Fifty Percent Grey by Ruairi Robinson is a hilarious short a la Groundhog Day. Our character wakes up surprised to be alive, having taken a shot to the gut. Standing up, blood falling to the floor, he finds himself in a bleach white environment, and in front of stands a widescreen television and a video recorder.

Our character then presses play on the video recorder and is greeted by the message “Welcome to heaven” on the television screen. It turns out our friend is living in heaven and being given an eternity to think about life. Having listened to the message, the character decides to take a walk, and as he does so he spots something in the distance. Relieved and thankful he continues to move towards the object, only to find to his dismay that the object is the very same television and video recorder he found upon waking up from the dead the first time.

Cue the character taking out his gun and blowing out his brains via his temple in a glorified bloody scene. Having killed himself, he wakes up once more, his wound disappears, and he’s confronted by another television and video recorder. Once more he presses play on the video recorder and is this time met by the message”Welcome to hell purgatory”. You can guess what happens next.

At three minutes long, it’s obviously quite difficult to put together an idea that’s entertaining. Robinson has done well in taking a simple concept and turning it into short film entertainmemt. The animation is lovely, expressive and enjoyable, and the small range of emotions expressed by out poor protagonist our great entertainment as he discovers his repetitious hell. “Pity the fool”, as one Mr T might state.

Verdict: Simple idea, enjoyable short