Rob Munday

Though the sudden death of a loved-one might not seem like the perfect set-up for one of the most charming films we’ve featured on Short of the Week in sometime, Alexei Nuzhny takes this morbid scenario and turns into an wholly enjoyable watch with 20-minute Russian short The Rooster.

Billed as “an astonishing woman and bird love story”, The Rooster follows cashier Anya as she struggles to deal with the death of her fiancé only to discover he has returned to her…in the form of a rooster!

“The story is personal”, says producer Kirill Alekhin, “of course none of us lived with roosters or bears (not all the memes about Russia are true) but we’ve all lost someone and know how hard is to accept it. So the subtitle ‘based on a true story’ is really suitable considering the fact that even the saddest stories we prefer to tell with a smile”.

Here at Short of the Week we’re probably the most critical when we’re viewing films over the 20-minute mark and look for these films to maintain a level of engagement throughout their run-time. And The Rooster really nails it when it comes to consistency.

Though never really laugh-out-loud funny (I’m a hard man to please in the comedy stakes), Nuzhny’s film was unwavering in its ability to produce a consistent, inane grin across my face throughout the multiple viewings I gave The Rooster. And for a miserable individual like myself – this is really some achievement!

Financed through Russian crowd-funding platform Planeta, The Rooster is Nuzhny’s second short film after his first, Envelope starring Kevin Spacey, won the Jameson First Short award in 2012.