movies
Very Still, Very Quiet | Sanctuary Content
⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊
04/02/2026
Image credits: Sanctuary Content/Xiyu Lin
Rating: N/A
I'm not going to give this short film a rating, partly because it's really emotional but also because I feel like this review is not a review or rating, but rather a stream of post-consciousness after watching this short film.
I had to watch this for my Sociology of Mental Health class this week. This week's class theme is What are the causes of mental illness?, and accompanying readings include Kirkbride's (2024) "The Social Determinants of Mental Health and Disorder: Evidence, Prevention and Recommendations" and Yates-Doerr's (2020) "Reworking the Social Determinants of Health: Responding to Material-Semiotic Indeterminacy in Public Health Interventions".
The film starts off slow. If you don't read the blurb and go in blind with a vague idea that the film is about the themes of mental illness or health, you would initially assume Jacob is the main character, and that he is probably struggling with some form of mental illness. Fast forward and we're met with their mom's erratic behaviour. The camera starts panning and swivelling around much faster and you're hit with the realisation that it's their mom who is suffering directly from a mental disorder.
The whole scene with the White neighbour also rubbed me the wrong way. It really highlights the social stigmas individuals still have toward mental illness, but it is somehow disguised in a sense of "false care". This can be seen for example, when the neighbour tries asking Jacob how Vivian was before making really paggro and open remarks about the incident as well. This is greatly contrasted when she gets a nosebleed, and she finds it embarassing and begs Jacob not to tell anyone about it. Like gurl, can we be for real? I think this really highlights that surface-level care some people show just so that it seems societally acceptable but deep down, they really don't give a shit and still think of these individuals as "crazy", "scary" and any other adjective that they don't deserve.
I think a big thing I noted while watching this is the clash between cultures. Firstly, on religiosity and spirituality versus biomedicine, where Jacob and Uncle Ping clash over the belief and efficiacy in spiritual healing methods (I.e. Praying to God) and Vivian's medicine she's been prescribed with. Even Vivian herself believes God and prayers and spiritual methods of healing are the probably the most effective for her, seen in how she begs Jacob and Daisy to also receive prayers from Uncle Ping. The second clash would be the tensions between filial piety (an important and strong value in Asian households) and drawing the line and doing what is genuinely best as a caretaker. Jacob seems to be suffering the brunt of this, seen in how he swears at his mother out of frustration in preventing her from continuing her self-destructive and volatile behaviours, and also tries to restrain himself from saying certain things in certain situations due to most likely what I assume to be still be out of respect and care. Children of parents with mental disorders are often overlooked, and I think there's a lot of tensions and potential "wokeness" in trying to analyse such situations. But for me personally, my take is that on one hand, the child resents their parent for exposing them to so much suffering and erratic experiences that like Kirkbridge (2024) notes, it can contribute to the onset of potential mental disorders. At the same time, the child also feels guilty for feeling this way because they know such disorders were beyond their parent's control, and that their parent probably didn't mean to commit all these acts against them to a certain extent. But I digress, this tension of filial piety and harshness in caring is exacerbated by the unintentional guilt tripping and tensions created by Vivian as a result of her schizoaffective disorder (which is only later revealed).
Even though Vivian is the one formally diagnosed with mental disorders, the main point I took away from the film was the burderns and burnout caregivers experience, particulalry those who care for mentally ill individuals like Jacob and Daisy. Kirkbridge (2024) notes a vareity of factors that serve as social determinants of mental health and can exercabate mental or psychiatric disorders. In Jacob's case for example, the lack of social connections (I.e. Social Capital) and potentially childhood and adulthood adversities in growing up with a schizoaffective mother probably takes a toll on his mental well-being. Yet, in the final scene in the hospital, the larger societal structures of medical institutions or laws compounds both Jacob, Daisy and Vivian's suffering - Jacob and Daisy are forced to continue shouldering the burden of caring for their mother while Vivian might have potential relapses that are not severe enough to get her admitted into a proper care facility. As Kirkbridge (2024) suggested, family interventions, social prescribing and trauma-informed interventions would likely be the most useful in helping their family to heal. However, structural forces like the law and medical institutions prevent this from happening. This begs the question of who really gets to make such decisions and how do they really know whether the current decisions and intervention practices are most effective when these people most likely have not experienced or deeply understood the causes of mental illness?
