A troubled man continues a relationship with the corpse of his deceased wife.
Directed by: Shaun Ryan
Starring: Eoin Quinn, Jack Dean-Shepherd, Anne Gill, Laura Canavan Hayes
Writer/director Shaun Ryan has made something very odd here. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure how I should begin because I’m still sort of processing what I just witnessed, but here goes. Limp is about a man, Mr. Grot (Quinn), who is trying his best to live his life as normally as he can. He goes to work each day, goes out to restaurants, takes walks through the park, buys dresses for the woman he loves, dances with her, makes dinner and maintains a physical relationship her. The twist: he murdered her and still he believes that she is alive and truly loves him back.
From the moment we meet Mr. Grot, it is abundantly clear that he is not normal, and his awkward nature makes life very difficult because the world around him doesn’t understand him. He gets teased by kids at the park and harassed by one jerk in particular to the point that when he finally snaps he almost becomes saner, obviously still mentally unhinged, but he begins to realize that there is something wrong with him, and more importantly he realizes that the woman he loves does not love him back because she is not alive.
Only an hour long, Limp is too short to have any real power behind it. There is very little, if any, development of any character, let alone the film's protagonist, Mr. Grot. Actually, there is basically no explanation of anything. We never learn, or even are teased about, how or why this character has become this way. We are never actually told how, when, or why he killed the woman he loves. I suppose we are meant to assume all of the details, but to me that is leaving too much work for the audience to figure out, especially without giving a satisfying ending.
Because so little is given to the character, credit has to be given to Quinn for his portrayal as Mr. Grot. With a lesser actor, the creepy nature required for such a depressingly disturbed character would have made the film laughably silly, but instead the character feels eerily real. Well, as real as a man you know nothing about can be. Maybe it's because we have all seen and met people that seem awkward that our minds are able to make the connection needed to feel for the character. Ultimately, Limp is beautifully shot, disturbingly dark, but because it’s so short and underdeveloped I don’t think it has staying power.
4/10
Andy Comer