Envisioning a dystopian future where humans inch closer to immortality while losing the ability to procreate, Takahide Hori’s stop-motion adventure journeys through a gloomy, dilapidated universe filled with exquisitely strange creatures. Considering that the film is mostly a one-man operation – Hori pores over nearly every technical aspect himself – the worldbuilding details are simply extraordinary, bringing to mind the nightmarish virtuosity of Phil Tippett’s Mad God.
Seeking a solution to a diminishing population, a human scientist plunges into the subterranean domains inhabited by the Magarins, mutants whose labour powers the running of the city above. After an accident obliterates his physical form, the mind of our wandering protagonist is transferred into a succession of mechanical guises, blurring the difference between his humanity and the clone workers.
Existential quandaries aside, the otherworldly magic of Junk Head is visual rather than plot-based. Stacked with towering heaps of metal scraps, endless staircases and grimy corridors that lead to a bottomless pit, the painstakingly imagined art direction conjures the expressionist spirit of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, while the infernal monsters that dog the hero’s every step are especially striking in their carcass-like designs, a Francis Bacon triptych coming to terrifying life.
The blood-splattered sequences where the grotesque predators gnaw on their hapless victims are punctuated with moments of levity, friendship and jokes; some might find this tonally jarring and crude. Junk Head also leaves many story threads unfinished, intended as it is as the first instalment in a series. Still, the astonishing level of craftsmanship and creativity trumps any minor shortcomings. Sure to send shockwaves up your spine, this triumph of animation demands to be seen on a big screen.
• Junk Head is released on 24 April in UK cinemas.
