One of the benefits of short film is being able to use brevity to your comedic advantage. One trick-pony jokes that would become played out and tear-jerkingly boring in a long film often work perfectly in a short film. There is just enough time to flesh out a joke until it goes as far as it can. Hands Solo: the Porn Star With the Midas Touch, is such a short film. It centers around a porn star who has used his deafness to his advantage by developing patented sex moves (the spider, the 'wristler', etc.) based on the manual dexterity years of sign language have given him. At its core though, the movie is about the love story between Hans Jane, and his estranged girlfriend.
This film works from a narrative perspective because of the densely imagined histories and motivations of all the characters. Though we first see hokey/porny images of Hans on set, within the next minute as the narration explains his biography, we see candidly filmed press conferences, childhood photos, a behind the scenes tour, and cast interviews. The effect of mixed media that travels such a large gap of time gives Hans's narrative a compelling foundation. The narration gains further depth when the film interviews neurological experts who use diagrams and statistics to explain the scientific basis for the impact of Hans's patented moves.
The story reveals further layers when Jane Tilden, Hans's pre-porn girlfriend of seven years, talks about the happy history the two shared. Jane is given her own characterizing details: she's the youngest ever executive of a deaf charity, and was there when Hans initially discovered his unique talents. Through cuts with interviews with Hans and Jane, it's revealed that a misunderstanding broke the two up. When Hans finds out, he resolves to fix it, lending the narrative the neat, concise conclusion befitting of a short film.
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