Real Gone Short Film Analysis

By Callum Kleber

Real Gone is a comedic short film made by Seth Worley in 2015. The film focuses on the life of a man who tries to commit suicide. Throughout the film we witness the man fail to commit suicide several times. At the end of the film the man has a near-death experience that makes him begin to reconsider his idea to commit suicide. However the man is then immediately hit by a truck and is killed. The story of this film linear which makes it easier for the audience to understand the plot and what is happening in the film.

The film starts with the man lying on a beach that is a representation of heaven. However the film then suddenly cuts to a shot of the man being shocked back to life. The man looks incredibly disappointed by this. This is strange as you would expect the man to be happy. This scene sets the theme of the rest of the film where the man repeatedly tries to commit suicide. This therefore suggests that the message of this film is that death is better than life. However the film uses this subject for comedic effect and therefore entertains the audience and makes them laugh instead of believing that death is better than life.

The rest of the film is a montage of the man attempting to commit suicide and failing. At one point he writes a letter with the word "Goodbye" on the envelope, he leaves this on his car. The man eventually ends up in hospital where he still tries to commit suicide. The man again fails, eventually he is released from hospital. He then tries to kill himself by gunshot however a fire alarm suddenly starts. The man then goes outside to see a burning building, the man then rushes into the building and saves the people inside. The man goes to his car and picks up the letter he wrote earlier. He then scrunches it up and it appears that he has changed his mind about committing suicide. Suddenly he his hit by a truck and the film ends with him celebrating in heaven. I believe that this scene is very effective as it shows well that you don't get everything you want in life. This is shown by the man who doesn't want to life but when he begins to change his mind he is killed. I therefore believe that the main message of this film is to make the most of your life and don't waste it being unhappy.

Overall I believe that this film uses the usually dark topic of suicide well and its use for comedic effect has been done well so it doesn’t insult people. As well as this I believe that it has a good hidden message that nothing everything in life is how you want it. I think this message has been shown very well.