From Omeleto.
A man’s nose is stolen.
GOT YOUR NOSE is used with permission from Stuart Hardy. Learn more at https://stubagful.com.
Nick is at his therapist’s office, breaking down his troubles in life so far. He’s struggling with self-loathing, disconnection and anxiety, and he attributes it all to his lack of a nose.
He tells the therapist how he lost his nose: he was staying at his uncle Roger’s house when he was six years old. Roger was fond of playing "got your nose" with his nephew, but when young Nick accidentally broke a part of Roger’s motorbike, Roger vindictively took Nick’s nose in a passive-aggressive moment of anger, telling his young nephew he would never get it back until Nick learned not to break other people’s things. Nick has been in agony over his disfiguration ever since — and the pain has become unbearable into adulthood.
Directed and written by Stuart Hardy, this surreal yet empathetic short drama is an exploration of mental health, memory, and how childhood pain shapes us as grown-ups. Childhood games are supposed to be harmless and silly, where make-believe dissolves into laughter and hugs. But when one of those games is weaponized against an innocent child, what begins as an act of whimsy leaves scars of all sorts that linger well into adulthood.
The storytelling is a masterful balance of tone, weaving surreal absurdity with taut psychological drama. It sets up the seemingly ludicrous premise right away, with Nick explaining how his lack of a nose has fed into his feelings of self-hatred and agony. But the film refuses to treat this as a punchline, instead using the filmic language of psychological drama — shadowy cinematography, intensely intimate yet slightly distorted angles, and a disquieting musical score — to draw us into Nick’s tortured world. Through carefully framed shots and subjective perspectives, the audience begins to share Nick’s distorted reality and take his pain seriously. Nick’s confrontation with his uncle — played by actor Michael Fenton Stevens with both warm affection and frightening intensity — is portrayed with an earnest realism, and it stings with its small yet potent malevolence.
The subversive, thoughtful direction and editing mold us into Nick’s point of view, as does actor Jack Forsyth Noble’s performance, which has a believable tautness and strain indicative of a man carrying an intense burden of shame and isolation. His therapist — played by actor Rowan Williams with a professional yet sympathetic remove — struggles to make sense of Nick’s dilemma. But what starts as skepticism becomes an empathetic immersion. Nick’s emotions are raw and real, and the trauma he carried from childhood has shaped him indelibly. But with the therapist’s help, he can soon see a way out.
Well-crafted and compelling, GOT YOUR NOSE is both a sly, clever trick of psychological sleight-of-hand and a powerful investigation into how a small wound from childhood can ripple into adulthood. On some level, it’s a surreal comedy that plays like psychological drama, but its commitment to emotional truth turns it into something far more haunting and resonant. Even the most “ridiculous” disorders or mental convictions are real to those who live with them, but they are often dismissed. The film takes the absurdity of people’s beliefs seriously, and in doing so, reveals just how fragile — and powerful — our perceptions really are.
