One Man's Loss

One Man's Loss is not the deepest film you'll see by any means but it does function within the very limited set of goals it sets for itself. As the title suggests, this sees a vagabond gaining from the loss of another man (specifically a pair of shoes which fly out the window due to a fight between a couple upstairs). Once you understand the idea the short film goes precisely where you know it will, but at only 6 minutes it is not such a problem as you can never get too far ahead of it. It is a very simple idea and as such I never took it as more than a throwaway film but the appeal here is the aesthetics of it.

We open with a "big" song (Summer in the City) and, although it seems strange to use it since Die Hard 3 used it so well, it does announce where the effort is because there are few short films that get such big names music and use it. Seconds later we get another Die Hard reference as our vagabond gets glass stuck in his foot, not sure if this was deliberate or not. Anyway, from here we have clean, bright cinematography which has a golden glow of warmth to it, beautiful people, beautiful location, beautifully shot and loads of style. There is not really any substance below this but this level works very well and it can more or less be enjoyed as such even if it is very much superficial and about the style of delivery. Worth a look for this, but while this is a strength it does also serve as a limiting factor.

This film is not deeply, but so simple. Two main characters are a poor man with a beard and long hair who do not wear shoes and wears dirty old clothes and a rich man who wears formal clean clothes. They are in contrast. The rich man looks happy, but the happy life changes suddenly. In my opinion, people who have a lot of money are happy and winner in this world. This never change, I think. It is because we need money whatever we do, for example, going abroad, eating, hobbies and so on. If we satisfy our desires, it is not enough how much money we have. However, this film tells us that the money is not always important. If we have enough money, it does not mean happy.

A man with absolutely nothing in life walks along an American street and finds his luck about to change . I suppose karma might have something to do with this because he does look exactly like Jesus , especially if he was played by Willem Dafoe . In fact not reading the credits until after seeing his short I was totally and absolutely convinced Dafoe might be playing the vagabond here such is the physical similarity between him and Tracy Feith . I'm guessing director Phillip Sansom might be aware of this and take note that he goes out of his way to not have the vagabond speak just in case the audience notice that it's not Dafoe's very distinctive rasping voice speaking

As it stands ONE MAN'S LOSS is one of those heart warming tales illustrating that one mans loss is another mans success and it's not difficult to see whose side the audience are meant to be on so that we feel no sympathy for the loser . I did think the film was a little bit too simplistic and when I stopped to think about it could have been developed as one of those Benny Hill type sketches where Benny gets the girl and winks to camera . That said at least this short feels genuinely self contained and isn't just a mere calling card