The Chef's Letter

I don't think there's enough here to make any sense of really. A good cast that aren't really put to use properly. Who was he jealous of? Who did he fancy? What was in the letter? All the uncertainty made it a bit dull.

059.71/1000.

I saw this wonderful short film at Salento International Film Festival 2009. This Festival is every year in September in Tricase, a little nice town in Lecce district, not far from Santa Maria di Leuca, in Puglia region (ITALY), the land of trulli and masserias (apulian old farms). I found this short really interesting. In my opinion is one of the the most interesting short film of the whole Salento international film festival. And it's Excellently directed by Sybil Mair, a young director from England. The director is the writer and the producer too. The different way of telling a love story, through camera shots rather than words, sounds touching. As the shots move from the office to the kitchen scene, you almost have the feeling that not only the environment has changed, but also the approach of the author towards the story has. The soundtrack surely helps the moviemaker throughout the hole short; notes and scenes perfectly merge giving the story a feeling of harmony. CONCLUSIONS: A really well made film with a really good photography. Perfect editing. Original beautiful music too by composer Stephen Daltry. I visited The chef's letter website and I found that this short had different winning awards. 1) BEST SHORT FILM BY A FEMALE DIRECTOR Salento International Film Festival 2009. 2) Iris Prize 2009 NOMINEE at Iris Prize Film Festival. 3) JURY CHOICE SILVER MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE at Park City Film Music Festival. 4) Award for Best Drama HONORABLE MENTION at International Festival of Cinema & Technology… so my first impression about this short was not completely wrong!

The Chef's Letter screened last year at the Ojai Film Festival and was one of the highlights of the festival for me. If you take a Shakespeare Sonnet adapted by Harold Pinter and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, you get Sybil H. Mairs' taut drama, The Chef's Letter. Excellent direction and an excellent cast, very fine storytelling. I saw the film not knowing anything about it and was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what was going on. Just like a 14 line sonnet, the story unfolds with such complexity, emotion and surprise. I am happy to read that the film has gone on to receive numerous awards and is being screened at festivals all over the world. I look forward to seeing More great work from Sybil H. Mair