Justin Knoepfel’s The Man & The Scarecrow plays like an early Coen Brothers movie meets an A24 offering in this eccentric tale about the places and faces we look to for comfort and companionship when our worlds come tumbling down.
Jacob A. Ware plays such a man. Recently separated from his wife, played by Kelly Grago, he is on his way home at magic hour, chilling to the sweet sounds of a country radio station, when he sees it. A Scarecrow. He backs up and gets out, and stares longingly at the thing of rags and hay, designed to keep the crows at bay.
Suddenly, we are back home with the man, bathed in a perpetual state of melancholy, his life in pieces. Then we see the Scarecrow, sitting at the opposite end of the table from the man. There is contemplation until finally the man removes the Scarecrow’s battered garb and applies a wig and dress.
“…the Scarecrow, sitting at the opposite end of the table from the man.”
The Scarecrow and the man now forge their relationship, and the man, for the first time since his troubles began, feels at peace. Of course, until his former wife arrives looking for proof of life and a signature on the divorce papers. She is relieved to find her former husband alive, but she is predominantly concerned with finally bringing closure to their awkward situation.
The papers are signed and the business of concluding a bitter break-up just about done, when an old hurt is roused and an argument ensues. The subject of moving on with different partners draws a mysterious silence from the man. This forces his former wife’s curiosity from the kitchen to the living room, and the stranger awaiting her on the couch, watching TV.
Dark, sad, and stylish, The Man & The Scarecrow is a short that impresses with simplicity in its delivery of complexity. A twisted little fable that speaks to anyone who’s had their fragile heart shattered. This film may come and go with a brief duration, but it comes equipped with a strange and eerie staying power in your head as the credits end.
"…short that impresses with simplicity..."
