7 Mar 2012

Crazy Hands ★★☆☆☆



Review of 'Crazy Hands' which can be found here at Future Shorts.

Length: 07:25
Written & directed by Charlie Graley
Genre: Comedy
Date: 2009
Rating: ★★☆☆

Logline: A mans hands take on a life of their own.

Here's a film that probably did really well on the festival circuit. The reason I say this is because it looks good, has cinematic quality and stars a named actor. Also because the plot is ridiculous, has redundant scenes and is painful to watch. Three staple requirements for any would be winner.

David Schneider takes on the role of the accursed fellow who wakes up and can't control his hands. There isn't any dialogue in this so it's all non-verbal acting here. I guess he does an okay job and imagine he followed direction very well. Where this film started to go wrong was quite likely in the script. It falls short in many ways.

This poorly constructed plot doesn't make much sense. There are fluctuations of inconsistency. How his hands are able to drag him over the bed then suddenly out the door with a coat on and him onto a bike is daft. How can his hands control his feet? Plus he's suddenly lost the power to speak too? It's overkill which doesn't gel well. We are subjected to a near minute long sequence of Schneider riding said bike then another pointless scene with him on a bench with some other woman who can't speak. Naturally, as in all 'hands go mad' stories, they try to kill her. Why? God knows, least it's genre specific I suppose.

Talking of genre, for a comedy, I found the film laughable, but unfortunately not due to any actual intended reasons. The larger than life performance by Schneider isn't remotely amusing nor the scenario. The overall feeling you'll leave this with is frustration. Which ironically probably emulates the main character's feelings too.

Production wise, this ticks all the right boxes. Good picture quality, quirky soundtrack, nice tonal lighting and colour etc. It really would look good on the big screen. But let's face it. It's really just a guy waving his hands about a lot isn't it.

Best Bit: Piano playing at the end.

Worst Bit: That someone thought this was a good idea.

Final thought: What a dump this guy lives in. No wonder he went mental.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

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