FEBRUARY 4, 2015 2:11AM
Finders Keepers - Sundance 2015
Chillerpop@ Sundance Review
Director: Bryan Carberry, J. Clay TweelProducers: Ed Cunningham
Notable Cast: Shannon Whisnant, John Wood
Synopsis: After a horrific plane crash, John Wood recovers his severed leg from the hospital, then places it inside a barbecue smoker, takes the smoker inside of a storage unit, and falls behind on his payments. When aspiring celebrity Shannon Whisnant purchases the storage unit, he discovers the hidden prize.
What follows is a colossal battle for the ownership rights to a severed leg.
So far in my Sundance reviews for 2015 I've talked about storage units, celebrity as the ultimate coin of the realm, and economic anxiety. A weird pattern is emerging because this documentary contains all three things.
Finders Keepers is an excellent documentary about an event that most people want to write off as the Darwin Award Recipient factor. Indeed, news bureaus in North Carolina received calls from all over the world, and one can only imagine what the French newspapers printed about American idiocy.
At the start of the film I was wondering if this would be 90 minutes of "let's laugh at the dumb white trash." It was no such thing. This documentary is moving and, dare I say, micro-Shakespearean in magnitude.
True, a fight over a found severed leg - between the leg's previous owner and the man who legally purchased the barbecue it was stored in - seems one of the most amazingly ridiculous things you could imagine, the stuff of Jerry Springer. But this leg took on a world of meaning for both men.
The man that it was attached to, John Wood, had a whole host of
troubles - drugs, unemployment, family estrangement, and more. But what
come to light are his feelings towards his father (who lost his life in
the same plane accident that resulted in his amputated leg), his guilt,
and his desire to reconnect with his own family and overcome his
addiction. For him the battle for this leg symbolized all of this, and
it eventually drew him closer to peace, closure and healing.
Meanwhile, I couldn't help but be charmed by Shannon Whisnant. He
seems like a stock comic villain at first, stubbornly refusing to return
another man's lost body part. You'll further whisper "what the fuck"
under your breath when you learn that Whisnant had plans for that leg.
Grand plans. A local museum, t-shirts, appearances on reality shows,
celebrity, riches - Wood's severed leg represented the fulfillment of
his dream. And with a sad admiration, I could see through interview
segments that Whisnant has a strong, deep and passionate desire to be
famous and to make people laugh. And oddly enough, I wish him luck.
Also Recommended
Finders Keepers was produced by former NFL player, ESPN sportscaster and current film producer Ed Cunningham. He has been involved in several excellent documentaries. See below.New York Doll (2005) - A documentary profiling Arthur "Killer" Kane, former bassist of the New York Dolls, following his addiction recovery, conversion to Mormonism and battle with cancer. You'll see a very concerned and gentlemanly superfan Morrissey push for a New York Dolls reunion, and if you click on the DVD extras you can see lead Doll David Johanssen singing a Mormon ballad.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) - This is another incredibly compelling documentary about a battle between two adult men, one of which will stop at nothing to be the reigning Donkey Kong champion of the world.
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Comments
This story sounds too
fucked up to be true. I guess the cliche, "The Truth Is Stranger Than
Fiction", applies to "Finders Keepers".
I gotta see this! Thank you! r.
Gack.
Great review. Think I'll skip the movie tho. (I generally skip movies anyway.)
Great review. Think I'll skip the movie tho. (I generally skip movies anyway.)
R&R Not hard to see the Shakespeare in that scenario... six pounds of flesh and bone. ;-D
Whoa boy, here's a tale you don't hear every day. It sounds like a Monty Python sketch.
I still have to see the "New York Doll" doc. Sadly, by the time I got to see the reformed Dolls, Kane had already passed away (although the gig was still fab). And if you read the Morrissey bio as we were talking about elsewhere, you'll come across a Killer Kane story from a far less considerate and gentlemanly Moz.
I still have to see the "New York Doll" doc. Sadly, by the time I got to see the reformed Dolls, Kane had already passed away (although the gig was still fab). And if you read the Morrissey bio as we were talking about elsewhere, you'll come across a Killer Kane story from a far less considerate and gentlemanly Moz.
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