Manoman
2016 · 11m · United Kingdom
Directed by Simon Cartwright
Genres: animation, dark comedy, experimental
Tones: dark, darkly comic, surreal
A man attending primal scream therapy unleashes something deep within that knows no limits.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A primal scream therapy session that becomes a full-bore entity-unleashing nightmare—it's the kind of premise that sounds absurd until you realize it's the only logical endpoint for dark comedy animation willing to take its own conceit seriously, which is exactly the subversive move most scouts would sidestep.
Cartwright's formal command of surrealist animation and comedic timing positions this within a lineage of body-horror and psychological absurdism that traces back through experimental animation's confrontation with the unconscious, though the tonal balance between satire and genuine unease marks it as a considered piece rather than mere provocation.
The decision to let the animation style shift and degrade as the therapy unravels—degrading into something more raw and uncontrolled—is the specific formal choice that transforms what could be a one-joke premise into something genuinely unsettling on a budget that clearly forced economical, brilliant choices.
Reviews
Really dark (but really brilliant!) short by London-based filmmaker Simon Cartwright. Made using a mix of rod marionettes and animation, "Manoman" follows a guy learning to tap into his primal nature.