A young woman deals with her vibrant mother’s Alzheimer diagnosis in this deeply moving animation adapted from a graphic memoir, with a voice cast including Abbi Jacobson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Seth Rogen, and Bowen Yang.

 

Sarah Leavitt’s graphic memoir Tangles: A Story about Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me comes to life in hand-drawn 2D animation, in director Leah Nelson’s deeply moving feature debut. Set in San Francisco in the ’90s, Tangles follows the story of Sarah, a young woman whose life is just beginning to tip into the stuff her dreams are made of — new opportunities to illustrate, a new romance with a bad-ass motorcycle-riding girlfriend named Donimo — when the pull of responsibility calls for her. Sarah’s lively mother Midge is battling Alzheimer’s disease, and the rest of the family is struggling to come to terms with the diagnosis.  

 

Tangles deals with memories, family, and, most importantly, love, rendered in black and white animation, with bursts of colour. A film about memories, this one will stay with you.

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​— Written by KELLY BOUTSALIS for TIFF

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Content advisory: mature language, sexual content