Spam-ku (2004) Online

In spite of the rather flat and predictable ending, this short film successfully utilizes the camera, zoning in on the quirkiness of the supporting cast, but especially making use of Christopher Gorham's naive yet creepy gaze as he makes accidental foot pancakes or dreams of spam. His character is the perfect candidate for winning a spam haiku contest, but it is the way the audiences is manipulated by each shot that makes this short such a delight. It is the pauses, the odd angles that disorient the viewer, and especially the time-lapse tracking shot as he sits practically motionless, rapidly breathing and planning his future spam cuisine while the world passes on without him.

I might agree with the initial reviewer who wished that the filmmaker had spent more time on the ending, but some of my favorite movies don't always work as a whole (take your pick of any number of films by Terry Gilliam). Yet the world would be a much poorer place without them.

This is a short film that had so much promise--I really wanted to like it. After all, the story is about a guy who enters a Haiku contest about Spam and the winner is given a lifetime supply of this mystery meat. In between, there are some cute vignettes involving some interestingly weird co-workers. However, while the first 90% of the film is interesting and the punchline simply isn't. It just seemed to fall flat--like Spam after it drops out of the can onto a plate. If this film were re-written at the end, it would probably be much more successful or if it had an amazingly over the top visual to better illustrate the conversion--something other than the flat ending. Better luck next time.