Desserts | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jeff Stark |
Written by | Jeff Stark |
Produced by | Jill Robertson |
Starring | Ewan McGregor |
Cinematography | Kate Stark |
Music by | Simon Boswell Alex Heffes Algernon Thompson |
Release date |
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Running time | 2 minutes 35 seconds |
Desserts is a 1998 British short film directed by Jeff Stark and starring (as the only actor) Ewan McGregor.[1][2][3][4] Desserts won the Silver Bear for Best Short Film at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival.[5][6][7][8]
A man (the stroller) is walking along a beach and finds a chocolate éclair, ponders over it for a bit then decides to eat it, then suddenly is yanked into the sea by a hook and line.
The film has no dialogue.[9][10] "I was faxed the script - and it was just one sheet of paper, but it made me laugh so much that I just had to do it." explained Mc Gregor.[11] The film was his third short and the "black humour" and "minimal commitment" implied decided the actor.[11]
The film was produced by Jill Robertson (producer’s assistant on Trainspotting and production supervisor on A Life Less Ordinary), who approached the actor. It was filmed in a single day at Turnberry in Ayrshire on a budget of £13,975. [12]
The film was released in October 1998.[12]
The short was described as "a typical “funny with a twist” short that uses one of our weak points to question how we feed ourselves as a species: greed."[13] The short was also praised for its "sense of reduction and simplicity".[14] Other commentators found it was "a cruelly funny short film"[11] and " one of those shorts that function like jokes and whose success hinges on the punchline. The sheer unexpected violence of the denouement [...] leaves the audience stunned."[12]
It received the Silver Bear for Best Short Film at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival.[15]
It was screened in various festivals, including Busan[16] and Sundance.[17]