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Yet again
director Ben hicks impresses with one of the more gritty glimpses of the
average romance around, and he sums up the doldrums, the tedium and the
basic thrill of relationships in only five minutes, including the
inexplicable fight that remains an inside joke from the beginning to its
introduction in the end that really only the two main characters will
ever know the origin of. We don’t need to know what they’re doing in
this movie, because basically we’re the observers looking form the
outside in set to a great musical score. This is just relationships in a
nutshell, and love without the sensationalism.
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There’s a
lot of inexplicable behavior from our man and woman who
spend almost every waking moment together. Observing the
skyline, food fighting, taking showers together, and of
course their climactic tussle are all nothing but rituals
examined and observed by Hicks who never lets us in on
what’s occurring. We’re just watching this couple who really
are just average underneath the seams. |
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There’s nothing amazing about them, there’s nothing too incredible
about the individuals involved in this coupling, but they stay
together because they connect with one another, and that’s why “Pea
vs. Carrot” works so well. It’s a stark and utterly realistic
rollercoaster of emotions and a pure variety of happiness, sadness,
and sheer amusement that our stars ace. Hicks is great as this man
who adores his girl unconditionally, while Carmen Narvis is utterly
charismatic, entertaining and yet pretty plain. Hicks never seeks to
exaggerate these characters, he only shows them warts and all, and
you know what? It works. Why does she drop him like a bag of rice in
the end? Who knows? It’s just something between the two of them that
we may never find out.
“Pea vs. Carrot”
is another in the fine line of short films from Ben Hicks that’s just
above par in what you’d usually find in short film fare. It’s artsy
without ever being pretentious, and romantic without being cheesy. I
loved it.
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