There is a reason why I am using the above clip from Tono Errando and Javier Mariscal’s Chico & Rita [2011], a Spanish language film now being nominated for Best Animated Feature in the Oscars. Because this is not Walt Disney anymore, far from it (although, ironically, Disney is in fact distributing the film). What you have in Chico & Rita is a film for mature audiences, telling a very adult story with painful evocations of adult sensibilities. It does seem strange that this gunning for the same prize as Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda, A Cat in Paris, and Rango, all of which smack of entertainment geared for the most part towards children. No matter. The film deserves its nomination, and this proves that animation, as an art form, should not be a ghetto for “child-friendly” fare, whatever that means. Chico & Rita is a simple enough story set in pre-Castro Cuba, when American jazz infused with Spanish sensibilities ruled the streets and the night clubs: the man is a talented pianist and composer with dreams; the woman is a talented singer with dreams. Both are fiery and fierce — and one night, they meet and they fall hard for each other. After one tempestuous night that does not end well, he follows her to where she lives: a run-down neighborhood where she lives with an old woman who, upon seeing Chico, tells Rita: “So this is him. He will make you suffer” — and laughs. Was that a curse? Or just a typical prognosis for all fiery love affairs? Because this film is about the suffering endured by these two lovers — how everything in the universe, friends and careers included, seem part of a design to keep them apart. This is the heart of the film, the core which makes us care: it is important because it underlines the pathos of the last few sequences, which will reduce anybody who has been through heartbreak to copious tears. But this is not just Latin melodrama. This is also a film that is in love with music — and we get tons of it, American jazz particularly. It is a tender look at a time, particularly in America, when the art form ruled and reconfigured the musical landscape. The music is the film’s heartbeat. That plus the semi-tragic nature of its love story makes this film a must-see.