I think there's way more to unpack but this is just off the top of my head my Thoughts. I felt really tense during the film. Tense family fights and seeing dysfunctional families work their way through shit on the big screen somehow still get me (Like the famous Rue fights her mom scene in Euphoria Season 2 Episode 5). I like to think I've worked through everything that happened in the past but still watching or hearing these sort of scenes still somehow send me into a very mild freeze and flight mode. BUT then that's how you know the acting was really good, and the actors portrayed dealing with a mentally unstable and ill parent really well. I think this then also highlights the issues of growing up and having to also be around a mentally disordered parent. No one really listens to each other and in the end, Jacob, Daisy and Vivian are always talking over one another, shouting and chasing in their attempts to achieve peace and hence, stillness and quiet.
Zootopia 2 | Disney
⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊
03/12/2025
Image credits: Kylmäluoma, Finland by Pietro Donà
Rating: 4.5 ★
Oh wow I know I’m posting this a whole 18 days after watching but life kind of hits you like a truck and I was so mentally unwell in the week and the week after I watched this masterpiece. But better late than never I guess. I’m gonna finally do my Zootopia 2 review which I’ve been meaning to do since I first watched it.
1. Plot
As someone who was waiting for this movie since the first one came out in 2016, this movie genuinely fulfilled and ticked all the boxes. Granted I had no boxes but I just wanted it to be good. My sister and I have been waiting for Zootopia 2 since forever and believed there would be a sequel when there was NOTHING. I think my biggest fear was how they were gonna do a new plot without it becoming repetitive, too on the nose or fan servicy, or too into the police thing Judy would be doing (Like how despicable me kinda fell into that trap iykwim) but it ended being GREAT because the storyline, characters and animation ended being very refreshing, engaging and everything we could have hoped for.
First, I think as a kid I never questioned or realised the racism allegory or sociopolitical issues in Zootopia so now watching Zootopia 2 as a somewhat adult with a more developed brain and my academic background has made me clearly understand the socio-political issues the movie was trying to cover (I.e. Classism, Capitalism, Wealth and Power, Colonisation, Eradication of colonies and rewriting of history). I honestly feel Zootopia 2 did a good job in conveying that, particularly the Wealth and Power aspect of the Lynxleys and how they were paying the mayor, their stake in Zootropolis and how they controlled the infrastructure of the city. Reptiles also being introduced was really cool because again, as a kid, I never realised that Zootopia only had mammals so realising now the lack of animal varieties was very exciting. I know some people would be like “oh how did you never realise it” and I’m probably really lame for saying this but I feel like the joy (?) of realising that reptiles would be introduced and the lack of other animal varieties now made the movie wayyy more fun for me because I get to see the whole universe with fresh eyes as a grown adult. I feel like my overall sentiment to Zootopia 2 is that post where it’s like Zootopia 2 finally came out and I’ve graduated high school and I’m now in college.
Second, THE PLOT TWISTS. HOE i was gagged at the Pawbert villain reveal because prior to watching the movie I kept seeing people online say they loved Pawbert, and it’s so sad what happened to him, etc. so I genuinely thought he was a good person and something tragic happened to him like he sacrificed himself or something. Like the first half of the movie got me thinking he was like Brett from Inside Job BUT NO he turned out to be a villain and the moment he revealed himself, the artists and animators did SUCH an insane job showing the change in his demeanour from the subtle shift in his expression, his eyes, and even the way andy samberg enunciated his words was so so good.
ALSO side note I digress as usual, I DIDN'T CLOCK ANDY SAMBERG’S VOICE??? he did SUCH a good job voicing pawbert like I genuinely got chills in the way he spoke in some scenes when he went mad. His range was really good and usually I would say I’m pretty good at recognising voices of VAs (E.g. like with mr big’s daughter’s voice actor being that woman from B99) but andy samberg’s voice was unrecognisable this time and i might go back and rewatch the movie just to “see” it.
I think about that one tweet from the director that said try to rewatch the movie only from Pawbert’s perspective and I might do that some time soon because genuinely the plot twist was honestly quite shocking. Maybe I’m dumb but I genuinely never clocked it because every scene and his relationship with Gary even built up the idea he was a genuine outcast from his family and wanted to do good. Honestly even at some point, it got me thinking if gary was a villain.
I think the trailer did a really good job in also setting the stage for the real villain of the movie because obviously based off the trailer alone, you would think Gary and snakes would be the main villain but tbh he barely got a lot of screen time. Sure, reptiles and snakes do play a large role in that their whole neighbourhood and species were wiped out, and they were the original creators of the weather walls, but ultimately the Pawbert-Judy tension and dynamics, as well as the Lynxleys take the front stage, and none of it is revealed in the trailer which again, is why I think the plot twist felt exciting for me. Though, this is where I’m a little disappointed I guess? Because I feel like with how much emphasis there was on the snakes and reptiles, etc., they don’t end up getting that much emphasis like I think I would have appreciated more world building and focus on the reptiles other than Marsh Market.
Third, the pacing was really really good. I think being a family film the movie had good slow and fast moments. Like the action scenes really packed a punch and with the “slower” more character or plot driven scenes, it really created that tension or key points to move the plot forward and oh god, COUPLED WITH THE MUSIC…it really hits different. like the soundtrack this movie was so so good and I’m usually not one to notice the osts but zootopia 2’s soundtrack really added an additional layer of nuance and emotion to the scenes, whether it was slower more emotional scenes, the high stakes action scenes or just the psychologically thrilling tension scenes. I feel like the movie did a good job in flitting between the scenes that pulls you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat but then lets you breath after while taking in the emotional/psychological portions of the plot to develop if that makes sense. the biggest example I can think of was the water chute scene where it’s so scary like I genuinely thought they were gonna die and at some point I think I might have held my own breath as well but later on when Nick actually saves them and it zooms out to that gorgeous mountain range with the goats you catch a breath and then it pivots again to the building tensions in Nick and Judy’s partnership and relationship, which then builds into the scene of the honeymoon lodge collapsing and the chase scene. that mix of fast-slow-fast-slow was something I enjoyed, especially given the declining attention span I and probably the whole world is experiencing.
2. Characters
The Wildehopps and Nick Wilde fan service was crazy this movie like the gala scene and everything but I do appreciate how realistic the movie was in their relationship. I think one of my fears for this film was that if wildehopps actually became real, it would feel to fast and unrealistic, like those slowburn fanfics which say they are slowburn but actually move too quickly even though it’s multi chaptered. THANKFULLY, given the 1-2～ month time gap between Z1 and Z2 in the universe, the creators did let their relationship develop more slowly and realistically which is something very important for me in a friends to lovers arc + it sets the stage for actual wildehopps to probably happen in Z3 with the developing feelings. Like with the iconic Bridge Scene, I feel like there could’ve been a chance for a kiss or something to happen which wouldn’t have been as satisfying, and honestly them talking like mature adults with the pretty background (hence the reason for this review’s Official Picture) and the grasping hug feels 10x more romantic than whatever a kiss would have been. Also, the wildehopps agenda and “straight-baiting” as some people online have put it was CRAZY, like the constant emphasis on partner, anniversary, the couple-y things, etc., they were really setting them up but AGAIN, as much as I too am a wildehopps supporter, I am thankful they didn’t rush their getting together for this film and instead focused on their character developments and dynamics with each other as friends, colleagues and working together.
I did read online on how the art book wanted to set Pawbert up for a love triangle with Judy and Nick but they did not end up having time to do so, and this is where I shave off some stars because I HATE love triangles. Also, if this happened, this wouldn’t even be a real love triangle. You can kinda see traces of this concept in some parts of the film alongside Nick’s jealousy which is ok ig but I’m honestly glad they did not progress further than beyond that because I think if they did, the plot would get too messy and it would also make me unnecessarily angry.
Judy lowkey PMO at times in the film, like honestly Nick really deserved a gazillion apologies from her. I remember sitting in the cinema wishing for her to just say the words “I’m sorry” to him at least 3 times, especially after the water chute scene and the mountain climbing scene. While her actions and thoughts this film while understandable given her character, it really just made me soooo frustrated at times, and honestly Nick really goated for putting up with her, especially with the way she treated him. Like even at the end he still risked his life to save her with the pen and everything.
I do love Nick’s self-reflection moments and I think his dynamic and friendship with Nibbles is really underrated and unexpected, especially in the prison cell. I thought Nibbles was redundant at first or just a filler character but she turned out to be so funny and played a good role in moving the plot along. I honestly feel like at times, Nibbled felt more dynamic than Gary even though Gary was supposed to have a greater role due to his position as a snake. The ending where Nick, Judy, Nibbles and Gary come together is cute though, kind of reminds me of YJ98 core 4 and it would be cool to see the 4 of them working together in Z3 if it does happen because their friendship is really fun.
