KSanders writesGrowing Pains: Reviews of “Flammable Children” & “Guie’dani’s Navel”

This month CHIRP volunteer Kyle Sanders attended the 2018 Chicago International Film Festival and reported on what he discovered there...

Childhood sucks when you're a kid. There's so much of life that you're unaware of and when you try and find the answers, oftentimes you're provided the wrong information from the wrong kind of sources. As a minor, your thoughts and feelings are irrelevant, your choices and decisions are undermined by those who think they know best. You're often shut down with the words "Because I said so." Life moves at a glacial pace, to the point where you think you'll never be able to escape the hell of being a kid.

Yet even when you're living under the thumb of authority, you never realize just how much freedom you have until you reach adulthood. At this year's Chicago International Film Festival, two films highlighted the wacky and weary world of adolescence: Australia's Flammable Children and Mexico's Guie'dani's Navel.

Flammable Children: Set on the sunburned beaches of 1970s Australia, gathers three obnoxious families: the Halls', the Jones', and the Marsh's. The neighboring clans include a gang of rambunctious kids parented by some of the most irresponsible, egotistical, alcoholic pill-popping adults ever seen on celluloid.

Two of those kids, aspiring filmmaker Jeff Marsh and nihilist Melly Jones, share a scar-tissued bond that has labeled them the "Flammable Children" (on account of the synthetic clothing they fatefully wore too close to a fireplace when they were younger--it was the '70s after all!).

After a swinging key party gone awry, the families begin a feud that spirals out of control in the midst of beached whales, fondue kits, and enough KFC chicken and boxed wine to feed the frisky cast of Deep Throat. Directing all of this kitschy madness is Stephen Elliot, director of the flamboyantly funny Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.

Guie'dani's Navel: Young Guie'dani's mother gets a job as a maid for a wealthy family, but it means moving out of her beloved Oaxacan village and into Mexico City, where differences--aside from accents--abound.

While her mother makes an effort to speak proper Spanish and use advanced gadgets foreign to Oaxaca's old-fashioned culture, Guie'dani refuses to change, causing stress for the wealthy family and grief for her stern mother. Can Guie'dani behave accordingly so that her mother will keep her job, or will she stubbornly remain true to her Oaxacan heritage? This insightful coming-of-age drama about classicism is astutely directed by Xavi Sala.

Both films are essentially about the struggles of childhood, and yet, carry that burden so differently. Flammable Children shows how similar the behaviors of both the children and their parents are, as the mothers and fathers of these Aussie hooligans are just as immature, if not more. There are scenes that suggest the kids are more responsible for themselves than their negligent parents.

As lighthearted as this comedy is, there's a dark streak in many of the scenes, including alcoholism, near-death horseplay, and borderline (strike that: DEFINITE) child abuse.

Guie'dani's Navel shows a more defined line between child and parent, as Guie'dani's mother disciplines and punishes her daughter whenever she misbehaves. Yet with all the tough love given, there are rare moments of affection, limited to a brief scene of hushed laughter around a kitchen counter. Guie'dani's mother desperately needs the job and genuinely likes working for the family, but Guie'dani' isn't blind to the family's criticisms that go on behind their backs.

Guie'dani's pre-teen dignity won't allow her to accept the comfy conditions to which her mother has acquiesced to. It's a moment of maturity that Guie'dani will have to come to terms with, to choose for herself or for the well-being of her and her mother's situation. Sometimes growing up means more than just getting older, it can also mean understanding the consequences of your actions.