An emotional dark comedy ripped from the headlines.
In 2014, a 26-year-old Chinese woman was broken up with by her boyfriend. Like a lot of us would in such a situation, she sought comfort in food, specifically the food of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a franchise of which she spent seven consecutive days inside, processing her emotions over the ended relationship. It’s the kind of story that attracts attention – quirky, a little sad but also kind of redemptive – and soon the woman was in newspapers and on websites seen worldwide.
One of the persons who caught the girl’s story was writer-director Tamar Glezerman. After letting it percolate for a couple years, and going through a tough time herself, Glezerman’s come up with the following short Fill Your Heart with French Fries, which besides being a contender for best film title of the year is also the at-times silly, at-times sincere, and constantly intriguing and charming story of a woman whose girlfriend breaks up with her in a local fast food restaurant. Being that everywhere else she knows is steeped in memories of her lost love, our heroine decides to stay put right where she is. For a week.
Though this is an intimate narrative, Glezerman brilliantly uses it also as an exploration of our social-media-addicted culture’s ironic disdain for public displays of grief. Lead actress Lindsay Burdge gives a compelling and heart-wrenching performance that balances comedic appeal with genuine emotional turmoil and makes what could have been an absurd concept instead an achingly sweet snapshot of a heart in crisis.
Though Fill Your Heart… is lengthy for a short film – 20 minutes – there’s so much to love here that I’m willing to bet when it’s over you, like me, will find yourself wishing it had been a feature.
Related Topics: Short Films
