Utterly stunning, chilling animation about fear, death and control

While we love a cheery gif or a daft music video about amorous sofas, sometimes moving image that touches on more profound issues is the work that really knocks us for six. Barcelona-based studio N9ve’s The Guardian is one such work, created in eerie monochrome with an aesthetic that looks misleadingly simple, but is the product of a long, arduous process of 3D modelling, flattening and stripping every element to its cleanest form. The narrative is based on the parable Before the Law from Franz Kafka’s The Trial, and tells a story of a peasant traveller who “basically…lived a life that people told him was good to live.” The stunning animation work uses stark monochrome to show his travails, and we see objects morph into people and abstract symbols and sinister icons. The movement manages to be utterly faithful to reality but also hypnagogic and surreal, with the sounds of ominous cello strings adding to the chilling atmosphere. It’s a tale of fate, death and the fears that control us; but we won’t spoil it. Watch, wonder and be moved.