Abominable
Directed by
Yi lives in Shanghai, is a lonely girl, works a thousand odd jobs and dreams of making the trip to China she was supposed to make with her father, who died prematurely. Mourning leads her to distance herself from the rest of the family and create for herself a small refuge on the roof, where she plays the violin and preserves memories of her father figure. And it is here that one evening she comes across a huge yeti cub, injured, frightened and chased by an unscrupulous rich businessman, who would like to raise it in captivity. Yi calls it Everest and, determined to rescue it and bring it home, she and her friend Jin and cousin Peng embark on an incredible journey to the splendid Himalayan mountains. A non-stop race towards the finish line, through marvellous landscapes made even more exciting by Yi's music and Everest's magical abilities.
«When I started working for DreamWorks, there were a lot of ideas in the pipeline. But there was one that was a blank canvas. They wanted a film about a yeti. I did some research on yetis and discovered that there is not much documentation. We know they lived on Mount Everest, we saw footprints, but not much else: it was a character I could create from scratch, as well as the plot. I was allowed to give him the ability to improve nature, or to control it, like a kind of superpower. It was stimulating. I also had a great desire to put a very determined and independent girl at the centre of the film. And Yi is very determined, but also imperfect. Sometimes she acts on impulse and this causes her problems. I did not want a female lead character who was the classic princess, but a strong, headstrong girl, bold enough to make this impossible journey from China to the Himalayas and hopefully able to be a role model for the audience. I also wanted viewers from different parts of the world to see a real representation of today's China and the people who live there. There is a huge part of China that the world has never seen and that I wanted to celebrate in this film. We would never have been able to achieve such a level of authenticity without our partners at Pearl Studio, who helped us design the modern city (inspired by Shanghai) in every detail, from signage, food stalls and scooters to the visceral emotions the city is capable of delivering. There is an eccentric and imaginative side to Chinese folklore that fits very well in cinema. The important thing is always to choose stories that have universal themes, related to the human condition and with characters that can be related to any culture. For me, a story should not divide cultures, but show us how similar we are. That is the magic of storytelling».
(Jill Culton)
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