Movie Short Review: ‘The Overcoat’

Review by James Lindorf

The Overcoat is based Nikolai Gogol’s short story and was both adapted and directed by Patrick Myles (Santa’s Blotto). The short film features an all-star cast, including the BAFTA-winning actor Jason Watkins (The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies), Tim Key (Gap Year), Vicki Pepperdine (The Windsors), Dominic Coleman (Trollied) and Alex Macqueen (Peaky Blinders). Though it recently started its festival run, The Overcoat has already won Best Comedy at LA Shorts Film Festival, Best Short Comedy at London Independent Film Festival, Best Director at New Renaissance Film Festival and has been selected to screen at Aesthetica which runs November 7th-11th. If it performs well there, it could be up for both a BAFTA and an Oscar early next year.

The Overcoat is a dark comedy about a mild-mannered social outcast who gets a glimpse of the good life and refuses to let it go at all costs. Christopher Cobbler is a proofreader for an undisclosed government agency who lives a life so regimented, it would make most militaries scoff. His sole focus in life is being the best proofreader he can be, until the lack of recognition and bullying at the office goes too far. He then decides to purchase an overcoat so dazzling that people will have to notice him.
This 19-minute film has everything Americans love or hate about British cinema, it is quirky, dark and possesses a dry sense of humor. Myles’ film has themes of desire and sacrifice with hints of humor that I personally found very appealing. Seeing the way Cobbler lives early in the movie is depressing enough, and then when he’s saving up to buy the coat, his lifestyle would make someone rationing for WWII feel guilty.

I really enjoyed the setting of the film. However, the exact time period was hard to place. It is based on a story from 1842, but it feels decidedly more modern than that, while also not belonging in the new millennia. The color pallet for the film is darker with some sepia tones to go along with the warmth from lamps glowing in shades of gold and red. The color pallet changes to fit the setting, of course, but it also helps reflect Cobbler’s emotional state in the film.

Cobbler was the invisible man until he got a new coat. The clothes made him into the man he never knew he could be. Then, they made him angry, paranoid and obsessive until he sacrificed everything in this charming, funny, slightly sad and overall great short film.