The Bigger Picture (2014)

This is something quite discomforting about this animation as it shows us a side of family that is bound to resonate with many people watching. It is two siblings who are in the kitchen arguing about what is best for their ageing mother. One recommends putting her into care, the other won't hear of it - and knows that neither would she. The thing is, it's the one who is reluctant (Richard) who is also the one who cares both physically and emotionally for his mum whilst the other (Nick) cares, but more on an arms-length basis. Gradually she begins to fade away, and ends up in hospital - but might these lads be in their sixties before she dies? There is something really quite distinctive about the drawing here. The brothers look, facially, like two peas in a pod but attitiudinally they are quite contrasting and it's that depiction that works quite subtly yet boldly. There are straight lines almost everywhere, but it's the changes in dimension from the 2D to the 3D that impress. What looks matt textured being sucked up by their (branded) hoover showing that off well. It also asks questions about the extent to which children ought to commit chunks of their own lives to ailing parents on much the same quid pro quo terms as the parents did when they were but babes in arms.