I think in this movie, Wildehopps is not even about romance or whatever at this point but on a deeper more personal level and I think that’s also why I really liked Z2 as well because I’m a character based person. Character driven plots are really essential for me to like media and while Z2 has a really good plot, Nick’s character and reflections, as well as his developments with Judy made me like the movie even more. (Take for example, the ending scene where they jump out the truck to jump Pawbert and he is just riding on the high of gaining clarity and resolving the tensions with Judy)
3. Art, Colours and All Things Art Related
Is it really a review of an animated film if I don’t talk about the animation and art?? The art and animation for Z2 was so so good, everything was so smooth and I don’t usually go to cinemas so watching everything on the big screen was so refreshing because you can really see everything. The chase scenes in particular were so fun to watch. The micro level details were also insane with how you could see the textures on their clothes, the water, the fur on all the animals, etc. And then zooming out, god the world building and design, the animal-related puns of all the everyday things we use, the interior of Judy and Nick’s houses, the variations in the furniture and designs for the different animal homes, everything was so well thought out. Like the rug in Gary’s home being shaped like a snake so snakes can perfectly lay down, or the doors in the reptile neighbourhood being circle for turtles with their huge shells to walk through is so so tiny but perfect to me. I would honestly buy an art book on just the world building of Zootopia and the city because it’s so fascinating to me with how the designers were so clever to come up with all these tiny things to match every animal and the animal-related life in Zootropolis.
I’ve also been seeing so many posts on how the animators tried to retain subtle details in how animals usually behave in real life for the characters (E.g. Nick’s snout twitching, Judy’s tail wagging, etc.) and really, it adds so many layers to the film and the level of detail is something I appreciate so so much.
The colours were also really pretty this film. I know it’s a family disney film so the colours would obviously be brighter and more vibrant, but there was something about this film that felt different. For example, the cooler pastel colours and the blue hues for the winter areas and Pawbert’s arc really helped enhanced the colder, sinister emotions of these scenes, whereas warmer tones for Marsh Market were used to really show how vibrant life is for the reptiles despite being exiled, but also reflects the actual warmth reptiles require to survive. I think standout scenes and bgs will always be the mountain area they escaped from the chute from because it’s just so pretty and reminds me of impressionist painting, as well as the Bridge Scene. Bridge Scene in particular is so good because even though they are in tundra town and the area they just fought pawbert in was so cold (E.g. The poison green, the greys, very drab) + winter is cool and usually isolating, their reunion feels warm because of the slightly warmer pastel winter colours in the sky which take up almost the whole screen so it really shifts and enhances the warmer tone of this wildehopps moment. PLUS the music isolating and the camera zooming out to just nick and judy really packs a punch in reinforcing the emotions they feel in that scene, it kinda gives a “for a moment, it feels like the world stopped and there was only two of them” moment.
4. Overall & Misc
Honestly I’m very glad this movie turned out so good and it was truly worth the almost 10 year wait. I know they hinted at Z3 at the end with the bird feathers but I honestly would not mind if it took them another 10 years to make Z3 if we can get this level of detail, nuance and emotion. Would literally have graduated college and maybe even finish my job by then but if it means another masterpiece and NOT a flop like with how disney milks every successful franchise then so be it. Also, I would love to finally see wildehopps actually happen and how they would tackle it. My sister and I predict if Z3 actually happens, possible plot lines would be interracial (species) marriage/dating or individualism VS collectivism if birds get featured cos idk what other political issues they would cover at this point.
Also another thought I have is that I think why Zootopia and Zootopia 2 was so refreshing is because it’s one of the rare disney family films that isn’t focused on a kid or child-based humour. Like sometimes i forget all the main characters are actual adults, and sure, the animation, some of the jokes and humour and storyline is simple enough for children to understand but the emotional maturity and again, deeper socio-political issues hidden within the film also make it enjoyable for older people like me to watch even though I’m old now. Compared to movies like idk, KPDH or Lilo and Stitch, it’s still very centred and focused on a child or child-based environments. I guess that’s why Z2 is also so successful because all the people who watched Z1 as kids like me would be able to watch and still enjoy Z2 due to its extra maturity that isn’t tooo overbearing or obvious.
Idk if this is everything I wanted to say? But like overall I really did enjoy Z2 and I don’t usually watch stuff in the cinema OR movies but truly it was such a joy watching it. Also, it was one of the best days I had in December and it was so fun so that made my experience 10 times better as well.