Written, directed and produced by Laura Jayne Hodkin, co-written by Simona Mehandzhieva, voiced by Anna Chloe Moorey and Emmy Rose. Two drunk girls accidentally walk into a crime scene in the local chicken shop.
The old school style of animation used in this short film is a really nice change of pace, as fantastic as how far technology has taken the medium is, it’s satisfying to watch something that isn’t trying to be overtly realistic and exact. Hot and Tasty has it’s own style and doesn’t conform to any particular convention as far as animated films go, which is one of the great things about it. We’ve come into an era where animation has become more adult in the mainstream, BoJack Horseman is headed into its sixth series, Rick and Morty are back for a fourth, even Sausage Party shocked cinema audiences with just how adult it was prepared to take its animation, so it’s the perfect time for a short film like Hot and Tasty. It’s hugely reminiscent of Broad City’s episode “Mushrooms”, two girls trying to take care of each other while pretty much out of their minds.
Standing out by far is the writing, it so perfectly recreates two very drunk girlfriends, towards the end of the night, when you just need greasy food to soak up the alcohol and get sobered just enough to get home. That in itself would be enough for a funny 5-minute short film but Hot and Tasty goes much further, the ironic and dark comedy is hilarious, it’s like if Chicken Run went dystopian but much more entertaining. The girls’ complete obliviousness to the very clearly bloody and dangerous situation in front of them, distracted by the concept of fried chicken and cheesy chips, keeps the film perfectly balanced and light, despite the fact that if you described the plot without the dialogue, you’d think it was a horror film.
This film is witty, hilarious, the animation is a nice throwback with an added quirkiness and it’s at the same time realistic and complete fantasy, also perhaps part of a nightmare someone, somewhere has probably had. It’s a hard line to walk but the filmmakers here have done it so well that, despite how very odd the plot is, it works so smoothly and is utterly entertaining to watch. There’s more laughs in Hot and Tasty’s 4-minutes than the entirety of some of the mainstream comedies being released in cinemas recently.
Verdict: ✯✯✯✯✯
You can see Hot and Tasty as part of London Film Festival’s ‘Joy to the World’
on 2nd & 4th October
FilmCarnage.com 