When it comes to how his friends treat a chubby person in the coming of age story Living Large directed by stop-motion animator Kristina Dufková, we see a clear separation between being laughed at and others laughing with you. The film revolves around an overweight young protagonist who is often ridiculed because of his size. His friends make fun of him when he is not around thinking that they are funny. A big boy named Ben Pipetka, wearing spectacles, loves to cook fancy dishes and sing at the same time for a rock band with his comrades. He’s just as cool as the other kids. However, despite having a bigger frame than most schoolmates, this doesn’t keep him from being contented or loved.
The weight does not matter to other children of Benny’s class except for some three tall bullies. Furthermore, his jokes and funny attitude saved him from many difficult situations. This was amidst pressures to lose weight occasioned by a visit to the school nurse who happened to tell him that he is too fat; thus not good enough for Klara (played by Alexandra Hermans) his lovely class mate. The book “La vie, en gros” by French writer Mikaël Ollivier was adapted into a screenplay by three authors (Petr Jarchovský, Barbora Drevikovska, and Anna Vásová) and became the basis for Dufková’s second film as a director.
In this world, characters have exaggerated characteristics, as well as uneven faces and bodies emphasizing those attributes that might provoke self-consciousness. The decision to distort all the people surrounding Ben also goes in tune with the film being interested how people accept or reject each other based on looks. One can see the seams in “Living Large,” and that’s a compliment. It doesn’t cover its hand-crafted quality under prominent digital enhancements like many big-budget stop-motion productions do. For instance, there are textures of materials used (for instance, hair of an unwell puppy) and overall physicality which are very essential for its charm.
Interestingly enough Ben’s daydreams appear in 2D hand-drawn animation with still pronounced noses and cheek bones character design. Using 2D technique to express another kind of reality within an already animated world has been a common practice for computer-animated studio releases. But in Living Large because the “reality” of the story is done with stop motion, that makes these 2D visions more organically synchronous with tangible figures. At one point stop motion Ben interacts with imaginary 2D Klára creating hybrid interactions not often seen in animation.
The change in habits and attention to every meal brings to light his divorced parents’ issues. This is not just about who he might be. His father, who has struggled with his size his entire life, takes the boy to a nutritionist on his younger girlfriend’s recommendation. Ben’s veterinarian mother feels insecure when she meets her.
The writers handle the parents’ relationship with their adolescent children with earnestness, instead of sugarcoating the rough patches that arise amid the kid’s hormonal unrest and the adult’s lack of ideal tools to guide them. Although it may seem familiar, “Living Large” could be considered as a story with some clichés inserted into its plot in an encouraging conclusion when Ben decides to embrace himself rather than try changing physically. To me this was monumental since I did not see any thinner Ben before or after in those cutaway scenes which were intended as fantasies. The same can be said about the way Ben’s romantic interest in Klára is resolved.
The movie “Living Large” screening in the United States is impressive and captivating due to its natural dialogue as well as catchy songs that blend completely with the story. This story is not fixed in any specific country most of the time. Nonetheless, there are numerous scenes where kids flip each other off at Ben’s school that indicate this wasn’t produced under American scrutiny. The film doesn’t touch on a particularly daring issue, but it still does a good job of extracting some magic from every day musings and relating it back to common problems associated with boosting one’s self worth.
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