Linda will Hühnchen!

Chicken for Linda is a story of guilt and seeking forgiveness... by cooking a special dish even when you don't know how to cook.

Visually, the art's gorgeous. It's very simplistic, with human characters usually monochrome, but done in vibrant colours rather than grays, and the style evokes a living painting, down to seeming stroke lines. It makes for an interesting cinematic experience.

The characters are all endearing and you can tell this movie was done with a lot of heart. The aforementioned conflict mentoned above is done seriously despiste the seemingly silly solution, and there is trouble brewing the background, to not spoil things to much.

Overall a solid recommendation.

Adamant animal advocates (especially for a certain eponymous poultry), vegans, and vegetarians need not apply. Everyone else, prepare to be stunned by what a simple story and simple animation can create!

This is my second feature film from these directors (after the most excellent The Girl Without Hands), and I am officially Team Laudenbach & Malta! Their unique animation style sounds like it would be limited or subpar, but it looks so seamless, smooth, and therefore spectacular! Especially love their use of colors; each character has their own color, families share the same general color, extended family like to be close in color. Their masterful use of angles and lines, lighting and shading is simply ingenuous. Take, for example, when the lights go out. In a blink, the colors appear to be inverted, the black now filling the space where color used to fill the frame. This is what it is like in real life, of course, but to see if in this carefully hand drawn animation bright to life is simply amazing. Something one needs to see to understand, because my description and any textbook definition of their animation sounds like it would be pretty limited or second best to animation from technologically advanced tools and bigger studios with richer budgets. But that would be selling their talents short.

A real pleasure to watch. The story is at turns heartfelt and poignant, but somehow manages to be humorous throughout the short runtime. Ostensibly a story about a mother and daughter doing their best to heal and love each other after the loss of their husband and father respectively, it becomes so much more with the additional characters, creative side stories, engaging plot twists, and playful musical numbers- even accompanied by one quite magical candy dream sequence! This is a perfect example of a film that tries to do so much at one time; under any other less capable guidance, would easily turn into a chaotic mess- but with three impressive animators and storytellers, it inexplicably works and comes together beautifully.

The only explanation I have for this masterpiece not having more acclaim is that, understandably, animal lovers, vegans, and vegetarians are not the target audience and would likely be appalled by the unabashed determination to kill the chicken, even if it is for a good cause for a young girl trying to remember her late father.

The big studios better watch out. Because Laudenbach & Malta have undeniably shown audiences that big money isn't necessary to make a superior work of art.

This simple animated fairy tale is the perfect combination of comedy, emotive moving story and brilliant artistic quality. I was really pleasantly surprised by Chicken for Linda and how it managed to balance out witty non-awkward humour with more serious motives such as loss of your loved ones or a troubling mother-daughter relationship. I was fully invested in the story and on one hand I laughed at its clever jokes and on the other hand I even shed a tear in the end for its touching message. What also has to be mentioned is the simple yet beautiful animation that creates just the right setting and atmosphere.

As usual #Locarno76 you have no idea what you are going to see, but you DO know it is going to be good. We were not disappointed. Writing this the morning after there is a LOT to this film. Love, loss, struggling with daily life, keeping your promises and lots more. All stemming from that one dish of chicken with peppers...

Amazing what can be portrayed in terms of emotions and feelings from what look like 'simple' graphics. Possibly simple because it is seen from the eyes of the daughter, Linda.

Some very tense moments interspersed with comic relief. I absolutely loved the cat and his antics. The relationship between the two sisters was also a very noteworthy one as well as the friendship between the children.

A lovely animation that can be enjoyed on very many different levels. Last night the children were laughing and so were the adults, but at different things. A must see.