MIFF NOTES: Nuts! (2016, Dir. Penny Lane)

Penny Lane gives the documentary feature a playfully-narrated animated makeover in her bonkers examination of the life and work of master snake oil salesman, Dr. J. R. Brinkley. Based on the contemporary account of Brinkley’s life, ‘The Life of a Man’ by Clement Wood, the appropriately titled Nuts! traces the doctors unbelievable rise to notoriety as a celebrated transplanter of goat gonads to infertile men, chart-topping radio station sexpert and all-round miracle worker.

Yes and yes and I have no idea. Let your incredulity kick in but throw yourself into the madness because Lane’s work here is a super-entertaining fusion of animation and archival footage. It is ribald, hilarious and baffling in equal measure.

Nuts! may not amount to much but its beautifully self-contained slice of quackery amuses. The voice work is great, the artwork diverse, and our unbounded capacity to be taken in engagingly bounced around. Lots of chuckles to be had. Lots of heads to be scratched.

★★★

Trailer:

Nuts! screened as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival 2016.

You can check out other films from the festival here.