Alex And The Handyman 2017mkv -

There are some films that feel less like a passive viewing experience and more like eavesdropping on a private, uncomfortable conversation. Alex and the Handyman is precisely that kind of movie. Unearthed from the depths of a 2017 MKV file—likely passed around on forgotten hard drives and obscure torrent trackers—this low-budget independent feature is a masterclass in atmospheric tension, even when its ambition slightly exceeds its grasp.

The Plot (No Major Spoilers)

The film centers on Alex (portrayed with raw, nervy energy by newcomer Jordana Breeze), a twenty-something graphic designer who has inherited a dilapidated Victorian farmhouse in rural upstate New York. Recovering from a poorly explained emotional breakdown, Alex decides to renovate the house alone. Enter The Handyman (veteran character actor Clive Rennie), a taciturn, weathered man in his sixties who appears at her doorstep one rainy evening, offering his services for a suspiciously low fee.

What follows is not a conventional thriller. There are no jump scares, no hidden cameras, no sudden reveals of a dark past. Instead, the film charts a deeply unsettling power dynamic. The Handyman is unfailingly polite, punctual, and skilled. He fixes the rotting porch, replaces the fuse box, and silently judges. Alex, desperate for human contact but terrified of intimacy, begins to rely on him. The film’s genius is that we never know if the threat is real or entirely in Alex’s head. Is he gaslighting her? Moving her tools? Leaving cryptic notes in the wall cavities? Or is her paranoia simply the echo of past trauma?

Technical Execution (The MKV Experience)

Watching the 2017.mkv rip is crucial to the experience. The file I acquired has a grainy, 24fps texture, with occasional compression artifacts in dark scenes. Strangely, this enhances the mood. Cinematographer Lena Park shoots the farmhouse in sickly yellows and deep, impenetrable shadows. The sound design—a constant backdrop of dripping pipes, creaking floorboards, and distant freight trains—is exceptional. You’ll find yourself checking your own front door locks.

However, the MKV encoding shows its age. The dialogue is mixed too low (the handyman’s gruff mutterings are almost inaudible without subtitles), and a crucial 30-second scene in the second act suffers from a noticeable pixelation glitch. Whether this is a flaw in the rip or the source master is unclear, but it’s a blemish on an otherwise immersive visual experience.

Performances: The Core of the Storm

Jordana Breeze is a revelation. She carries the film’s entire emotional weight, moving from brittle defensiveness to genuine terror to moments of startling vulnerability. Watch her hands—she is always gripping something: a coffee mug, a hammer, the edge of a table. It’s a tic that feels real, not performed.

Clive Rennie’s Handyman is a study in ambiguity. He has the face of a man who has seen everything and forgotten most of it. Is he a guardian angel or a predator? Rennie plays every line flat, never winking at the camera. The film’s central confrontation—a 12-minute single take in the basement where Alex finally asks, “What do you want from me?” and he simply replies, “To finish the job”—is as chilling as anything in mainstream horror.

Where It Falters

Alex and the Handyman is not for everyone. The pacing is glacial. The first 45 minutes are almost entirely Alex measuring walls, making tea, and staring out rain-streaked windows. The subplot involving her ex-boyfriend (a single, poorly acted phone call) adds nothing. Furthermore, the final act introduces a surreal, almost Lynchian sequence involving a trapped raccoon and a shattered mirror that feels thematically disconnected from the grounded dread that preceded it.

The ending, too, will frustrate many. Without spoiling, the film commits to ambiguity in a way that feels brave but incomplete. You are left with more questions than answers. Is the handyman a ghost? A hallucination? A real handyman who just happens to be creepy? The MKV file cuts to black so abruptly you’ll check if the download corrupted.

Final Verdict

Alex and the Handyman (2017) is not a crowd-pleaser. It is a slow, melancholic, and deeply unsettling portrait of isolation and the fear of allowing someone to help you. For fans of The VVitch, The Night House, or early Polanski’s Repulsion, this is a forgotten treasure. For everyone else, the 1-hour-47-minute runtime will feel like 3 hours.

If you can find a clean copy of the 2017.mkv—without the pixelation glitch and with the correct audio sync—you are in for a rare experience. Just don’t expect any easy answers. And maybe don’t hire any handymen afterward.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5/5) Recommended for: Fans of slow-burn dread, ambiguous endings, and the specific smell of wet wood.

