Slow. Very slow. But it did finally happen. One solitary tear, unable to hold back anymore, rolled down my cheek. And then the dam broke. Watching the final scene on the screen – a moving painting that captured a young girl’s reunion with her best friends of childhood – filled me to the brim with nostalgia and within its heart, the still sprightly bubbles of lost friends.
IF centers around Bea, who loses her mother as a child and is on the verge of losing her father as well. Now a teen, she understands her father’s health condition better and refuses to act childish. But when she accidentally overhears hushed conversations in the flat on the floor above her home, she decides to do a little peeking in. Voila! She discovers a whole bunch of friends – never mind that they come in all shapes and sizes! – who have been abandoned by their besties as the latter have now all grown up. Poor things! Bea, along with Cal (the absolute madman overseeing the motley crew), then, takes it upon herself to reunite them with their lost friends. But is there a way back in time?
IF is a song – a song that elevates, a song that calms, a song from the growing-up years, a song from the chuckles left behind. IF is a bond – of forgotten friendships, of memories made, of the child within, of the world reined in.
Humor aplenty, dialogues intimate, flow adequate, characters adorable, emotions right – IF gets everything perfect, even if it doesn’t aim for it. The acting and voiceovers from almost everyone in this movie add to its featherlike quality which sits on the heart like the clouds, ready to embrace in its gregarious arms. In those arms, I found many remnants of my childhood. John Krasinski – A Big Hug! And Steve Carell – will you ever stop tickling my funny bone? [P.S. Yes, it is ‘The Office‘ union I didn’t know I needed.]
Losses in the lap of a sunny tomorrow lose their blacks a little. Perhaps that’s why, once we grow up, we scoop our pasts and let our wounds free. Perhaps that’s why, once we grow up, we value our friends of yesteryears more. Invisible they remain – them, the friends – but only to the world; for us, they breathe inside like they never left us, if only we chose to put them to sweet sleep for a while.
SEEMITA DAS 