Eggs for Breakfast

Gotta be honest this one lost me. I like some of the techniques used to tell the story over multiple nights, although wasn’t sure about the split screen moment, as that made me think we were going to see the girl’s side of the story too. But yea the ending really got me a little confused at the point of the whole thing. I think the ideas could have been communicated a little more subtly than a voice over simply giving his hot take on the place relationships have in society, because it just doesn’t come off feeling super genuine, and story of the eggs doesn’t feel like it naturally ties in. Perhaps rather than a sudden voice over at the end, the story of the eggs is one that he is drunkenly retelling to one of the girls, then the only voice over you need is the final line about “sometimes you just need some eggs”. I don’t dislike the sentiment, I actually totally understand it, I just don’t think it was communicated in the best way.

A serial tinder playboy waxes lyrical about how nobody is really truly looking to make a connection these days, and yet he is so stuck in his mechanical bedding and breakfast routine that the women he hooks up with come across as bodies without personality. No disrespect intended here, because it appeared the women were absolutely onto him and immediately dismissive of his weird clingy game.

Little bit unclear whether this was supposed to be an attempt at critiquing the lack of romance through apps, or more of an ironic criticism of fuckbois, or both? If the eggs were supposed to be a metaphor at the end that was also unclear.

What I liked about the short was a confidence in the line delivery, and audio was clear, but the confusing storyline did let it down a bit. I also appreciate this was deliberately set in the intimate private setting of a house, but it did make a relatively plain setting albeit with particularly well done lighting.

Story: 1.5/5
Technical: 2.5/5
Elements: 2/5
Overall: 2/5

If 48hours could pass a rule banning films from starting with characters waking up and making breakfast, the films would be significantly better, losing all that routine guff and honing in on character. "Eggs For Breakfast," as its title suggests, makes a bigger deal of the breakfasting than other films that go that route, but it lets itself down in other ways that actually made me forget the dreaded 48hours alarm-clock opening until just now. (I don't know how I did, because the spectacularly moustachioed lead actor's morning dancing was one of the film's highlights.)

I'll be honest: the story confused me as to what it was trying to accomplish. For a while, I wondered if it was a parallel-world thing, or a time-loop thing, in which a new actress played Moustache Man's girlfriend each time (I didn't expect this review to reference MOTHER!, but there we go). But no, it just shows us the guy serially dating, and...that's about it. There's no ending, no resolution, just a closing voiceover lifted from ANNIE HALL's closing voiceover (ill-advisedly, given HBO *just* produced a series about Woody Allen's sexual abuse scandals) that doesn't really shed much light on what kind of statement is being made. The statement is just that...relationships end and we start new ones? No amount of facial-hair charisma can add greater depth to that, unfortunately.

My advice for the future is the same as many teams get from me: write an ending, or at least write story developments that change the character(s) or raise the stakes or shift the emotional tone somewhat. Otherwise, we're just watching a dude dance in his PJs and sit on a couch.

Not really sure about anything that happened in this one.

The camerawork and audio are all great, and there are some interesting visual ideas and techniques, but I'll be damned if I have any idea what was happening, who these characters are or what the message of the film is.

To be clear, I don't think every 48Hour film needs a message, but this film clearly has one, and I really have no idea what to take from it.

I liked the lead, and I liked the narrative device of breakfast, but I don't have any idea what it all means.

Things you got right: Charisma, technically solid, and I really like the title too.

Things to work on for next time: Telling a story with a clear narrative that doesn't leave everyone trying to figure out what was happening.

Strong lead performance, some clever camera work, just needed a more cohesive structure. I think I got the message, but what I think would have helped the audience would have been to let the main character have a moment to reflect on that idea (as opposed to the voice over at the end explaining the meaning of the film), would have given his character a bit more arc and seeing people learn things help us in turn learn things too.