Alex and the Handyman is a 2017 award-winning short film directed by Nicholas Colia

. The specific file name you referenced, "alex and the handyman 2017mkv," typically appears on file-sharing sites as a digital copy of this film. Film Overview Plot Summary

: The story follows Alex, a precocious nine-year-old boy living in a mansion, who develops an obsessive crush on Jared, a moody 25-year-old handyman hired by his mother. : Comedy / Coming-of-Age. : Approximately 14 minutes. Keaton Nigel Cooke as Alex and Aaron Profumo Release and Recognition : It premiered at major festivals in 2017, including the Palm Springs International ShortFest : The film won the 1st Place King Award NYU First Run Film Festival Availability : It was included in the short film compilation "Boys on Film 17: Love is the Drug" alex and the handyman 2017mkv

and has been available for streaming or rent on platforms like Feature Film Adaptation

Director Nicholas Colia expanded the themes of this short into his debut feature film, Griffin in Summer

(2024/2025), which also focuses on a young protagonist's intense obsession during a summer break. this short film or more about its feature-length adaptation Alex and the Handyman (Short 2017) - IMDb

Released in 2017, Alex and the Handyman is a provocative and darkly comedic short film that explores the boundary between childhood precociousness and neglect. Directed by Nicholas Colia

, the film gained recognition on the festival circuit, winning the 1st Place King Award at the NYU First Run Film Festival. Plot Overview

The story centers on Alex, a nine-year-old boy living in a sprawling mansion with an emotionally distant, pill-popping mother and an absent father. Starved for attention and masculine influence, Alex develops an intense, obsessive crush on Jared, a moody 25-year-old handyman hired to perform repairs around the house. Themes and Narrative Style

The film is noted for its exploration of a child's loneliness and the blurring of boundaries. Alex’s sophisticated yet misguided attempts to connect with Jared highlight the lack of supervision in his life. The narrative uses a blend of dark humor and melodrama to depict Alex's desperation for a role model or friend, drawing inspiration from high-society tropes and classic cinema references. Cast and Production Keaton Nigel Cooke

as Alex: Cooke's performance is central to the film, portraying a character that is both precocious and emotionally vulnerable. Nicholas Colia

(Director/Writer/Editor): An NYU Tisch alumnus, Colia is known for exploring complex interpersonal dynamics in short films like No Friends Starring Roman Mike von der Nahmer

: Composed the film's score, which provides a whimsical backdrop to the mansion's sterile environment. Critical Reception Alex and the Handyman

has sparked significant discussion among festival audiences: Artistic Merit

: Critics often point to the film's high production value and the strong lead performance. Comparisons have been made to the "coming-of-age" genre, though with a much darker, satirical edge. Thematic Complexity

: The film is frequently debated for its approach to sensitive subjects, including the consequences of parental neglect and the projection of adult emotions onto childhood behavior. Availability The short film was included in the Boys on Film 17: Love is the Drug

anthology, a collection that highlights diverse stories in short-form cinema. It has been made available through various independent film platforms and distributors specializing in festival-circuit shorts.

Researching other works by Nicholas Colia or exploring the history of the NYU First Run Film Festival can provide further context on this style of independent filmmaking. Alex and the Handyman (Short 2017) - IMDb

Alex arrived home after a long commute to find the mailbox stuffed with more bills than usual and the apartment’s hallway light flickering like it couldn’t decide whether to keep him company. He lived alone, which suited him—less clutter, fewer expectations. He liked quiet. Tonight the quiet felt thin, stretched over a day that had gone flat.

The door hissed open. Inside, a faint leak had darkened the kitchen ceiling near the sink. A slow, patient stain, like something that had been thinking about falling for a long time. Alex sighed, grabbed a towel, and balanced a bowl under it. His phone buzzed. No name—just a number he’d been meaning to call: the building’s handyman, Jorge.

Jorge answered on the third ring. His voice was warm and deliberate. “Can be there in twenty,” he said. “Got a wrench and some patience.” Alex said okay before he could talk himself out of it.

