A Plaster, a Paper and a Cheese & Pickle Sandwich
What would you do if you accidentally murdered your best friend?
- Directed By: Sheena Holliday
- Written By: Sheena Holliday, Adam Greenwood
- Country: UK
- Released: 2007
- Running Time: 19 mins
- Links: Official Site
- Comedy, Reviews
I like silent films, and I like films about silent films. So it is probably less than surprising that I really enjoyed A Plaster, a Paper and a Cheese & Pickle Sandwich, which is a silent film about silent films.
Murphy (Steve Joiner), a quiet, film-obsessed young man inherits a flat in a quiet seaside town and promptly moves in. His new neighbour, Frank (Phillip Collins) is a cranky and slightly odd character but he takes a liking to Murphy.
Murphy no longer needs to work and Frank is retired and a friendship develops between the pair as they sit together in front of the TV, day after day, watching rented videos. Frank also takes an interest in Murphy’s other hobby, with suitably dramatic consequences.
A Plaster, a Paper and a Cheese & Pickle Sandwich is a very funny, very dark, film-noir inspired comedy. It is also an homage to silent films of the past, and a very effective silent film in its own right.
There is, of course, no dialogue in this film and the story is told entirely visually with the aid of several intertitles. These intertitles deserve a mention for being beautifully minimalist in design and for being so effectively used. Although they do help to drive the narrative forward on occasion, the real value of these is to reinforce the darkly comic atmosphere of the film.
As with any silent film, the score is vital and in this film it does a great job of capturing the mood throughout.
The acting is also excellent. This film is very much a two-hander between Steve Joiner and Phillip Collins and both actors pit in superbly understated performances that draws you in to Frank and Murphy’s world and keeps you there for the duration of the film.
Also doing a great deal for the atmosphere is the cinematography. Frank and Murphy’s day to day existence is pretty repetitive – they watch films and eat takeaways day after day, and the dankness of this life is very effectively expressed. However, where the camerawork really excels is with its beautiful and slightly surreal black and white detours into Murphy’s film-fixated imagination.
All in all, A Plaster, a Paper and a Cheese & Pickle Sandwich is an inspired piece of filmmaking that manages to pull together an eclectic set of film traditions into something that is both unique and very entertaining indeed.
The film is currently screening at film festivals (details of which can be found on the Coffee Films website). If you have a chance to see this film, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
