gives him all her love and attention, performs with him and shares little moments of happiness with him. But then Manolo is offered a lucrative contract in a place where dogs are not welcome, so Marona (Manolo calls Ana by the way) decides to run away. She is found by construction worker Istvan, who christens her Sara and takes care of her. First on the construction site, later at his ailing mother’s house, and finally in his own house. The dog is only a burden to his wife, so Marona flees again. In the park she meets Solange, a little girl who gives her the name she will keep for the rest of her life. This time too she finds the necessary bumps in her path, but she continues to love her ‘human being’, as she calls it herself, unconditionally. Because that’s just how a dog works.

‘Marona’ is a special film. Stylistically, this animation film is astonishing because of the lively dynamics of different animation techniques that flow smoothly into each other. Watercolor and rough sketching go hand in hand with cut-outs and 3D animation. Despite this colorful collection of styles, it still forms an eclectic whole, which is entirely due to Damian, who never loses sight of the common thread. The message of the film is twofold: on the one hand, the maker wants to show her audience that we can learn from dogs and other animals, whose lives are much simpler and for whom it is all about the basics: a snack, a snack, a roof. over your head and someone to love. On the other hand, there is tragedy in the dog that, despite her unconditional love, is always put aside without scruples when his owner has other priorities. That is quite confronting. The animal is there itself, we hear in the Flemish voice-over, especially surprised about it. Despite that melancholic undertone, ‘Marona’ is by no means heavy. This is largely due to the colorful and dynamic animation style, but also to the simple yet charming dog that gives us a glimpse into her life. She steals our hearts. And so is Damian, who we hope will treat us to more of these special, colorful fairy tales in the future!