Therapist Reacts to COCO

Coco shows how forgiveness and acceptance can bring healing, not just to one person, but to generations.

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright talk about intergenerational trauma, grief and loss, and what it takes to heal relationships as seen in Pixar's Coco. They also talk about feeling like you don't fit in, family and tradition, the incredible animation, and yes, they both shed some tears. Of course. It's Pixar. Don't try to tell us you don't cry too when Miguel and Mama Coco sing "Remember Me" at the end of the movie.

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Cinema Therapy is:
Written by: Megan Seawright, Jonathan Decker and Alan Seawright
Produced by: Jonathan Decker, Megan Seawright & Alan Seawright
Edited by: David Sant
Director of Photography: Bradley Olsen
English Transcription by: Anna Preis

[maddiesmith]

This is a tiny detail that may not have even been intentional, but the moment Miguel realises he needs to sing to Coco to help her remember, it's his shoes hitting his guitar that gives him the idea, the two parts of his family. It's storytelling at it's best.

[nonsonoqui]

A very underrated moment for me is when Coco looks up after singing and says, “Elena, what’s wrong?” It’s the first time in the movie, and probably the first time in years, that she says her daughter’s name or even recognizes her.

[Volgrand]

I'm a nurse. Something I find amazing of mama Coco's scene is that they nailed the moment she "reconnects" with reality. I've seen many elderly patients that would not react to mostly anything, but suddenly something changed. Maybe a son from far away popped in, maybe their partner, maybe music... but they do react exactly like that. That suble change in they way the move, they look, they breathe, until they look at you and you *know* they are seeing you.

Damn you, Pixar. Damn you. You wonderful genius.

[arcanexarcade]

something about “she’s not just a wrinkled old woman whose memory is going, she’s also a little girl whose dad disappeared” really just hit me like a train

[midnightnavigator]

The part that broke me was Coco's face when Miguel told her that her papa loved her. You could tell that her whole life she was told he didn't because he abandoned her, and that was the first time it was actually said to her.

[trinaq]

I love how the film is titled after Coco, since she's not only beloved by both Miguel and Hector, but she acts as a bridge between the living (Miguel) and the dead (Hector.)

[jazminetillman]

The scene where Coco reveals that she kept the picture of Hector for years was so beautiful and heartbreaking when you think about it. The picture was probably torn by her mother (who was hurting), but she still kept it and cherished it. And even when she saw the rest of her family badmouth Hector and ban music, she knew deep down that he still loved her.

[ladymisuto]

My favorite aspect of this movie is actually Ernesto’s perversion of “Remember Me”. Héctor wrote that song for Coco and it was always meant to be soft and slow, to connect him and his daughter no matter how far away he was or how long he was gone. It included an edge of sadness because it was about the distance between them, but also that knowledge that they were always together even when apart. And when Ernesto stole the song, he not only sped up the pace of it, but he made it this happy-go-lucky song about himself because the only thing he wanted from his life was to be famous and remembered by everyone for generations. He had no emotional connection to the song (nor likely to any of the songs he stole) and that shallowness was what that song meant to him.

[corinnehughessilva]

My favorite part of this movie is when Imelda says to Hector "I can't forgive you, but I will help you." It wasn't Hector's fault that he never made it back to his family, but his leaving in the first place still caused a lot of pain for Imelda, and she doesn't have to forgive him right away. Forgiveness and healing take time, and I appreciate that they recognized that.

[trinaq]

I love how this movie touches upon mature topics like death, loss, grief and regrets, similar to Soul, and doesn't dumb it down for kids. It understands that they're smart enough to relate to these heavy themes, since they'll be facing them at some point during their lives.

[daniellebourgeon]

Fun fact: the animators perfectly animated the guitar playing. Every time someone plays the guitar on screen they are playing the actual notes of the music you are hearing. Also, the song Imelda sings at the concert, La Llorona (The Weeping Woman), is a Mexican folk song of a ghost of a woman who roams water fronts after drowning her two children and then drowns herself because she was unable to save them after she realizes what she was doing--very metaphorically appropriate for her character

[strawberryckes]

The part that always makes me cry (and my mom too) is the part where Hector sings Remember Me and it cuts to him singing it to Coco. My heart every time breaks..He never got to say goodbye to his daughter. And that haunted him for years after he died.

[wutevaeva]

I wish you would have talked about the music therapy involved in the “Remember Me” reprise. The reason Mama Coco remembers is because music memory is one of the last portions of the brain untouched by dementia. Playing songs that were popular when the person with dementia was young (adolescence to early adulthood) reignites the brain momentarily, which can lead to a period of lucidity. It’s beautiful to witness. “Alive Inside” is a documentary that depicts this phenomenon very well.

[hannahwhw]

I just noticed how Miguel's dad is the only one who tries to protect his guitar and shows empathy when he runs away, because he wasn't born into the family. He knows and understands the music ban but he still wanted his son to be happy

[lulolie]

The scene with coco remembering is impossible not to cry at. The pain and joy in her eyes as her mother finally remembers her after *years* of not knowing who she is. That first scene with the "Who are you?" is played for laughs, but if you really think about it, it's heartbreaking. Her own mother doesn't know who she is. Coco isn't the only one who lost a parent because of De la Cruz's actions. Elena lost a parent too, up till that scene. Absolutely heartwrenching and beautiful to see her get her back.

[MaoiJo]

I didn’t see any comments bring this up, but music therapy studies how the music we’re around becomes deeply intertwined with emotions and memories. Many patients with memory loss have inexplicably perfect memory when it comes to songs, lyrics, and even how to play them. My mother is a music therapist and has seen this first hand and told me about it, so we both teared up hardcore when we saw Coco in theaters.

[jjohansen]

It's not really the point, but as you're talking about how Coco was a girl who grew up and lived a life and missed her Papa after he disappeared... realizing that, as she's starting to succumb to dimentia, that thought of her Papa coming home is one of the things that she still keeps hold of... it's really heartbreaking that she missed out on that for several decades, and it really makes de la Cruz all the more despicable in my eyes. Because he didn't "just" murder someone, he disrupted those relationships, and left a daughter and a father missing each other for most of a century. On the flip side, that tells you how important everyone is, that it's not "just" them, it's all the people they're connected to.

[LizLuvsCupcakes]

I love how this movie doesn’t pick a side of "your elders always know best" or "follow your dreams". It goes for a more simple, "your parents are going to be stupid and petty sometimes."

[Spaceisprettybig]

9:13 "The fact that we're four generations deep on 'all music is bad because of this one guy' is... that's a movie" -Alan
18:29 "My mom doesn't want me to be a director because my great grandparents survived the depression" -Also Alan

[FenderDC]

I am a music therapist who works with seniors with Alzheimer’s/Dementia and Pixar truly captured the transition from being stuck in the disease to when she becomes oriented to reality again from the music. The subtle changes in facial expression as she recognizes the song and her sweet, gentle smile bring tears to my eyes every time. I am so blessed to do the work I do and have the opportunity to bring music to people like Mama Coco. Thank you for your take on this beautiful movie!