MIFF 2015 critics campus review: Finders Keepers

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This was published 8 years ago

MIFF 2015 critics campus review: Finders Keepers

This engaging oddball tale is a study of obsession as a human foot found in a barbecue sparks a bizarre custody battle.

By Christy Collins

Clay Tweel and Bryan Carberry’s highly engaging documentary tells the story of a bizarre conflict over an amputated, mummified, air-dried leg found inside a grill. Oddball entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant inadvertently takes ownership of the leg when he purchases the contents of a storage unit, and wants to exploit it as a tourist attraction. But the original owner, John Wood, demands the return of the appendage he lost in a plane accident that also claimed his father’s life. Here, as in Tweel’s 2007 documentary The King of Kong, the interest is in exploring obsession. The story is told via the accounts of the two men and their families, but includes footage from news programs, reality TV and a television courtroom. Though Finders Keepers strives for even-handedness, it can't resist casting Wood as the victim and Whisnant as his fame-hungry antagonist. In the closing moments, the latter spouts a line that could have been scripted for The Office’s David Brent, revealing a grim mixture of narcissism and self-hatred and revealing him to be a man so invested in the idea of himself as the star of the show that he is willing to jeopardise his marriage and sense of self in pursuit of cheap fame.

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