Keith Reynolds Can’t Make It Tonight

A simple animated short from student filmmaker, Felix Massie, is one of those finds that’s been online for months but never surfaced until now.

The story follows Keith—a regular guy with lame job and a crush on the girl in the office. It’s going to be a big day for Keith—the day he finally gets his promotion. But instead, it goes to someone else and his day continues to spiral downward as he makes one self-destructive decision after another. I won’t give it away, but the ending is quite poetic—not easy for a dark comedy told with stick figures. It elevates the film to meaningful story.

Scott Johnsons’s dry voice and Felix’s simple stick figure animation make the violence more palatable and allow Felix to take the story far into the darkly absurd. The stick figure violence continues in his recent Christmas greeting animation.