STREAMING ONLINE FOR the distinguished LONDON festival AWARDS, NOMINATED FOR BEST SHORT FILM (A CATEGORY the general public CAN VOTE ON), SHUTTLECOCK TAKES A CHUCKLESOME SLICE AT MALE PRIDE IN SPORTS WITH a pointy HOMO-EROTIC EDGE.
Carl (Tom Greaves) is the king of the court and his club. His badminton crew all admire him, searching for advice and approval from him and his bulging biceps that they all secretly envy. Even stretching to the demeaning (privileged in their minds) lengths of applying his deodorant to show their adoration. Its a humorous photo and the variety of absurdity that shuttlecock, a masculinity satire from Tommy Gillard, revels in.
Carl and his badminton peers both appear to agree in considering himself the epitome of strength and dominance. That is till his safe area of comforting worship is
Disrupted with the arrival of Morgan (delightfully confident portrayal from Ni all Kelly), Carl’s antipodal. Morgan’s clean-shaven, smooth frame and deft on-court technique all immediately oppose the bulky, dominant Carl whose method is all in the power. He hits it hard. In these contrasts, Carl’ insecurities bloom in intelligently comedic fashion.
Competitive toxicity isn’t always an under-looked theme with overt masculinity now frequently customary to share some connection to insecurity, however Shuttlecock strategies it with a deft sleight of hand which is approachable, conscious, daringly funny and (crucially) subversive.
The loss of his beta worshipers to Morgan leaves an uncertain Carl searching for victory in the ‘charity’ tournament. A tournament the place charity seems to be an afterthought, particularly for Carl, who feels the determined want to win, in the hope that it will allow him to reclaim his alpha function and show he is the ‘better man’.
Carl’s budding teammates aren’t the sole people enamored by the new mysterious member in Morgan. He himself is scuffling with a nagging Morgan fashioned obsession in cleverly choppy sequences which are deranged (much like Carl) and hilariously absurd. Nevertheless, he can’t seem to get his elusive, quietly confident, consciously feminine parent out of his mind.
Its the placing of the daunting changing rooms where the drama and tantalizing sensuous realizations arise. Carl feels annoyance and confusion towards his attraction and extraordinary perversion. Insecure over compensations kick in with his futile tries to spoil this part of himself. And its pleasant symmetry which approves these closing preposterous tries at outward masculinity to erupt in chortles from the sheer charm.
A 4:3 academy ratio weaves a timeless aesthetic in this very stylish comedy with moments of Wes Anderson flair. That timeless fine is an interesting one. There are no generation symptoms aside from historic customary clothing, mustache snobbery, and no technology to speak of. This historic fashioned sensibility lets in the witty script to play with scornful disapproval of his wiry body and lack of masculinity. Additionally, the testosterone-fuelled domination angst is an laugh juxtaposition with the much less than stereotypically masculine nature of Badminton (coming from an avid aggressive player). It’s the best sport to create this homo-eroticism. It’s these shrewd selections which enable for the pleasant of Shuttlecock’s observations to shine.
Shuttlecock is playful and subtly considerate with brilliantly blatant home erotic tendencies making it a short to relish.
Shuttlecock is accessible now on the BFI Player
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Short Film