On the verge of an existential crisis, Flóra Anna Buda’s 27 combines raunchiness and delightfulness in finding pleasure in oneself amid the mess of the world.
Between the Millennials and Gen Zs demographics, adulthood does not begin at 18 anymore. With the ongoing struggles of growing up in the 2020s, issues such as financial collapse, independence, sexual frustrations, depression, and much more are prevalent in society. With non-stop difficulties coming at us every day, it gets tougher to see the joy in life. Flóra Anna Buda’s Short Palme d’Or Winning film 27, shows us the ups and downs of Alice on the eve of her 27th birthday, traversing through dreamy fantasies and female liberation told through vibrant animation that always keeps the energy at a hallucinatory high.
With animation drawings, detailed with watercolor paint brush textures, the film’s predominant color features a spectrum of orange, red, and pink, illuminating a pitch-black background. These vibrant colors are highlighted by Alice, who begins the film with a sudden explicit three-way dream fantasy. In this surreal sequence, the first indication of adulthood is her disdain when the cops ask her “where are your parents?!,” in which she takes it into her own hands and initiates a threesome, and alas, she wakes up. Setting the tone of her frustration with sex and age, the pieces come together as she is living with her family. In another comical sexual joke, her little brother catches her masturbating, announcing it loudly for her mother to hear, leaving (and relating) to this certain age group where sexual frustration and privacy mingle.
In its climatic and best sequence, Alice goes dancing with one of her guy friends after drinks, where the animation and colors transpire, creating a hypnotic celebration of color and movement. With an upbeat soundtrack, in this moment, life is suspended from all of life’s misery, only allowing oneself to be free. The animation during this scene is both free flowing in rhythm and drawing, with a backdrop of diffracted color spectrum. This centerpiece scene slowly sets into reality, to the birthday cake surrounded by her family, candles lit around the number 27 set on top of the cake. Its stark commentary on growing as millennial/Gen Z in the present day is also as comparable to its character’s existential crisis, in which she must dance the night away because the problems are here to stay.
