Toast

Writer/director Lawrence Rowe’s film Toast takes the idea of eating one's feelings to create a short film that is simple but highly substantial and satisfying, much like toast in fact.

Following a difficult breakup, our main character (played brilliantly by a highly commendable Hughes) has taken solace in what might be the king of all comfort foods; toast. But what seems to start out as a love letter to our versatile bready friend soon transforms into something much deeper, a story of heartache where toast-based soliloquies thinly veil the tragic tale of lost love underneath.

It’s a metaphor that’s fun and unique for sure, but in no way does it ever take away from the sincerity that Toast has as a film by taking its subject lightly. What the toast concept does do is make the film that bit more accessible than that of your typical tale of failed romance, and weirdly also more relatable. Heartache is a universal feeling difficult to verbalise for most, but it would be a safe bet to say most who have shared that experience will be able to find common ground here, the comparisons to feeling like a thrown-away piece of bread will not be lost on most.

And that’s a testament to the hard work that Rowe and their team do with only two and a half minutes to play with. Toast manages to portray that kind of emotional turmoil almost completely, visual cues such as discarded pieces of toast and teabags as well as the gut punch shot of an engagement ring lost among the debris of crumbs all come together to create such a full picture of the disarray our protagonist now finds themself in. And carrying it all, off giving the film the true gravitas, emotional heft and delivery that it needs to really work, is Hughes who is remarkable, able to really exemplify that veritable “smiling through the pain behind the eyes” aspect that allows you to truly feel every bit of emotion the film is trying to achieve, their frantic monologue of a person teetering on the edge, being kept afloat purely on a life raft of toast and butter both captivating and heartbreaking.

Manging to fully realise its story about a very universal facet of the human condition, Rowe’s film might be one of the more poignant and thoughtful pieces of work you might see centred around toast.