Interview with John Kelly and Tara Lawall of Retirement Plan

In Retirement Plan, we follow the journey of Ray, a man with a detached attitude toward his own life. However, dreaming of his retirement days, Ray finds joy in the desire to discover the world. In the film by John Kelly, we watch a slice-of-life type of story questioning the human tendency to dream of the future, instead of living in the moment. Listen above as Pedro speaks to director John Kelly and Tara Lawall about the short.

Retirement Plan, dir. John Kelly

“I should exercise more”, “I should learn a foreign language”, “I should save more for retirement”, “I should have that conversation”, “I should…For many people life is filled with I-should’s. An urge to do more, to be better, to explore, and a will to do so in the distant land of another day. In John Kelly’s retirement plan this theme is explored through the eyes of Ray, voiced by Domhnall Gleeson. Ray is somewhere in the middle of his life and overstimulated while simultaneously low in motivation. He dreams of his big retirement plan, of fitting multiple lifetimes worth of activities into those twilight years. As he dreams in a poem-like manner of voiceovers, we see his dreams come to life before us. We watch him achieve small victories like inbox zero on his email or learning to play a single piano piece, to big changes like daily exercising and being as he puts it “aggressively present”. The dreams progress alongside an aging Ray that slowly moves towards his final days here on earth, filled with experiences from an endless list of I-should’s.

The balance on display here between the harsh truth of a finite lifetime and the silly little things we tell ourselves we need even though we probably do not is exceptional. It speaks to one of our most fundamental desires of achieving more with less, but do so in a way that feels like reminiscing rather than longing. It is emotionally impactful, beautiful and funny without either side overpowering the other. Perhaps you have had many of the same dreams as Ray does, or you have even achieved some and come out the other end richer in life for it, regardless of where in the films timeline you find yourself I think many of us can relate to the state of mind and the desire to break free from the endless dwelling and start accomplishing, as well as the anxiety that comes with that feeling and the irony of starting projects just for the heck of it.

Lastly I want to highlight the script from writers John Kelly and Tara Lawall specifically, the words flow so well as a standalone poem that you can close your eyes and listen, dreaming of your own version of the visuals and what they mean to you. Not to say the visuals are not good in and of themselves, but the words are so impactful at driving the momentum of the film you can easily get lost in them. This is one to get back to, as I know I will, many times over.

Review by Robin Hellgren