Baked Beans

A troubled woman attempts to find baked beans for her autistic child.

Nicole (Bulcock) is a single mother to two children, one is a baby and the other is several years older. Archie, the older one, has autism and only eats baked beans. After he refuses to eat a breakfast consisting of spaghetti loops, instead of beans, Nicole drives to the South Yorkshire Food Bank in order to acquire baked beans. There, she discovers that there are none left and she finds herself being comforted by Mary (Tomlin), who works for the organisation.

This emotional short drama addresses contemporary issues that focus on the problems that are caused by the high cost of living, concerning particularly those who have disabilities and it explores all this through the eyes of a single parent, who is struggling financially and has to deal with the challenges of raising two children by herself and relying on food banks in order to feed them. The screenplay effectively shows the difficulties she goes through, with Archie crying and throwing his food on the floor, resulting in Nicole having to head of to the food bank for baked beans. There, she breaks down and tells Mary about her various misfortunes that include an abusive relationship with her former husband. Although the film contains unpleasant issues and the mood is pretty much downbeat throughout, it also includes the significance of reaching out and the strength of support.

Bulcock's character is basically a victim, a mother who has gone through a lot and continues to do so, dealing with her son's disability and the high cost of living. She is struggling, yet she is determined to be strong and Bulcock plays the part very well. Mary sort of becomes her shoulder to cry on and her character points out how caring people can be.

Editor Gabriel Fernandez-Gil makes good use of jump cuts and director of photography Si Gamble deserves praise for the cinematography, which includes black-and-white. The dramatic music by Ross Baillie-Eames and Jacob Maloney is a significant contribution that helps create moving scenes.

This short tells a story about the struggles of life, including living with disabilities, raising children as a single parent, domestic violence and money difficulties but also about support and inner strength. It raises awareness of the high cost of living in Britain, which results in the need for food banks and this (along with the themes mentioned above) make it worthy of a lot of attention.