One of my
favorite things about Coco is it’s that kind of story you can “read”
in different levels. I mean, the main plot didn’t surprise me when I watched
the movie for the first time, but I didn’t care the slightest, because I
enjoyed A LOT the way everything was
being set: how the key information was never said aloud, how the characters’
path crossed several times without actually meeting, all the misunderstandings
here and there… In a way, it was like if there was another story happening behind
the scenes.

For
example, one of those moments I love the most is Poco Loco scene. When the
Rivera family gets to Plaza de la Cruz looking for Miguel, he and Héctor are
performing on the stage and nobody seems to notice. Julio, Rosita and Victoria
know nothing about Héctor, I suppose the twins got used to ignore his music too,
but Imelda? Imelda would’ve noticed for sure. It was her song, after all. But
she’s the only one that didn’t enter the plaza.

And if you
look closely…

She did
actually take a few steps towards the plaza, but then Héctor starts singing his
verses of Poco Loco and she immediately faces the stage (actually, the twins
are also looking at the stage quite shockingly, tbh; at least, one of them).
The next thing we know is she has vanished. I like to think she saw him performing
and then flew, but the movie couldn’t show us her actual reaction, because (by
then) we didn’t know who Héctor actually was yet.

Another
example I like a lot: there are many people that think the twins don’t
recognize/know anything about Héctor in the Land of the Dead, but look at the
bridge scene.

One of the
twins is smiling when Héctor shows up disguised as Frida. Why the hell is he
smiling like that, when just a moment before they were all stressed about
Imelda’s and Miguel’s situation? And it’s a smug smile, like if he (Felipe or
Óscar) was suppressing a chuckle (“So it’s Frida this year, eh? Come on,
Héctor”). But look how cleverly the frame of the scene is set, so his eyes
are out of sight and we don’t know where that twin is looking at exactly. As far
as we know, he could’ve been lost in his thoughts or he could’ve spotted his
brother in law.

And in the
next moment, when Héctor manages to cross and runs to the bridge…

They’re
whispering! He’s telling something to his brother and this is smiling too!

“There
he goes again”
“Pobre
diablo”
“I’m
glad Imelda’s not here to witness this”
“It
would be the icing on the cake…”

We will
never know what are the twins doing or talking about, it’s something out of our
reach; but that’s the magic of this kind of details. You can imagine whatever
you want, and Coco is full of moments like these.

Recently,
I’ve also noticed the faces of Rosa and Abel while the family is scolding
Miguel after finding out his hideout. She looks concerned.

He looks
shocked when Miguel’s talking about Ernesto.

And when
Elena is about to smash the guitar, Abel’s not surprised, he’s in pain.

Now I wonder for how long these two kids have
also been loving music in secret, and if they weren’t caught just because
they were better at hiding it than Miguel.

pengychan:

“What?! But I’m your family!”
“And Héctor was my best friend.”

One thing that really gets me is how Ernesto didn’t just say “yeah, and Héctor was my friend”. He straight-up says that he was his best friend, to make the point that see, this is how much I’m willing to sacrifice. He thought it was something admirable instead of, you know, fucking horrifying.

Ernesto de la Cruz is absolutely convinced he’s the hero of his story. He’ll kill his best friend, forever tell himself it was a personal sacrifice he had to make, and believe it.

Hector’s Physical Deprivation and How It Was Handled Well by Pixar

galemalio:

Saying he missed Imelda is a grave understatement.

There were moments it’s obvious he would take any excuse for physical contact.

(gif above is from @pixarcoco in their post)

@heyheyitsjuju said it best in her post in describing this scene:

Héctor extending his arm to her a little more every passing second like “eh? Eh?? I’m here I can help”

Héctors hopless and yet utterly hopeful smile that maybe, just MAYBE she’ll humor him and he can touch her for all of 2 seconds while he helps her down.

Next, is another comedic moment between the two:

Keep reading

Analyzing Imelda’s Surprise Hug

galemalio:

At first I thought adrenaline. Girl just sang and danced with security and a murderer (who she pwned 3x, you go girl) in front of thousands of people. Who wouldn’t get high?

But it wouldn’t explain how it transpired from this:

To this:

Keep reading

fedecolombo:

I just love this move of Ernesto’s so much, ok. He doesn’t just let go of Miguel’s hoodie, he shoves it away from himself. He’s going through a moment of pure rage where he also feels threatened and this movement reflects his state of mind just beautifully. I can’t help but marvel at this sort of thing because there were so many possibilities to go with about this simple gesture but like this, it feels just right. The way movements, gestures and expressions have been animated for this film is simply fantastic to me and I love it with all my heart.

hectorbelongswithimelda:

Okay so I spotted these drawings in Coco’s room during the lullaby scene and here’s what I tried make out from those.

