Hunnybuns
2020 · 5m
Directed by John Connor Hammond
Genres: drama, musical, surrealism
Tones: surreal, theatrical, whimsical
A short musical film about true love and death. A young couple passes through a joyfully strange wedding ceremony shaped by music, ritual, and Honey Bun imagery.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
It's a wedding film about death wrapped in honey imagery and musical theater — which sounds like something everyone would make — but Hammond actually commits to the strangeness without winking, and that refusal to apologize for sincerity is almost subversive.
The formal precision here is striking: a five-minute musical that understands how to use ritual as narrative structure, situating itself in a lineage of avant-garde musicality while maintaining genuine emotional stakes — the kind of film that rewards repeated viewings for its architectural choices.
The decision to let Honey Bun branding become visual language rather than ironic prop — to make that specific commercial imagery do the metaphorical work — is the kind of constraint-driven choice that transforms a modest premise into something genuinely felt.
Reviews
Opting for a visually cyclical narrative, the film uses the most unusual props and setting to create an unrealistic ambience for the inception of its characters and plotline. Hunnybuns isn't meant for all, but for those who enjoy a musical, this sugary one is right up their alley.