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The Monster of Nix: A Dark, Existential Fairytale

A surreal animation that inhabits a strange world where Terry Gilliam is a ranger and Tom Waits a giant swallow.

Animation has always had dark, macabre leanings—from the oldest surviving animated feature The Adventures of Prince Achmed, to Disney’s first Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to the last Toy Story film. This form obviously has deep roots in the psychological complexity of the fairy tale and even when the film is not a direct adaptation of one, it usually forms part of its cultural lineage. And it is in this story-telling tradition that you can place The Monster of Nix, a 30-minute animation currently making its rounds on the festival circuit. Its visual style takes the Henry Selick route, but the subject matter is "existentialist musical fairytale", from Dutch director Rosto.

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This musical fantasy (from a man who hates musicals) is set in a dysfunctional world where nudist giants wander about, wizards lack an education, and a young boy has to fight a giant swallow-monster with the name of an ancient Roman poet to save his village. If that isn’t enough to make you want to watch the trailer, then how about if we say it has the voices of bar flung, splintered crooner Tom Waits and fantasy fisher-king Terry Gilliam as two of the characters?

If you want a further taste of Rosto’s dark style, check out his online comic Mind My Gap.