Darby Duncan is convinced he will die on his Ten Thousandth Day. When he meets Arabella at the funeral of his cousin, things don’t quite go to plan.

Ten Thousand Days has a premise that is as absurd as it sounds, placing us in an uncomfortable setting never dying true love, packing an impressive amount of dark humor, which is brilliantly played by its two protagonists Benedict Wall and Morgana O’Reilly.

The film explores how love and mortality are somehow intertwined; we love things even more when we know they are going to end. It seems to me that the best, most enduring love stories are usually doomed somehow.

Director Michael Duignan‘s uncanny vintage style is something to be remembered for, which so readily fits with the film’s comical sense, taking on allures from films by inspired filmmakers like Hal Hartley, David O Russel and Spike Jonze. Timing and pace propels this film into an epic, intently low-budget dark humor, matched by brilliant location scouting, cinematography and overall feel.

We didn’t have any money, but almost all of the effects are in camera. This meant doing things like creating papier mache magpies, and spray painting an old wreck to stand in for the stolen car. Adam King, our art director did a great job with very few resources, and we had a lot of fun creating the world of the film.

The entire film is just an excerpt of something bigger, Michael says. They are trying to raise attention for a feature length film, and their main goal with the film was trying to get something off the pages and onto the screen. As we can confidently say they managed to get something great onto the screen, we wish them all the attention possible, as I would love to see a feature adaptation of this.

michael-duignan.com

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