In this darkly comic short film, director Jackson Mullane explores the age-old question of ‘would you live your life differently if you knew you had two weeks to live?’
Red Nuts features Kevin MacIsaac as Sam, a thirty-something ginger-headed nobody watching helplessly from a rut in his life as his marriage falls apart. But when he is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he embarks on a night of debauchery and anarchy, sticking his middle finger up at the rules and living his life to the full.
A second prize winner of Tropfest, an Australian short film festival, Mullane‘s style takes a couple of minutes to find its feet. With jarring cuts and an unusual pace, Red Nuts is not the most conventional of comedies, but once it hits its stride it becomes an entertaining tale of hedonism and excess wrapped up in the dark themes of mortality and illness.
The performances are perfectly fine, and the film is beautifully shot and lit – Mullane‘s commercial background comes in handy here. It could be easy to frown and tut and condemn the light-heartedness with which the film discusses terminal illness and death – an issue which confronts and torments millions of people on a daily basis – but the onus isn’t on the filmmakers to broach those topics.
An entertaining romp with some smirk-inducing moments, Red Nuts won’t stay in your mind for much longer than a tea break. If it crops up in your news feed it’s worth hitting play, but don’t expect to come away from a life-changing experience.
What do you think of Jackson Mullane‘s short film? Let us know in the comments!
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