KNEAD | Omeleto

A wife makes plans. Olive and Kenneth are a couple living in the suburbs in 1963. Their life is comfortable, but Olive often feels she (and her beautiful handmade pastries) are taken for granted by Kenneth, who is often oblivious and wrapped up in his own affairs. Their quiet existence is interrupted when a shop full of slug-like aliens crashes nearby. The aliens have a strange effect on the humans near them: after having a fit of convulsions and spontaneous poetry, people suddenly know their life's true purpose when they encounter them and achieve their deepest dreams—everyone except Olive, who wonders why she's not affected like everyone else. As the aliens prepare to leave, Olive contemplates taking matters into her own hands. Directed and written by Timothy Michael Cooper, this short sci-fi comedy is a lightheaded but feisty portrait of a frustrated 1950s housewife yearning to break out of a stultifying life. It's a premise that echoes the recent smash sci-fi drama PLURIBUS in some ways, but the film is more of an archly goofy but grounded retro riff on old-school sci-fi story, like a TWILIGHT ZONE episode gone camp. But underneath the silliness, it's a relatable exploration of what it takes to break out of the status quo, both societally and personally. We meet Olive as she offers her latest delicious creation to her husband, who's too preoccupied with his morning paper to respond to his wife's request for feedback. Olive is at the margin of his attention, but when she breaks the news to him that she wants to go to pastry school and open her own bakery, he finally focuses on her, offering up every argument against Olive's plans. The premise and quirks are lighthearted and the dialogue has a tinge of the satirical, but the visuals avoid being overstylized, instead staying slightly muted and warmly grounded. Olive's emotional dilemmas take front-and-center in the story's concerns, and we're aware of her disappointment in her life, her hopes and dreams and her fear of breaking free of convention. When aliens crash their ship on Earth, people in the immediate community begin reciting poetry and convulsing, and then find their life's calling. Everyone is suddenly infused with purpose and joy, but Olive wonders why she's been left out. As Olive, actor Ana Cruz Kayne strikes a fine balance between the heightened comical conceit of the story and the emotional grounding of a woman who isn't quite a full human being to her husband and stifled in her dreams. But when her husband is finally affected by the aliens, she realizes that she's being left behind in her own life -- and she must be especially clever and smart to reach for her own stars. Charming, fun yet emotionally resonant, KNEAD is relatable to anyone who's felt unseen by the people around them and has stifled their dreams to keep the peace or status quo. With the help of an alien invasion, Olive finds an unusual way to disrupt the status quo to reinvent her self and her life, making for a warm and funny ending that's optimistic and entertaining. But we don't need aliens to go after our dreams -- just courage, gumption and a belief in our worthiness and our purpose. KNEAD. Courtesy of Timothy Michael Cooper at https://kneadfilm.com.