Your worst impulses just gained a body, a tracksuit, and zero shame.
After turning in his fourth late assignment, Sam is sent to his university's counsellor, Dr Miller. Struggling to focus and sit still, Sam reveals how his love for music and all things practical was neglected by his parents, who eventually pushed him into theoretical subjects he can't excel in. When the counsellor suspects he has ADHD, Sam reveals that he sometimes feels all his annoying impulses could be best described as an irritating "shadow"; a loud, brightly-dressed version of himself who never leaves him alone. She then asks Sam to recount the day when the "Shadow" led him through London, prioritising trivial tasks over his assignment, ultimately leading him to not hand it in on time.
Acting
Milligan and Meadows' electric chemistry as one fractured mind.
Direction
Tailor visualises internal chaos with wicked kinetic energy.
Writing
The shadow metaphor: obvious yet devastatingly effective.
Director
Chris Tailor
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of a 2023 wave of ADHD representation in short film, rejecting 'quirky' tropes for genuine executive dysfunction portrayal. The shadow device has been used in mental health narratives since Peter Pan but rarely with this much irritable specificity.
Director Chris Tailor has spoken about casting Meadows after seeing him physically unable to sit still in the audition—method casting or genuine recognition? The film blurs this deliciously.
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