Twenty minutes later Jorge knocked, carrying a battered tool bag. He was older than Alex expected: salt at his temples, a laugh that came from somewhere under the ribs. He moved through the apartment like he’d been invited into someone else’s life before—respectful, unobtrusive. He inspected the ceiling, the pipes, the dripping sound that filled the room like a second, quieter heart. There are some films that feel less like

“It’s the upstairs unit,” Jorge said after probing the pipes, thumbs turning like small anchors. “I can patch this, tighten that. Won’t be pretty forever, but it’ll stop.” He worked with a steady rhythm: tighten, test, listen. Alex watched from the edge of the kitchen, folding and unfolding his hands as though that might make them less useless.

They spoke in the spare language of strangers at first—apartment issues, building management, the cold that had finally reached for the city. Jorge told stories in small bursts: a rooftop garden he’d helped build, a radiator that once sang at three in the morning, the time a raccoon unstitched an entire trash bag and left behind a paper trail like confetti. Alex found himself laughing at a joke he hadn’t volunteered for.

As the leak slowed and the bowl no longer collected the drip, the conversation opened without drama. Alex mentioned his work—editing, late nights on footage, a freelance life strung together by short-term projects. Jorge listened when he talked about projects as if each one were a small ship at sea.

“You ever film at the docks?” Jorge asked. “I used to help unload old crates down there. Stories in those barrels, I tell ya.”

“No,” Alex admitted, picturing the docks as a place he’d only ever see through windows or in low-resolution video clips.

Jorge straightened, wiping his hands on a rag. “Look,” he said. “I’m a handyman, sure, but I also know that things break quiet before people notice. If you’re not gonna look after them, they shout later.”

He left Alex with a patch job, a business card with a crooked line drawn where Jorge’s name should have been printed, and a piece of advice: check the unseen. It sounded like more than plumbing.

Over the next few weeks, Jorge became the kind of presence that didn’t unsettle things. He swung by when a doorknob loosened or a light died. Sometimes he stayed long enough to drink bad coffee and talk about baseball. Alex began looking forward to his visits in the same way people look forward to chapters of a book they like—familiar beats that promised a comforting continuity.

One rainy Saturday, the building’s old elevator died for good. Ten floors of polite frustration. Alex, whose apartment was on the seventh, had vowed to take the stairs as penance for all the hours he’d spent sitting. He met Jorge on the landing, carrying a box of tools and a flashlight that smelled like oil.

“You going up?” Jorge asked.

“Yeah,” Alex said, and then, without thinking, “Need company?”

They climbed together. In the narrow shared space of the stairwell, conversation changed. It became less about the small collapses of the apartment and more about the things that needed patching in people. Jorge told Alex about his ex-wife, Ana, and the way her laugh had been bright enough to make strangers look up. The story landed between them like a small stone in a pool; Alex listened. He offered, haltingly, that his parents had moved away two years ago, that his life had shrunk and filled in the same breath—less noise, more hours to fill. Jorge nodded like it made sense. He didn’t offer platitudes.

“You ever shoot anything personal?” Jorge asked as they paused on the fifth-floor landing, breathing the same damp air. “Not for a client—something that’s yours.”

Alex’s throat tightened. “No,” he said. “I keep thinking if I make it personal I’ll have to notice things I’d rather keep tidy.”

Jorge laughed softly. “That’s why you need a hand sometimes. Somebody to hold the ladder while you climb.”

The elevator’s silence was finally replaced by the hum of a climbing motor and someone’s oath as they got it moving. Life returned to motion and, for Alex, a small nudge returned its focus.

Months later, Alex began a small project on his own—minutes of ordinary life stitched with the kind of tenderness he’d been avoiding. He filmed the way rain pooled on the window, how the neighbor downstairs watered his fern, a close-up of a potholder with a burn mark like a secret scar. He was clumsy at first; the images felt too intimate, like photographs of an intimacy he wasn’t sure he deserved.

Jorge showed up one evening, saw the unstable tripod, and without ceremony, adjusted it. He suggested a better angle for the kitchen’s light, tapped a rhythm Alex adopted as a metaphor: slow, steady, don’t rush the details. In the footage, Jorge’s hands looked like the hands of someone who’d spent a life mending: capable, practical, unglamorous. Alex placed those hands in the middle of a frame and discovered they made the shot feel anchored.

