Two Cents & A Footlong: Eat your heart out and save a soul
A disgruntled man enters a sandwich shop and starts to pour his heart out to his server.
Two Cents & A Footlong: Eat your heart out and save a soul
Cast: George Russo, Saul Trujillo, Arielle Uppaluri, Jeremy Middleton
Critic’s Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Director: Kanin Guntzelman
Duration: 11 minutes
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Release Date: Feb 11, 2024
What’s it about?
A disgruntled man enters a sandwich shop and starts to pour his heart out to his server.
Review:
Comfort food can raise one’s spirits to an extent. But in a largely impersonal world, we all need grub for the soul. That appears to be the premise of this engaging short film. It urges us to remove our masks, lower our guards and speak from the heart - in order to take the unbearable sting out of life. This daring and original movie sets out to put forth honest human drama and succeeds for the most part. Sometimes, we need the jolt of awkwardness and frankness in our interactions to bring out our humanity. This is especially because it has been shoved into dormancy by social conventions.
Producer-writer-director Kanin Guntzelman has explored these themes of introspection, frustration and human connection in previous short films like Crybabies (2011) and Personify (2012). Here, the filmmaker takes a mundane situation and squeezes it for profundity. Roger (George Russo), an elderly and melancholic man enters a delicatessen and places an order with the young man across the counter – Lenny (Saul Trujillo). With each ingredient Roger requests for, the more he reveals about his life. Hence, the audience is served up a compelling contradiction of a savoury meal versus an unfulfilled and tasteless existence.
Initially unsettled and put off, Lenny is gradually drawn into the unusual conversation. Roger’s confessions of suffering from insomnia, isolation and the inability to get aroused physically or emotionally, starts to strike a chord with Lenny. But their heart-to-heart is disturbed when another customer (Arielle Uppaluri) arrives on the scene. Lenny is now in a dilemma - whether to continue entertaining the depressed man or to conclude the “transaction” and shift attention. But Roger is in no mood for people-pleasing. The tension is finally broken by a surprisingly unexpected reaction from Lenny.
Two Cents and a Footlong is a meditation on the damaged human condition and how truthfulness can breathe life into a lifeless environment. Making bread and breaking bread presents a curious subtext, while the character arcs add gravitas to the film. Plus, this miniature flick shows that a slight meaningful deviation to the monotony and pain of life can infuse it with redemption, positivity and gratitude. It’s a pity that with all the food around, the characters aren’t “fleshed” out more. But there’s only little time to work with in a fast food joint and there are limitations to a short film. Still, you are almost sure to leave this eatery feeling satiated.
