Socks And Cakes – A Short Film Review
Socks and Cakes is a fourth-wall-breaking comedy drama set in New York’s Greenwich Village. The film focuses on five individuals and the lives they lead in a sophisticated 12 minute short.
What’s It All About?
Amanda and Richard are having a dinner party. Their guests include Amanda’s first husband Harry, a university professor who is currently going through a rough patch. David, another guest at the party is in real estate, he brings along his new, young, french girlfriend Sophie. The group discuss topics such as love, life, friendships and relationships as they delve into one another’s lives. The party soon begins to reveal secrets about many of the characters that could potentially change their course in life.
Thoughts
This was a fast-paced and well written short. Antonio Padovan gave us a great story with some extremely well written dialogue that keeps the story constantly moving forward at a steady pace. Antonio was also on directing duties and presented us with a very well crafted film that was self contained and nicely shot. Antonio snakes and weaves her way through the lives and relationships of these five individuals as we begin to discover how intertwined they are with one another. This could have been a plot that got messy very quickly but Antonio manages to keep a firm hold of what she is doing and smoothly steers through this inter-tangled group of characters.
My favorite part of this short was definitely Harry, played by Timothy J. Cox breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to the audience. He gives us a brief interlude and delivers some very natural dialogue to the camera as he pours himself another glass of wine and introduces himself and gives us a little more information about the group. This short scene helps to break things down and set up the scene for the small relationships these people have with each other.
Some great choices with the musical score provided by Robert Albrecht nicely compliment this character driven short, setting the mood of the house party and creating a relaxing atmosphere that enable the audience to absorb everything the characters have to say.
Notable Cast
Timothy J. Cox steals the show as Harry, the French literature professor. His lines flow from him as he breezes his way though this short. His character is down on his luck and somewhat self-loathing and slightly bitter towards some of the others. Breaking the fourth wall establishes Harry as the main focus in this short and Timothy is more than capable of carrying it. He flexes his acting muscles in the final third of the move as he chats with his ex-wife in the kitchen and she opens up to him about his problems. A strong performance that sets the example for the rest of the cast to lead from.
Kristy Meares gives a fine performance as Amanda. Kristy begins as a very strong character but that soon disappears as we break down her layers and find she seems to be the most unhappy, caught in a web of tangled emotions, having had a relationship with every man in the room. Her scenes with Timothy in the kitchen as she talks about what is happening in her life and how she is feeling are fantastic. Kirsty does a great job with the character pouring her heart out and you genuinely feel for the character by the end of the short.
Jeff Moffitt plays Richard, quite an arragant and all round unlikeable character. Sometimes it is these roles that are the hardest to play but Jeff manages to pull it off. I think the film teases his intentions as it rolls on, but by the end we see his true colors. Jeff gave us a solid performance.
Ben Prayz is Daivd, the real estate man who does everything he can to keep the attention focused on himslef. His slightly rash and arrogant performance is played out well with limited time he has.
Alex Vincent is Sophie, the latest girlfriend of David. I feel if anything Alex was under-utilised as she seemed to have a lot to offer and did extremely well with the character and the situations she was put in with Richard.
The Verdict
I enjoyed this short film at it explored the lives of these five individuals who are all connected in one way or another. Antonio Padovan wrote and directed a great short and I would be interested to see what she could do with a slightly longer film. We were given some excellent dialogue that was sharpely delivered and performed with a very strong cast. Broken up with some great use of fourth-wall-breaking this story was a pleasure to watch and a nice relaxing film that was easy to enjoy.
WATCH THIS SHORT FILM YOURSELF HERE
seems so interesting