Roughhouse (2018)

I really liked the almost translucent nature of sketch-work on the animation in this short feature. It’s all about three childhood friends who head to Liverpool to study. Their upstairs neighbour is a guy called “Gibbo” and at first all four enjoy student life to the full. Then rent day comes around and “Shirley” hasn’t a sous. His mates agree to sub him, so long as he does some very much needed household chores. Of course, best laid plans and all that and fairly swiftly he is back to his drinking, so his pals decide to play some increasingly nasty practical jokes on him. He’s a tough nut, but even he has his limits - and that’s when the lads must decide just what their decade of friendship means, and where does “Gibbo” fit into that future dynamic? There’s plenty of mischief here, but there are also some more thought-provoking elements too as priorities shift and attitudes are tested. There’s also some great detail in the drawing - anyone remember “vin du table”? The pacing is swift, entertaining and even quite poignant in a laddish sort of fashion and it's well worth a quarter of an hour, I’d say.