From the left to the right, the first drawing looks like it’s a little girl, most likely Coco, and I can’t quite make out the background of that one.

The second right drawing looks like there’s three ladybugs. Two of the upper ladysbugs are bigger than the third small ladybug in the corner of the page.

( I wonder if Coco was drew her parents and her as an family of ladybugs how cute would that be??!! )

demonoflight:

Let’s talk about the unidentified people on the Rivera family’s ofrenda for a bit. I want to have a go at figuring who’s who.

First of all, there’s these two – an old man who looks remarkably like

Papá

Franco, and a woman who has visibly darker skin than the average of the Rivera family. I’m 99% sure these were Papá Franco’s parents, it’s so easy to see their features in him.

This man seems tall and has a stocky build, rather similar to Abel – they even have the same jaw. That makes me think he was Tía Carmen’s father.

This photo confuses me? It looks very old, but a lot more candid than Imelda and Héctor’s family photo. And I can’t really point out a family member who resembles this lady. Maybe it’s an old family friend who was almost like family to the Riveras and they put her on the ofrenda? Maybe it IS a family member I simply cannot place?

Before the end of the movie, this is the only photo on the ofrenda that is in color. It’s not as crisp and clear as Mamá Coco’s photo, but it doesn’t look too old. I want to say they’re Luisa’s family, if only because there’s no one on the ofrenda that obviously resembles her. I thought at first that they’re Luisa’s grandparents, but the woman looks elderly and the man looks middle-aged at best. Maybe it’s Luisa’s father? Then where would her grandfather be?

Shoes symbolize family in Coco.

poisonapplepieshop:

Miguel’s family, the Riveras, make shoes. In the Land of the Dead, nearly everyone wears shoes.

Even the “poor” dead, who have very little, typically wear them (the man on the left wears prominent boots).

In fact, we only see two characters who have none: Chicarron, who has no one left alive to remember him, and gets forgotten…

…and Hector, who has been kicked out of the family.

Hector never wears shoes. In fact, even in his Frida costume, he is still barefoot.

(The real Frida, on the other hand, wears boots.)

The only time we see him wearing shoes?

When he is accepted back into the family and given a place on the ofrenda.

The ofrenda is topped with a miniature version of his guitar, together with a copy of Mama Imelda’s boots.

In the scene where Héctor confronts Ernesto and is talking about him saying that he would move “heaven and earth” for him, Ernesto stares regretfully at his photo to the side. Do you think he might have actually felt really bad, even after all these years? He didn’t act evil until he turned on Miguel.

im-fairly-whitty:

I think Ernesto definitely had all kinds of complicated and hidden feelings suddenly rise to the surface in that moment. After all, he and Héctor had spent their entire childhoods together, they had a lot of good memories. If Ernesto’s spent nearly a century trying to forget what he’d done, who knows what kind of nostalgia suddenly blindsided him at seeing Héctor’s picture, the living face he’d gone so many years without seeing.

Of course it couldn’t last too long, Ernesto’s spent too many years lying to himself and others for his facade to crumble that easily, but who knows, maybe for that brief moment, that picture reminded him of the good he’d had, not just of the evil he’d done.

imaredshirt:

Because I have lost a lot of inspiration for writing right now, I’d like to procrastinate by sharing a few minor lil’ things I noticed in Coco that I hadn’t noticed before, after rewatching it (don’t ask how many times I’ve seen it, just believe that it is a… normal amount of times)

If anyone has made a post about these, please point me in that direction, I love seeing little details from this movie!!

Young Coco’s pillow is the same pillow on Older Coco’s bed

I’m not entirely certain, but I think that’s a painting of the Virgen de Guadalupe above Young Coco’s bed, and the same painting is above Older Coco’s bed as well. If I’m wrong, please correct me!!

It’s also safe to say that the room from the memory is the same room that Older Coco uses.

ALSO A REPLICA OF THE GUITAR HAS BEEN PLACED NEXT TO IMELDA’S BOOT ON THE OFRENDA AT THE TOP ALKD;FJASDFH I’m probably the only person in the universe that never noticed this until now but now that I have noticed it it makes me very happy

….and that’s it. Back to writing I suppooooose