At only 15 minutes, it is hard to discuss Insane at length. To do so would give away the entire plot of the short film. It is both universally typical and bizarre in its portrayals. We start with a simple morning routine: A young man making his morning tea. We hear the flies buzzing outside in the morning sun, cars honking on some nearby street, someone yelling—a street vendor perhaps?
The first few minutes of the film set us firmly in India in some mid-grade apartment in some city. It then separates us from that familiarity as the film’s subject retreats from one room to another, the whole time keeping his face covered with a portable boombox blaring static. What’s going on? We get some answers as he withdraws a camera from its case and places it on a table. He sits, hits record, sips his tea, and smiles.
As outstanding as some aspects are in this film, the eventual outcome and the actual content are just too thin. The subject shows his papers and certifications and dives into a very relatable story about his financial and social troubles: He went to school to get a better job, he didn’t do well enough to get scooped up out of school, his girlfriend left him when he went home to care for his stroke-afflicted father and mind the family shop.
Where the familiarity ends is the violent means he takes to solve his problems. He takes authority over his own and his family's life and happiness. It is a sad misuse of time and what was an artful introduction where he delivers his confession, simply walks off-screen, makes a gagging noise, and slaps the film’s title up on the screen. The lack of compelling content and trite ending make Insane a fair film and an optional purchase for foreign film collections.