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What would you do if you finally had the time to do all the things you wanted?
That is the predicament Ray, (voiced by Domhnall Gleeson), faces midlife as he starts to plan out his life after retirement. The audience follows along in John Kelly's short film, Retirement Plan, as Ray contemplates what he wants to do in his lifetime when he is finally free to do so. The film provokes the viewer to think about the much larger picture that is the endless choices and possibilities of a lifetime.
Writer and Director Kelly, along with his co-writer Tara Lawall, present this mediative film in an animated medium. Combining both humor and thoughtfulness, Retirement Plan resonates with anyone who has pondered their future at some point in their life.
Interview
The film's greatest success is in how it tackles such a large topic in a meaningful and down-to-earth way anyone can engage with. When talking with him, John Kelly explained where the idea came from and how it related to his own personality and habits.
"I'm not necessarily someone who is great at self-reflection." He says,
"I'm a bit of a doer, and I'll solve my problems by doing. I thought it could be interesting to tell the story of a character inspired by that who is constantly doing and doing and doing, and what would happen when they come off the hamster wheel of that; when things unravel, and they are forced to confront how they are spending their own time."
And although Kelly had originally expected the film to resonate mainly with those in their 40s to 50s, the film actually found a lot of audience among viewers in their 20s. Part of this, Kelly attributes to our current digital age.
"With social media [we're] being thrown solutions for every conceivable ailment or career cure, in ways that people in retirement aren't... Now we are exposed to all the things we should be doing... All of it is great, but there is just too much, and as a result, we feel paralysis," Kelly explains.
The film works well to combine the complicated aspects of this predicament and the comedic parts as well, and Kelly emphasizes that it was in part due to his co-writer, Tara Lawall.
"I took it to my friend Tara... she made my miserable idea into something a lot more engaging. The two of us worked together to make something that was both funny and sad."
Balancing both these elements primarily happens through the list's structure, something that was deliberately made flexible for changes because of its animated format. They were able to reorder and remove scenes as needed without affecting the overall structure too much. Part of the freedom of animating was also the ability to have many different backgrounds and scenes, as well as being able to illustrate the main character's aging throughout the film. It was because of this flexibility that Kelly mentions even having changed the very ending of the film at the last minute.
"There's an ending that we removed, where the character comes back as a dog, and it's a tiny little Jack Russell growling at the camera. And Domhnall recorded the line, 'I will come back as a dog, and I will bite Deirdre Hogan.' But it was that thing of following the sad bit with a joke, and I think we could do that all the way through, and that's fine, but ending on a gag..."
It was only after some feedback that the ending was removed entirely, replaced with the more serious ending and on a thoughtful note, and Kelly believes the film was better for it.
There is also a unique stillness throughout the film, along with the strangely realistic, simple animation. Kelly shared that some of the films and directors that inspired the style for Retirement Plan include documentaries such as American Movie, Some Kind of Heaven, and How to with John Wilson, along with directors like Roy Andersson.
"We did approach it a bit like a low-budget, live-action documentary," Kelly reflects, "My background is often stop frame animation, which requires teams of people and model makers and studio space and layers of production... It's a huge ship to steer – and I wanted this film to be the opposite of that. I wanted it to be super flexible and try to get from script to screen as quickly as possible."
One point of conflict Kelly faced while creating this film was the location. With a desire to reach as many audiences and to be as broad as possible, the film was originally to be set in the United States. And while setting it in America did provide the opportunity to make more references, Kelly found himself struggling.
"People would occasionally ask, 'Why is it set in America again?'. And I kinda realized I didn't have an answer for that."
And so the film was set in Dublin, Ireland, with the visual elements becoming much more personal to reflect places Kelly himself has seen and been to in his area.
"The effect of that was that every other aspect became more personal and more honest. I couldn't compartmentalize the film as much as I had been doing previously, and I think the film benefited from that a lot. It became a more honest film."
"Viewers can smell when there is a bit of BS," Kelly says.
Review
It's a weird feeling to enjoy something so much yet struggle to put into words exactly why you do. I'm in the audience of young adults who watch this film and are taken aback by the sheer amount of how much you can do in a life time, and how much you haven't. Viewers may come away with different interpretations of Retirement Plan, depending on where they are at in life and their goals, but the thought-provoking themes stay consistent. Domhnall Gleeson's voice, accompanied by the calming but haunting music, gives the audience much-needed time to contemplate and wonder about what kind of list they want to make for themselves. The script feels natural and realistic, and the simple but pretty visuals lend themselves to a strong feeling of tranquility, even in the more emotional scenes.
The film is avaliable for viewing via The New Yorker and Disney+. Check out more behind the scenes from John Kelly for details on the Scene Design and Animation!
