There is always a lot of contention around food, especially with people who have disorders. Ranging from anorexia to over-eating, there are either those who misplace the satisfaction of eating and confuse it with love and reckless comfort. Or there are those who use it as a means of control, with their emotions and memories running wilder than they can handle. Even those who do not suffer conditions can see themselves wrapping poignancy around pork chops their mother used to make or grandmother’s homemade biscuit tin. Regardless, there hasn’t truly been a film that captured that longing or discomfort that surrounds food. That is until UnderWire Film Festival screened evocative Scottish short documentary Swallow.
This little square compilation, like snapshots and slideshows, is effective and powerful. As the narrators battle their own thoughts and feelings, the mouth-watering food becomes tantalising at first, highlighting the passionate and tasty way these ladies (and perhaps everyone) feels about home cooked pork or chocolate. What happens is a dwindle into the depression and mental nervosa, as the memories become more wrought and tense so does the impact of the dishes on screen. It becomes more and more like an M&S nightmare. Soon it unravels into self-abusive eating; razor blades, paper and paperclips while the screen depicts bile and blood. This isn’t just control, this is eating to self-harm.
Swallow is an effective short that packs an almighty punch. As it conveys both artistic and intellectual merit, it is also quick to not over saturate the film with sentimentality. In actual fact, it is stark and unrelenting. It’s bleakness coming from the shift of narrative, moving the viewer into discomfort. Director Genevieve Bicknell has created a rather beautiful yet tense film that makes the disorders and problems about emotion, rather than laziness or lack of will power that people may wrongly diagnose. This is about the stories and how they are wallowing in uneasiness over food – in turn, giving the audience a taste of that emotional.
Swallow is, ironically, sometimes hard too. But it is a short that is impeccable, brilliant and breath-taking, and you’ll be churning it over since first watch. Catch it as it goes around the festival circuit.
See more shorts made by ladies at the UnderWire Film Festival! Buy tickets now!