WeTransfer's return to (re)form

Despite being the source of much wailing and gnashing of teeth, British politics has always been a rich vein to tap for comedy.

It’s with this in mind that Aneil Karia follows up his Academy Award-winning WePresent film The Long Goodbye with something a little lighter, but no less politically charged: Vote Gavin Lyle.

Following the titular middle-England family man and aspiring right-wing parliamentary candidate, played with brittle conviction by Jack Lowden, the short presents itself as a The Office-style slice-of-life documentary.

However, with the Somesuch director’s deft hand, the character eschews the pathos at the heart of David Brent’s tragicomic persona, instead offering asides and captured moments that reveal the dishonest, cruel leanings that usually remain unsaid.

As the film follows Lyle through a day of suburban performance, Karia finds unease in the details - the family-man optics, the political posturing, the flashes of neediness and resentment. The result is a darkly funny, discomforting portrait of modern British masculinity and the gap between what certain political figures claim to stand for and what drives them.