The kids film that needs a support group for adults

EM RUSCIANO was a blubbering mess in the cinema this week, while her 13-year-old was cold as ice. This is a kids film that needs a support group for adults.

ON MONDAY night while sitting in a crowded movie theatre, I had an emotionally charged, existential break down.

It started with just a few delicate drops sliding down my cheek, developed into a controllable stream of tears being brushed aside with the back of my hand and ended in a full blown, snot ridden, sobbing situation.

The movie? Pixar’s latest offering, just in time for the school holidays, Inside Out, or as some people are calling it: the movie about feelings who have feelings.

The part of the movie that sent me over the edge wasn’t even particularly sad. One of the characters (Bing Bong) sacrificed his happiness for the greater good and lent his rainbow and song fuelled wooden flying box to another character (Joy) so that she may complete her journey of discovery. It was an inspirational, selfless act that for reasons unknown, burnt my soul.

A scene from the film that made Em Rusciano lose it. (Disney-Pixar via AP)

My 8-year-old was sympathetic, she stroked my hair and handed me a small pile of congealed tissues from her pocket. It was a nice gesture, but manky paper towelling was not going to stem the tide. Imagine someone offering Captain Edward J Smith a chux when they realised the titanic was going down and you’ll get the picture.

As the film progressed and we summated the peak sad moment of Inside out, I looked across at my daughter and saw her quietly weeping. She had turned away from me a little, obviously wanting some private time, so without making eye contact, I reached across and squeezed her hand. I just wanted her to know I was there, in the same emotional space as her and that it was OK. I stole a glance at my husband and he too had glistening eyes.

Only one of us survived the emotional tsunami, my 13-year-old. She remained LIKE IRON. As if she was going to let us see her show emotion!

AS IF.

I realised later on that my youngest child will more than likely look back and remember that moment as the first time a movie really made her cry.

Do you remember that first movie to do that to you? The one that made you feel all the feelings, all at once, so much so you thought your heart might burst?

For me it was the film My Girl starring Anna Chlumsky and Macaulay Culkin. I feel like the “spoiler alert” statute of limitations has passed on this film given the fact that it is 24 years old but for the sake of the people who spend their time looking for reasons to type those two words anytime they get the chance ... this one goes out to you: *SPOILER ALERT (herculean eye roll right here).

Young love. Before it all turned to s**t.

I felt I pretty much WAS the main character Veda Sultenfuss as we were both 11 and had strange, foreign names. I too dressed as a sassy Tomboy and was a chronic hypochondriac. My best mate was a boy named Jay (As in Thomas J, Culkin’s character) and I did, as Veda did of Thomas, suspect he was in love with me. So when Thomas J wandered into the forest to find Veda’s mood ring and then the bees came and MURDERED him I was left reeling.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the funeral happened. WITH A FECKING OPEN CASKET! They didn’t even bother to cover up the bee stings on his face and the tiny white linen suit he was wearing made him look like the fallen angel he was!

That. Scene. Ended. Me.

The had to have an open casket. Devastating!

Sure I was upset when Atreyu failed to stop his horse Artax from sinking into the Swamp of Sadness in The Never Ending Story (If you didn’t finish reading that and automatically sing ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh then I don’t think I can love you) but it was all OK in the end!

Yes when Wilbur meets Charlotte’s spider babies for the first time in Charlotte’s Web I had my first taste of the meaning of “bitter sweet”. But her legacy lived on!

None of that even came close to the desperate melancholy I felt when Veda ran in with Thomas’s glasses saying he couldn’t see without them, demanding that they “put his glasses on” OH LORD I didn’t think I’d recover.

I remember having to press pause on the VHS to take a moment to process what I’d just seen. My brain was exploding with disbelief and then the four other stages of grief followed in quick succession. Although it could be argued that I’m yet to master the last one. I still, two decades on, cannot accept what happened to Thomas J.

So in summary, I suspect Inside Out may have been my daughter’s My Girl. And I’m glad I was there to squeeze her arm. I was all alone when Thomas J was buried, huddled over our TV with the coat hanger antenna.

On a side note, I am seriously considering starting a support group for adults affected by Inside Out. There will be a lot of you these holidays. Looking around the cinema to make sure I wasn’t the only one losing my s**t, I noticed a large number of big people’s shoulders gently shaking.

It is my firm belief that Pixar should be forced to provide post show therapists, an open bar and somewhere to lay down, where reassuring music plays or at the very least whale noises.

Pixar should provide counsellors for viewers of Inside Out. (Disney-Pixar via AP, File)

By the way you should absolutely take your children to see it, just know it starts out in an aggressively joyful fashion, moves into some challenging, abstract, post modern meta concepts and just when you’re thinking “what the HELL am I watching,” it delivers an emotional super punch that will leave a gaping, black hole in your guts. Then of course there is a super happy ending, so all’s well that ends well ...

Kind of.

Yours in quiet self reflection,

Em.

Em Rusciano is a comedian, writer, singer and regular news.com.au columnist. You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.