A stonemason carves the names of a town’s sons – both real and imagined – lost to war.
This has the feel of a fable or fairy tale, and also a bit of a Kafkaesque flavor (the town is named K_, and the king’s decree that statues be erected in his honor has an absurdist tone). At the end, though, it lands on a more earnest and heartfelt note. Shearman does a good job of committing to an odd premise and seeing it through to its conclusion, logical or otherwise.