The Lunch Date

I watched "The Lunch Date" recently. I think it is good contents. The film is a monochrome film. I can find out resistance of discrimination against black people from one scene in which a white woman and a black man have one salad bowl together happily. Actually, at the start of the film, she bumps into a black man and then scatters her baggage. He helps to pick it up but she refuse that because she just cannot stand black people. Besides I can find out the kindness of black people. For these reasons, I think the contents is good socially. However, I feel something lacking in the ending. I suggest that she should meet the black man again and say "thank you and see you again". Then, I think it looks like a lunch date.

An old white lady, who has a lot of bags, harries to take a train in a station. But she bumps into a man, and she drops her bags to miss the train. Then she have lunch there. She buys her lunch and sits a seat. She realizes that there are no fork and stands up to take it. When she returns the seat, there is a black man. He has lunch, and she claims this is her lunch. But he continues to eat, and she also has it. The man buys two cups of tea. She drinks it a little and leaves there to take a train. Later she comes back there to forget a part of her bags.

After watching this short film, we realize that we have prejudices about a race. We tend to think color people are inferior to white people or low social ladder. Also the lady looks unhappy in this film, because she is driven by time. But she laughs in the end of this film. This is useful to stress the climax of it.

This film is a story about a woman who misses a train and has lunch to kill some time. I think the interesting point of this film is that although there is no clear explanation, we can assume the characteristics of the woman by only watching the first 30 seconds of the film. There are two points which shows the characteristics of the woman in this film. Firstly, the woman dresses up shiwily, carrying many shopping bags in her hands. We can easily assume that the woman is rich. Secondly, when the woman cannons into a man and he tries to gather the strewn items of the purse, she coldly denies his help and leaves him quickly. She does not believe people easily. She may be a very suspicious person. Since this film is only ten minutes long, there is not enough time to explain the character's characteristics in detail. This film succeeds in depicting the least information about the main character possible to describe in such limited time.

This 10 minute short is nearly perfect film-making. It should be mandatory viewing in film classes everywhere.

"The Lunch Date" tells a complete and complex story, makes you feel keenly for the two central characters, has complications, twists, reversals and a wonderful resolution. It never strays from context and reality and is utterly accessible.

And it's all done with virtually no dialog.

I would love to be able to own and look at this film from time to time when I'm trying to convince myself -- against all available evidence -- that really GOOD movies can be made small and simply.

I hope that "The Lunch Date" will be made available in either DVD or video cassette very soon.

Larry Santoro Larry@LarrySantoro.com

This is an amazing must see short film by what I consider a brilliant screenwriter/director. I first viewed "The Lunch Date" while taking a cross cultural counseling class during my graduate program, and was simply amazed at the message that was conveyed in a matter of ten minutes. This is of course coming from a person who does not typically take the time to appreciate the true aesthetics of film making.

I love the way the story is told with minimal dialog between characters because it challenges first time viewers to decipher the plot and understand what message is being shared. The location setting, an underground subway station/shopping plaza provided me with a sense of nostalgia as I was raised in a city that had similar surroundings. The choppiness of the scenes and usage of black and white film also allowed me to appreciate the art of good film making. I had never really stopped to pinpoint what it takes to tell a story while being conscious of production techniques that assist the viewer to comprehend a message more effectively.

I would love to find this DVD Short for sale some where. If anyone is aware of where to find it, please direct me to a URL address. I work in the field of College Student Affairs, and would love to use this piece in one of my diversity training workshops.