Trash (also known as The Castaways) is a 2020 Italian animated film directed by Francesco Dafano and Luca della Grotta.[1]

Trash
Directed byFrancesco Dafano and Luca della Grotta
Release date
2020
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian

The protagonists of the film are Slim, a worn cardboard box, and Bubbles, a dented and half-deflated soda bottle. Both find themselves on the floor of a market, destined to end up in the garbage can, but, unlike Slim, Bubbles is not resigned to no longer having a purpose: in fact, she firmly believes in the legend of the "magic pyramid", a magical portal that can give all waste a new life. So, the two set off, and encounter Spark on their path, a "bearer", that is, a box with its original contents still inside (in this case a toy). Their lives take a turn and the two friends decide to help the boy find his way home.

To escape the "suckers", dangerous machines that sweep waste, the three find themselves wandering the streets of the city. Here, however, they encounter "predators", waste who do not want to accept their condition as rubbish and distance themselves from the idea of the pyramid, mixing and reassembling themselves until they become monstrous piles of rubbish. They also meet Smag, a small ramshackle chest of drawers who promises the three friends to take them safely to "sunset alley", a kind of waste amusement park. During a show at the amusement park they meet other waste who soon joins the group: Jet, a small jar, and the singer Bliss, a beautiful and fascinating glass bottle who will help their friends escape from predators, who in fact want to kidnap Sparks and take him to their boss, an old computer who wants to steal the solar batteries inside it, so as to have the energy necessary to reactivate itself again.

During the journey Bubbles decides to go back to get Bliss, with whom he has fallen madly in love. The friends' paths diverge and Slim and Sparks continue their journey to find Sparks' house, the toy shop. Unfortunately, the evil predatory waste manages to kidnap Sparks and take him to the big PC, but luckily Slim, aided by the tin can Pat, manages to save the little one and destroy the evil computer. The two friends reunite with Bubbles and Bliss and together they manage to reach the shop where little Sparks came from, finally home. At the same time they also realize that they are right in front of the "Magic Pyramid", a large structure for collecting and sorting waste. Bubbles and Bliss say goodbye to their friends and enter the pyramid. Slim also decides to enter it, but just as he is about to do so, a sucker arrives and threatens to suck up the box. Spark manages to save his friend Slim and get him into the pyramid.

Slim then wakes up in an elegant shop, and realizes that he is no longer a ruined box, but a new and elegant package, one of the many boxes that live in the shop, which is located right in front of Spark's. The two friends manage to say goodbye once again through the shop window, aware that they both have a home and a purpose again.

Character Italian Voice Actor English Voice Actor
Spark Alessandro Carloni Jordan Cole
Bubbles Roberto Stocchi Marc Thompson
Slim Christian Iansante Billy Bob Thompson
Smug Luca Dal Fabbro Tyler Bunch
Sticky Andreas Pirolli Abe Goldfarb
Snoop ? Eddy Lee
Healer Dario Penne David Wills
Oily ? Justin Anselmi
Kudo Emanuela Rossi Bobbi Hartley
Bliss Giò Giò Rapattoni Rossy de Palma
Pat Barbara De Bortoli Maggie Politi Stiggers
Vitrio Roberto Draghetti Andrew Watts

Additional Voices

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  • Rory Max Kaplan

Production

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Trash is an entirely Italian digital animation film and the first feature film produced by the film production company Al One, with the contribution of MiBAC.

The film is dedicated to the memory of Roberto Draghetti, his last film role, who lends his voice to Vitrio.

Distribution

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The film was part of the official selection at the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF Animation), at CINEKID 2020, at the Silk Road Film Festival in Xi'an and at the Rome Film Festival in the Alice nella città section.

The film was released in Italian cinemas starting from 16 October 2020 by Notorious Pictures .

Soundtrack

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The music is by Matteo Buzzanca, but one of the songs ( Per noi ) is by Raphael Gualazzi.

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  1. "Trash". Notorious Pictures (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-10-22.