The Bigger Picture concerns a pair of forty-year-old men, who are coming to terms with their mother's illness, as she's about to be committed to a nursing home. The one brother struggles to care for his mother with little to no help from his other sibling, which leads to an expected discrepancy. Having just see this kind of siblings discrepancy play out amongst my family with the death of my grandmother in December, this short immediately hits close to home territory, and the fact it uses animation that looks as if it's pulled from those gigantic, decorative paintings that hang on the walls of homes in libraries and the homes of senior citizens' for added decor is wonderful and truly unique. The subversive animation style is unlike anything I've seen before, and the way that directors Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees find ways to manipulate their own style, one way specifically using live-action water during shower sequences, make for a short film that takes its eight minutes and wises utilizes every last bit. The fact that the short concerns the inevitable idea of watching your parents age is only all the more soul-crushing put to such unique and often grim animation.
Directed by: Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees.
Directed by: Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees.