The Hands

The writer-director Shayan Naghibi attempts to showcase how a seemingly simple task of collecting one’s things turns into a hilarious and dark challenge through animation a technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence.

The plot of The Hands revolves around an old man packing up his room, everything is normal until his morbid obsession is revealed.

The short film begins with a black screen along with the sound of a squeaky door in the background and footsteps of someone entering the room to sort their stuff out giving a lot of details to the audience as to what’s happening in the room without actually disclosing the identity of the person until the latter part of the narrative to maintain the interest of the viewers making them eagerly wait for the climax of the film. The set design, the white, brown, black, grey, and blue colours utilised for the colour pallet, natural lighting, sound, costume, hair, makeup, and props help the audience decode the old man’s state of mind. At the same time, he tries to unclutter his room quickly therefore viewers get a surprise with the movie’s climax and so The Hands stays with them for a while even after they have finished watching it.

In terms of Performance, Naghibi and his creative team have done a brilliant job with their animation adding elements like emotional depth, realism, and relatability to the subject matter it sheds light upon. The animated character the old man in the narrative has not been given any dialogue to express his feelings only mannerisms, body language, facial expressions, and eyes are the only means for him to communicate. The makers with the under two minutes running time have provided sufficient time to the audience for interact with the storyline and feel fully engaged with the content of The Hands.

The Hands talks about the need to take some time off from the busy schedule appreciating gratitude for what god has given us instead of cribbing for something we want but can’t get. The short film reiterates that people on the one hand take everything for granted but on the other hand many who don’t have even the basics but they are happy and enjoy their lives. The cinematic piece highlights that one should always try to use their shortcomings/disabilities to their advantage to overcome all the fears achieve big in life so that one can make life better for themselves as well as their loved ones. The creative piece also teaches its audience the importance of being independent both physical and emotional, self-reliant because this is the best way suited for the modern era.

To conclude, I would like to thank Shayan Naghibi and his team for combining the animation genre with elements like mystery to deliver key messages allowing the audience to learn from the film with the right mixture of logic, emotions, and fun.