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Pink Slip: Surreal and Disturbing

In a fllm whose overtones are ironically playful, even whimsical, there is an underlayng surreal and disturbing notion of delusion. The narrative unfolds as a young man changing summer yard decorations to fall ones, namely remove the pink flamingos and replace them with a scarecrow. As he tries to do this the pink flamingos anthropomorphise, and they enter into a challange of wills with the young man, where in the end they win and are allowed to remain up.

Looking at this film it in the end tells the story of somone troubled to the point where their delusions control their choices for them, what these delusions are, or in context what the flamingos represent, is unknown but the overall arch is a gripping battle of paranoia and psychological projections. All of this is underscored by the way the story is told. The tone is whimsical, the acting playful, and the composition smart. Even the soundtrack plays as something that Winnie The Pooh would listen to as he stomped around 100 acre woods. Its reminiscent of that scene in American Psycho where Patrick Bateman murders Paul Allen while listening to light-hearted music. Hell, now that I think about it, the camera work on this film reminds of the camera work on American Psycho, very smart, very sharp scenes. Regardless, this horrific decay into madness is told in a way that almost desensitizes the audience to it. Its as if even the literature about him wouldn't take his maddness seriously, and as such he is forever shut off from reality, forever being controled by the forces who controlled the pink flamingos.

All in all, it is a compelling short to watch, just for the amusement. And that is what amplifies the horror, we find this maddness amusing in a silly way, we begin to laugh because we are malliable. The ideas have made him delerious, and they have made us delerious by our ability to empathize with his story. We all have things we do because our delusions of the world tell us too, and this short touches on that, in a careless comical way. It was a interesting film to analyze, and  would assume even more so to be a part of.