Essentially Amy

Colorado-born director Ari Groobman's short comedy-drama Essentially Amy takes the viewer back to a time that feels both sureally distant yet also significantly recent: the pandemic.

Amy (Stacy Chu) is a competent supermarket supervisor who almost single-handedly runs the show, along with her pleasant but somewhat preoccupied colleauges Norm (Seyi Ayorinde) and Mia (Brenda Valencia).  Elsewhere, the aloof manager Mr Park (Hidekun Hun) is even more of an absence, whilst there is little solace for Amy at home.  Amy lives with her parents; her biogted Mum (Ping Liu) is weary of the African-American community, her father is crucially ill and hooked up to a ventilator whilst Amy herself has completely stalled on her application to study medicine.  Back in the store, tensions mount when an angry customer (Jim Todd) launches a foul-mouthed, racist tirade over the Covid catastrophe with Amy as the target.

Groobman's opening scene immediately jolts the viewer back into the sudden reality of post-lockdown.  On the one hand, the regime of enforced mask wearing and rigid social distancing feels like it just didn't happen (five years on).  On the other, the scene feels only too recognizable as we recall how the everyday suddenly became tainted with the alien.  

Another contrast is served up directly by Groobman in the jarring contrast between Amy's work and home-life.  At work, she faces frustrating but familiar challenges - serious staff shortage, the looming threat of reduced hours and, worst of all, ignorant customers.  Yet, she is no-nonsense, self-assured and in control.  But she's not where she should be.  It's all simply a stop-gap before her medicine programme.  And, unlike at the store, she hits a wall at home.  Her father is sick (perhaps as a result of Covid), is unseen and unresponsive, her mother is frustrated at her academic ambitions taking a plunge and her motivation to break away and get where she needs to be just isn't there.

Clocking in at exactly 15 minutes, Groobman’s script doesn’t take any particularly surprising turns.  Her brush with brutality is the catalyst for self-realisation and reconnection.  For all the troubles, Amy learns to put aside the problems and focus on what’s important.  It’s a familiar resolution yes, but it’s a story told with skilful restraint and wonderfully authentic performances that we really do believe in the drama that we're watching.

Essentially Amy may not be essentially memorable, but its warmth and intimacy are a welcome reminder of a time when the human touch was missed and sorely needed.