Synopsis (from The Bigger Picture trailer page and The Bigger Picture IMDb page):
The Bigger Picture is a larger than life-size animated film that tells the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly parent.
'You want to put her in a home; you tell her; tell her now!' hisses one brother to the other. But Mother won't go, and their own lives quickly unravel as she clings to life. Director Daisy Jacobs uses two-metre-high painted characters in full-size sets to tell the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly relative.
Credits:
Daisy Jacobs - Director/Writer/Animator
Chris Hees - Producer
(A bunch more people helped produce it, but the above two are the ones nominated for an oscar.)
Cast/Voices
Christopher Nightingale - Nick
Alisdair Simpson - Richard
Anne Cunningham - Mother
Trailer:
Making of:
Stills (check out more on their website):
Quote from the creators (from Yesh and Tash):
Daisy: I had a fit of hysterical laughter- which lasted late into the night once but at least I didn't cry (Chris did five times...)!
Chris: This film broke me. I cry at least once a week now. I'm a mess. However now that the film's finished it does feel odd not to be eating my lunch next to a pile of discarded body parts.
My personal opinion (no spoilers):
I wish I could see this, because it looks so darn promising! But because it's not available yet, I'll have to base my opinion on the trailer, the making of, and the stills alone.
I don't know much about the story, but we can see the essence of it. It deals with something very real, which is taking care of a parent who is nearing death, but it seems to do so with a great deal of dark humor. So they manage to have us enjoy ourselves, while also making us realise some of the very real burdens that life can bring us. And on top of that it strenghtens this world when fantastical things happen (which are probably metaphorical). Quite a feat to accomplish all of that, but whether they succeed in pulling it off is hard to say from what we can see right now.
They used a combination of 2D and stop motion animation in a way I've never seen before, and this together with the multifaceted story is what makes it looks so promising to me. They paint the characters on the wall (aka a flat surface) but have them also exist in 3D. I thought it was a strange choice to make, but even though I've only seen a short bit of it, very soon I forgot that there was 2D in it at all. So it seems to work!
I can't say much about the music without having seen it, but the voice acting seems solid enough!
As far as predicting whether this will win the Oscar, it's hard to say without having seen it or any of the competitors yet, but I have a feeling this might be able to win. It's progressive in the method they used for the animation and it has dark humor together with a real heartbreaking story. I think this does in fact have a shot at winning the Oscar, but we'll see!
No comments:
Post a Comment