Reflective Encounters

“A dark psychological take on the breakdown of an unhealthy relationship before the catharsis of no longer biting your tongue and cutting the toxicity out of your life. Following on from her previous film Nighthawk (2016), Špela Čadež’s fascinating, mixed-media process makes use of classic multiplane techniques and hand-drawn animation. The multiplane allows for real depth of field amongst the hand-rendered processes. The soft focus used throughout creates a cinematic haze that – along with the intimacy of the process itself – brings a sense of oppressive closeness to the film, first in the busy office full of chatter, the hot summer city streets, the uncomfortably small kitchen and then within the relationship that’s on the verge of destruction. Steakhouse creates a claustrophobic mood that speaks to the environment and nature of the surroundings the characters work within. 

As the bitter acrid smoke of burnt food engulfs the senses, the characters' resentment and anger become palpable through their silence and barbed words. There is a mounting feeling that this is a regular occurrence, a familiarity within the unpleasantness of this unspoken non-verbal abuse and passive aggression that exists until we can break free of the bonds that threaten to suffocate us.”

— Laura-Beth Cowley