In John Kelly’s Retirement Plan, Ray (Domhnall Gleeson) looks ahead to his future, imagining what he’ll finally be able to do once he retires and then facing the reality of how dreams don’t always turn out the way we hope.
Awards Buzz spoke to Kelly about how his animated film isn’t like many others in that it contains nothing but dialogue for the entirety of its eight minutes:
“Yeah, I broke a few rules making this film, and one of them is show, don’t tell, because there’s a lot of telling in the film. It’s a list film, and I think my non-linear brain was excited by the idea of a list structure because, as you’re watching it, it lulls you into a rhythm. You can build comfort in the viewer. You feel like you know where it’s going, and then you can very slowly, as a filmmaker, pull the rug and just when people think they know where it’s going, it doesn’t. But yeah, it was fun to figure that out. The crying and the laughter, I think there is a fine line between those two emotions, and Tara Lawall, my co-writer, and I were interested in how closely we could jam absurdity and sorrow right next to each other. So there’s one scene where he’s at an orgy and then, that always gets a big laugh, because it’s quite unexpected, suddenly it’s a cut, and he’s got no clothes on. And then the next scene, he’s sitting on his bed crying. I think humor can be a nice gateway to stirring the pot of emotions.”
Watch the video above to hear about casting Gleeson as the voice of Ray and how people have responded to the film as it’s been shown to different audiences.
Retirement Plan is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Animated Short.
