This Fun, Trippy Short Film Subverts All the Detective Noir Cliches

Jason Kreher, the Wieden & Kennedy creative who recently charmed us with his kooky animated film for KFC, is the writer behind "Redmond Hand, Private Dick," an eccentric new short which takes the classic Hollywood detective film noir genre and turns it on its head.

Directed by illustrator and author Todd Selby, aka The Selby, the film starts Felicia Pearson, who played "Snoop" in "The Wire," as the lesbian private detective, and Katya Zamo (RuPaul's Drag Race) as a drag red herring. Pearson, who does a great job in the traditionally white male role of the world-weary gumshoe, goes in search of a missing catcus (read into that what you will). Along the way there's rapping, surreal animations, a cameo from MTV's Jesse Camp as a disembodied head, a cute-but-evil baby (played by Selby's real baby) and finally death.

The filmmakers' aim, according to the publicity, was to "show audiences how a timeless story can look when told by a totally different cast of characters." That they achieved, and in addition created a trippy romp stuffed full of witty references, cursing and surreal cartoonery.

The film, running on Vogue.com, premiered at the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival and has played at several other film festivals this year.