According to the dictionary, Hobos are people who travel and look for work, tramps are people who travel and don’t look for work, bums are people who neither travel nor look for work. With his soiled underwear and gnarly open sores, the unlikely hero of our latest Short on Sunday is an unashamed member of the latter category. Nonetheless, director Philip Sansom’s

One Man’s Loss is a classic tale of emotional rags to riches. And vice versa. Played out over a scorching Sunday morning in downtown LA, this fleeting moment captures all the requisite elements of Hollywood’s love of role reversal: the down-on-his-luck protagonist with shopping trolley and overgrown beard; the charmless and philandering slickster with drophead Benz and hand-stitched leather brogues; the snubbed Parisienne girlfriend, complete with French expletives and chain-smoking tendencies. It’s all there, just waiting to be played out.

Hobos, tramps and bums have played a much-loved, recurring role throughout the history of American cinema. From Charlie Chaplin in The Tramp to Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy and Nick Nolte in Down and Out in Beverly Hills. He’s there to remind us that no matter how desperate our lives may seem at times, absolutely anyone can strike gold—as Eddie Murphy’s tailored suits and infectious grin so neatly attest in Trading Places. As for One Man’s Loss, our bum inevitably stumbles upon good fortune and reveals himself to be hot in every sense of the word. By the time the credits roll on this feelgood short, he’s got the girl and the shoe is on the other foot. Literally.

One Man’s Loss premiered at Festival de Cannes 2013 and was directed by British filmmaker Phil Sansom, who has previously directed the shorts The Black Hole and Archaeology, and music videos for Magnetic Man and Robbie Williams.

Jonathan Wingfield is Editor-in-Chief of System magazine,