MAN offers a dystopian view, where unity and harmony are consistently shunned in favor of power and control.
Steve Cutts’ animated short doesn’t offer solutions for our rampant over-consumption and arrogant tendencies, but it does a great job placing these societal norms directly in front of us, where ignorance is no longer an option.
Gillian Jacobs (Britta from Community) plays a woman whose smothering relationship is literally driving her crazy, causing her to act out in hilarious rage. As a hybrid genre of dark comedy, the film has to hit both comedic and suspenseful story beats. Director Matt Spicer uses invasive sound and camera design to make a dull life maddening before kicking it over the edge.
Entertainment Weekly: Wow, this is dark!
Gillian Jacobs: I read the script and I thought it was an interesting thing for me to do. I hadn’t done anything serious or dark like that in a while. For me it was kind of nice to go back to something that’s a little bit darker than what I’ve been doing lately.
Entertainment Weekly: We don’t get to know much about your character. Did you create a backstory for her?
Gillian Jacobs: I didn’t even create a name for her! We talked a lot about how you reach that point in a relationship where you guys have been together for long enough that little tiny things about your partner start to drive you insane. We talked about that down to sounds they make while eating that make you want to put a fork through their face or stab them with a coffee table. – Gillian Jacobs, It’s Not You, It’s MeInterview