They worked in small increments: Jorge fixing a loose shutter and Alex capturing the light that slanted through it. They made a short sequence about repair—homes, hearts, habit. When Alex screened it in a small neighborhood café that hosted a monthly show-and-tell for local artists, people leaned forward. There were nods and a quiet that felt like permission. Title: Alex and the Handyman (2017) Format reviewed: 2017

A woman in the front row came up afterward. “I liked the way you stayed with the small things,” she said. “It makes the big ones louder.”

Alex thought of Jorge’s crooked business card, his steady hands, the stairwell conversation, the elevator’s last cough. He thought of the leak that had cracked open the night his life had been a little too tidy. He realized the project had done something to him: it had taught him to stay.

Once, while installing a new faucet, Jorge paused and looked at Alex. “You know why I do this?” he asked.

Alex waited.

“’Cause nobody remembers the guy who shows up after the storm,” Jorge said. “They remember the roof or the floor, but not the hands. That’s fine. Hands are for doing, not taking credit.”

Alex smiled. It felt right to be the one who made things look, who kept small stories from disappearing. He stopped editing himself out of his own life.

In the end, their friendship was like the patch Jorge had first made in the ceiling: not permanent, not flawless, but functional in the way that matters. It held back the drip and made room for small quiet things to happen—midnight talks about nothing, shared soup in a tiny kitchen, a sequence of film that asked only to be noticed.

The building continued to cough and settle. Pipes leaked from time to time. Old radiators remembered winters. But one evening, when Alex played his short film for Jorge, the handyman watched in the dark with his cap in his lap and said, simply, “You found the good in the little stuff.”

Alex thought of the bowl that had caught the first few drops and then the camera that caught the light. He understood that fixing didn’t always mean closing things off. Sometimes fixing meant making a place where something could be seen, held, and kept from falling apart.

Title: Alex and the Handyman (2017) Format reviewed: 2017.mkv (webrip) Genre: Slow-burn psychological drama / neo-noir Director: (Unverified – likely “Marcus Hale” per opening credits) Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes

So, why can’t anyone find it? Over the years, three main theories have emerged regarding this digital phantom.

Theory 1: The Algorithmic Hallucination This is the most boring, yet probable, theory. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) spammers often generate thousands of fake movie titles to populate "watch free movies online" sites. They scrape keywords (popular names like "Alex," generic professions like "Handyman") and stitch them together with a random year. They create a "ghost page" that promises the movie exists just to get you to click ads or download malware. In this scenario, the movie never existed; it was just a text string designed to trick Google.

Theory 2: The Misremembered Indie Is it possible the movie exists under a slightly different name? 2017 saw a boom in indie filmmaking. Could "Alex and the Handyman" actually be The Hero (2017) starring Sam Elliott? Or perhaps Brad’s Status? Sometimes, the human memory creates a "Mandela Effect" version of a film title. However, the consistency of the "Alex and the Handyman" keyword suggests it’s not just bad memory—it’s a specific, persistent label.

Theory 3: The Deep Web Bait The most conspiracy-fueled theory is that the file is a "honeypot." In file-sharing communities, sometimes files are seeded by bots or bad actors to track IP addresses or distribute viruses. The file name is enticing enough to get a click, but the data inside might be corrupted, empty, or malicious. Because the file is distributed peer-to-peer, it lingers in search indexes long after the original source has vanished, creating a permanent "ghost" entry.

To understand the mystery, we have to look at the components.

The Title: Alex and the Handyman. It sounds like a heartwarming indie drama. Perhaps a coming-of-age story about a young boy and a father figure? Or maybe a dark psychological thriller about a homeowner and a contractor with a secret? The title is generic enough to be plausible, but specific enough to be memorable.

The Year: 2017. This is the "sweet spot" for lost digital media. It’s recent enough that HD rips (.mkv files) would be the standard format, but old enough that if a movie was truly released then and subsequently vanished, the digital footprint would have degraded significantly. Broken links, dead seeders, and defunct hosting sites are common for media from five or six years ago.

The Extension: mkv. The inclusion of .mkv in the actual search query is the biggest clue. Most people search for the movie title. They don’t usually search for the file extension unless they are looking for a specific rip or download method. This suggests that "Alex and the Handyman 2017mkv" isn't being searched by movie fans, but by collectors and downloaders.