Big Stack

Written and directed by Lewis William Robinson, Big Stack is a short film that explores our relationships between food, consumption, and obsession. Thanks to some confident editing and sound design, Big Stack effectively explores its main themes, maintaining a high level of energy across its 15 minute runtime. While there’s definitely room left to explore the film’s most interesting ideas further and to push the concept to its bursting point, Big Stack makes for an exciting watch that will surprise and possibly shock viewers.

Courtney Gabbidon stars as Andre, a young man desperate to defeat his local American themed restaurant’s eating challenge, and to earn a coveted place on the wall of fame. He is waited on by Maeve, played with warmth by Becky Kershaw. Having failed his first attempt to beat the Big Stack challenge, Andre’s resolve leads him to Sid (Velton Lishke), who has previously won the challenge. With new resolve, Andre returns to tackle the burger, and to earn his reward: his face on the wall of Uncle Sams’.

Tonally, Big Stack plays it very light, using quick edits and a breezy soundtrack to maintain a fun and low stakes tone. However, once the food comes out and Andre is face to face with his eponymous burger, the mood shifts. Audiences with sensory sensitivities may find these sections of the film more challenging than most the moment that Gabbidon begins to literally chew the scenery. The camera is unsteadily pushed up right against the tower of food, making the plate look enormous and unending. The sound design is similarly used to create a grotesque sensation, playing up the noises of chewing and breathing. Beads of sweat cling to Andre’s face, and the scene begins to resemble something quite violent. It calls to mind the repulsive scene in The Substance where Dennis Quaid’s character chows down on prawn in an absolutely vile display. Andre’s obsession is played well, especially considering how meaningless the reward really is. Robinson inserts a few quick cuts to black and white footage of cows in an abattoir and hooked slabs of meat a couple of times in the film, which is one of the more stylistically interesting choices. These images contrast jarringly with the rest of the film’s bright high contrast photography, possibly questioning what Andre’s quest for local fame is really worth. The film’s ending further reinforces this idea of cost, and how warped our relationship with the overconsumption of food for the sake of overconsumption is, and it delivers the most surprising moment of the short’s runtime.

Big Stack delivers mostly everything it promises, but it could have pushed its ideas further. While the scenes of Andre eating are effectively uncomfortable for me, it would have been interesting to double down on the gross out images. More shots of Andre’s mouth, louder sounds of chewing, quicker cuts, and even a more sinister soundtrack could have made the experience of watching the eating challenge more visceral and upsetting if that is what the filmmaker was intending. It would have been interesting to hear Andre’s heartbeat in the background, or to show Maeve reacting to his efforts with either delight or disgust. The performances are all serviceable, but again they could have been really pushed into camp and melodrama if Robinson wanted. The premise is so bizarre and uncomfortable that Big Stack could have gotten away with playing it much bigger, capitalizing on the themes of excess through over the top performances.

Big Stack is a worthwhile watch which could easily be expanded into a longer story. Obsession is a compelling idea, and there’s no doubt that most viewers have their own personal complicated relationships with food. Robinson’s ideas are intriguing, and while there may have been space to explore them in a more compelling or memorable way, he succeeds in delivering a short, punchy statement on our relationship with food.