On a rubbish tip, a dog carcass is home to a parasite whose attempts to find an emotional connection invariably end up in tragedy. Will his wishes come true or will the cruel, predator-filled world of the dump eventually destroy both him and his good intentions?
Bara Anna Stejskalova continues the tradition of exquisitely realised works of Czech animation with this compelling tale, finding beauty in the darkest of places and mining the dark humour of the situation for all its worth, such as the parasite operating the carcass as a mobile home and vehicle of defence by a pull on a tendon here and there. Gruesome if you stop to think about it, but the focus is on the marvellous invention on display.
Considering there’s an overarching theme of death, in terms of both the lingering aftereffects and the sudden end to existence for the more unfortunate characters in the piece but the overall
atmosphere is a life affirming one and our hero embodies a burning hope to continue in the bleakest of surroundings. The character design is subtle and sympathetic, giving something as potentially undetailed as a worm a genuine emotive range.
Despite the ominous title and a number of horror adjacent moments, especially as the threats grow greater, this is a surprisingly tender experience overall even if the humour is of the morbid type.
Minor spoiler alert – a brief, bloody moment involving an exploding rodent may test just how morbid your sense of humour is. It also illustrates the increasingly disastrous, not to mention wickedly chucklesome, side effects of our protagonist’s unfailing desire to get involved.
An air of melancholy pervades the proceedings, the plot musing upon both the grind of day to day loneliness and the feeling that the search for a soulmate may prove ultimately fruitless and yet the vivid settings and creatures generate a joy that shines through the grimy interactions between various scavengers. The shrewd choice of location for the action means that those moments of sweetness are amplified by the fact that they’re framed with garbage, that even in a place of constant decay hope can flourish.
With its gorgeous visuals and expressive critters, Love Is Just A Death Away is a heartfelt investigation of what it is to be human through the eyes of something which is clearly not. It’s amusing, touching and, refreshingly, avoids heading down the relentlessly sombre route which would be the obvious option for this type of narrative. It’s possible that you may be pretending you have something in your eye come the end of this one.