Every lazy Sunday we select an excellent local short film from Lightbox’s Show Me Shorts catalogue.
Queenie is an animated short film by Paul Neason, following a geography lecturer Danny Mulgan as he works with his students on a mysterious personal project. Through talking heads (that immediately bring all the humanity and agony of David Brent to a flat piece of cardboard), Danny tells us about his passion for mountains – both internal and external, trying to ignore the pictures of his ex-wife on his computer screen.
He’s working on something called ‘Queenie’, but you’re never quite sure what exactly it is. “Queenie is my worldview” Danny says. His eager-to-please students are always at his side, going above and beyond to work on this project which has promised them extra grades. Is he building a shrine to his ex-wife? Or working on something more sinister…
The film concludes with a tense meeting of minds behind Danny and his ex-wife Helen. I won’t spoil it, but things will fall together in a very painful type of way. For a film made entirely out of cardboard, it all just feels too damn real.
