This short film is McDonagh's directorial debut in cinema. He uses the train as a set piece to convey the fact that every passenger is heading the same direction, and symbolically this is towards death. Violence is a staple in McDonagh's work, and it is used here as well with the suicide of the Woman, the death of the Kid, and the murder of the rabbit by Donnelly. The external violence can be shocking, but McDonagh has his characters do what most of us pent up inside. Therefore, his characters live on the surface, cut through equivocation and nonsense much quicker. Such violence certainly pushes the plot along in this short film.
The Kid antagonizes a Man and Woman about their son's death to the point that the Woman jumps off the train, killing herself, but he claims no responsibility for it. What we see here is a brash taste of a lack of boundaries, how nothing is the fault of someone who is brutal (such as the Kid) to others. They choose what they choose and it isn't because of him...or so he believes. The film shows us that how we treat others can have an impact on their well-being; the director of this film simply chooses to show the harmful extreme of it.
McDonagh's dialogue cuts through the frame as well. From the opening with the doctor to Donnelly and the Cashier on the train (played by Gleeson's son), the rhythm of the Irish language is in full effect. The dark comedy of minor misunderstandings comes front and center in the relationships that the well-respected author has crafted.
