Don’t you hate when this happens. . . while working outside, you by chance stumble upon a severed hand. It is this absurdist situation that comes to vivid life in writer/director Daniel Harding’s 2016 dark comedy short film The Missing Hand.
Right out of the Alfred Hitchcock playbook, think The Trouble With Harry (and, if you do not recall the premise, I’ll let you in on a little secret – Harry’s dead) or Rope, the narrative finds two very different people, Ms. Whitman (Meryl Griffiths) and Trevor (Neil James) walking a plot of land they are thinking of developing. The former – a shrewd, business-driven financier, the latter – an energetic, simple-minded builder; the pair are destined to make a killing on the vacant lot.
A former dump on the outskirts of town, they are planning on turning it into high end luxury apartments. After wrapping up their business dealings, Ms. Whitman discovers the missing appendage. Wanting to deal with the unlikely situation in wholly different ways, the business-driven lady contemplates burying it, whilst Trevor’s first thought is of calling the police. . . his second, of finding the person who lost it (though it may have been there for any number of hours, his own unique brand of illogical logic tells him to set a countdown on his phone – as he recalls watching a television program that explained that you have ten minutes to reattach such things).
The more domineering personality wins out, with her uttering immediately after the burial, “and no one will ever know, right”. . . only for them to turn around and see a man staring at them. Supposedly missing a hand, this leads them down a wholly unexpected path. Is this the gentleman who has lost his hand? Is there a more sinister mystery afoot? Needless to say, the position leaves the pair stumped, making for a bloody good watch.
With great chemistry, Griffiths and James perfectly encapsulate the term ‘the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing’ – at utter odds in every which way. Their banter is infectious, comedy found in the most macabre situations. It is like watching the mismatched IQ’s of Abbott and Costello deal with horrific body humour (to reference another Hitchcock classic in 1972’s Frenzy, there is a sequence where a man struggles with a dead body stuffed in potato sacks – it somehow always seeming to fight back), a difficult tightrope to walk – though it succeeds here.
Also bringing to mind the at odds pairing of the characters played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, the murderously funny scenarios in Niall Johnson’s Keeping Mum (definitely worth checking out for anyone interested in seeing a comedy about a charming housekeeper, played by Maggie Smith, who deals with her dissenters by killing them), and the nonsensical Black Knight flesh wound scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Harding once again shows the knack the British have for this style of pitch black comedy. On the directorial front, he keeps the pace snappy, there is never a dull moment in the seven minute short. He makes simple yet effective stylistic choices (the superb reveal that someone is off in the distance as they buried the hand; the final use of the shovel), each selection building both the comedy and horrific thrills in the scenario.
Accompanied by a playful score that straddles horror and comedy motifs (written by Jack Blume), The Missing Hand is hands down an entertaining movie. Handled with care, you’ll enjoy this one as it gets out of hand in the most fascinating ways. So, experience this excellent little short film firsthand. I guess I’d better wrap things up before everyone throws their hands up in despair.
N.B. Emma Snelson deserves a hand for her superb work in developing the all important missing appendage.
Get your hands on this short film right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWnXS0c2mKI