'Olivia & The Clouds' Is An Animated Film Like No Other

This dizzying Dominican feature premiered at Locarno today.

Clouds are shape-shifters, always moving, a gentle parade of forms that look like one thing to you and another to me. There is much in them to interest animators.

Olivia likes clouds. She is also like a cloud: just when we think we know her, she transforms. She is a girl in a field, contemplating the sky, and an old woman in an apartment, lamenting a lost companion. When she dances, her colours brighten; when she kisses, she is only lines; when she makes love, she softens to clay. A man, obsessed with the sight of her, believes she has been reincarnated as a plant growing in his home. He may be right.

I’m describing Olivia & the Clouds, the first feature by Dominican filmmaker and artist Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat, which premiered at Locarno today. The film is like no other. It understands the protean nature of animation and exploits it beautifully. I’ve been enchanted since I saw it. I hope that, by writing about it, I don’t break the spell.