When a bridge is built connecting a fishing island to the mainland, it creates far-reaching implications for the life of a young man. As our hero, Levi loses his loved ones and sinks into a depression, his stepfather takes drastic action to save him, and this is where we begin The Moped Diaries.

In just over ten minutes, The Moped Diaries manages to be probably the funniest short film I have ever seen. The island and its inhabitants are fantastic in their eccentricity; ‘You wanna work or you just wan’a paycheck?’ constitutes a job interview; a dislike of pens is a legitimate justification for illegally adopting two children. The island is its own strange, bright little world that has little patience for stuffy mainland bureaucracy. The island has an endearing oddness that lets the use of voiceover create an intimacy between the viewer and the narrator: you can almost imagine yourself on the next bar stool to Levi listening to him tell the story over a drink and diagrams drawn on napkins. The characters are bright, colourful and above all decent, striving for a better life for themselves and their loved ones. ‘You can’t control what happens to you,’ Levi reflects, ‘only how you respond to it.’

It is this intimacy and allows the film to succeed in telling Levi’s life story in ten minutes. Emotion is carried through sardonic wit, the water and occasional acts of controlled violence. (‘I’m only doing this ’cause I love ya,’ Old Man Winky explains, shovel in hand.) Physical exertion proves to be a major part of emotional progression: the water envelopes the narrator in the depths of joy or sadness, and the bridge which carries him over the water is simultaneously the cause and solution to his depression.

Though the events of the plot are tragic – Levi loses every familial bond he has and his first real girlfriend – yet the tone is hopeful. The unfair truths of life are balanced against the resilience of the human spirit. The Moped Diaries does not shy away from the lows in life, but falls short of pessimism. There is hardship, but there is also love, truth and comfort.

If you would like to watch The Moped Diaries, you can find it here: https://vimeo.com/112398958