A Half Man (2005) Online

This is a short film that can be seen on a DVD of award-winning shorts from around the world from the Film Movement Series. For several years now, Film Movement has been bringing out a yearly compilation of shorts in place of their usual monthly feature film release. This is from the January, 2008 collection.

Unlike most of the films in this collection, A HALF MAN seems to be based entirely on a glimmer of an idea and that is all--an idea that was interesting for only a few seconds and then became rather tedious and unpleasant.

The half man the title refers to is a Barbie-type doll who look as if the front half of the body has been sliced off as well as half his head--looking much like a subject from the Body Exhibit the Chinese government has been sending throughout the United States the last few years. While this is a stunning idea, the story itself never goes past the yucky doll with all its exposed organs as he goes about his daily life--driving his car, going to work, etc. with all its insides exposed. They seemed to have a concept but no idea what to do with it. So, in the end, they come up with a rather gross and pointless ending that was neither funny nor particularly compelling--just gross. I won't reveal this ending in case you actually want to see it, but I just didn't get it nor did my family as we watched this short.

This film was apparently a choice of both the Toronto and Seattle film festivals. Apparently, there must not have been that many entries that year.