Live a Little
2019 · 4m · United Kingdom
Directed by Jenny Jokela
Genres: animation, coming-of-age, experimental
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
A visual poem following a young woman through a chaotic, joyful night out with friends amid the pressure to fit patriarchal expectations of how she should behave.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
This is a visual poem about fitting in—which sounds like consensus comfort until you realize Jokela's actually weaponizing whimsy against patriarchal pressure, letting the animation itself become the rebellion instead of just illustrating it.
Jokela locates herself in a lineage of feminist animation and visual poetry, but the film's formal restraint—tender rather than didactic—positions it as a considered argument about representation, not a manifesto.
The crucial move here is the decision to let the animation *feel* chaotic and joyful simultaneously without resolving that tension; most films would smooth it, but Jokela trusts the visual noise to carry the emotional truth of a night that shouldn't need to make sense.
Reviews
The film could in certain aspects be seen as a love letter to our friendship.