dikanamai:

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…

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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.

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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…

image

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.

image

He looks
shocked when Miguel’s talking about Ernesto.

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

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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.