WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
You’re finally on your way up. After evident hard work and proving the skills you bring to the table, the opportunity has finally arrived to reach a new and fulfilling peak. All is in place, the time has come to watch it bloom, and everything is working like a well-oiled machine. Until it isn’t. Now confronting a reality that threatens to shake, really BREAK, everything that you’ve managed to get done, what is the decision to make that is truly right? Artist manager Saint (Siddiq Saunderson) is a man under pressure. Supporting his primary rising star Apollo (Coy Stewart) at a debut concert that will change both of their lives, a sudden and unexpected wrench gets thrown into the plan. Now the question gets forced into Saint’s head–what is the correct, and moral, response to it?
Next, my Mind:
One of the most adeptly executed, formidably gut-wrenching, compellingly evocative portraits of high tension, stress dynamics, the weight of choice, and the foundational nature of guilt paired with well-intended yet wholly selfish ambition that this critic has seen anytime recently, the Oscar qualifying 12-minute short film from writer/director Wes Andre Goodrich, writer/producer Patrick Nichols, producer A.L. Brody, co-producer Yoko Kohmoto, and executive producers Constanza Castro, Domenica Castro, Travis Ing, Rishi Rajani, Naomi Funabashi, and Lena Waithe collides with every fiber of your being with the unrelenting force of an avalanche. An effort born out of the ever-amazing creative artistry amassed through IndeedWorks’ “Rising Voices” initiative, this stands as a massive testament to the award-winning and award-worthy talents residing within its format, and the absolute necessity to allow these newly forming filmmakers the CHANCE to shine.
The narrative presented through this project sees a VERY tense and deeply impactful exhibition of inward and outward turmoil involving a music artist manager on the verge of mega-stardom with his main client experiencing a jarring shot in the foot, causing the manager to encounter an ethical dilemma (or IS it really) that threatens to upend their dreams. Unquestionably persuasive in the atmosphere of unease the scenario delivered is hitting us with, the sheer magnitude of a single, in-the-moment, heart-pounding decision in the midst of hard work paying off (in more ways than one) gets amplified to the “nth” degree here, and again so deftly addresses the notions of human nature when it comes to how much of ourselves we pour into something, finally reach a key pinnacle, end up confronting an unforeseen final obstacle, but then have to choose to push through it and stay the course. It all sounds totally logical and legitimate, right?
However, it IS this precise framework that gets thrown under the bus when the circumstances in play should actually only have ONE outcome, but instead turns into a frantic moral plight that makes you as the viewer both WANT to understand why it IS even a choice here, yet also know within that there is NO other resolution TO accept and ISN’T being immediately acknowledged. Even at the point where finally the RIGHT path has been driven into the lead character’s harried mind, is it too late to correct his blatant error in judgement. It’s silence and success vs. heart and soul for someone else beyond yourself, much less at the level of longstanding relationship and business partnership being displayed here, and what the cost could be for opting for the former intent as opposed to the latter manifests a cornerstone, jaw-dropping, soul-shaking punch to the face that the film’s finale brings about, leaving you shockingly breathless.
Saunderson exudes raw, tangibly fervent, frenetically impassioned, emotionally-charged vigor and purposeful drive via an all-out, tour de force performance through his role here as Saint, the manager of his soon-to-be-a-star client who’s only minutes away from embarking on the tour that will redefine their mutual success and all they’ve worked to achieve. At least, that is until news Saint receives throws his entire reality into chaos, now involuntarily forced to ponder a decision that will either destroy all they’ve wished for or at least put the future of it all in serious question. Surrounded by voices of actual reason and desperate pleading for him to do what is right, Saint soon has a very hard time living up to his own namesake as he battles the monster of success with the compassion of the heart. CAN he make the right call, or does staying quiet with guilt and shame win out?
It’s one of the best performances I’ve seen amongst a stacked run of Oscar qualifying short film efforts this season, and Saunderson has most definitively made his mark on this project in spades. Primary supporting turns first come from Coy Stewart as Apollo, Saint’s client and friend whom have come to “that place” in their shared journey to make a new hip-hop star rise, not knowing that a choice being made by Saint could alter everything forever. Khalil Middleton plays Vic, one of Saint’s management crew who becomes the voice of fiercely distressed logic in the situation they find themselves in, Mitzi Akaha is Maddie, the tour’s accountant who finds herself drawn into the moment awkwardly and transparently when it comes to expressing the financial side of their plight, and Grace Duah is Kim, another of Saint’s management crew who also seems to get swallowed up helplessly into the ensuing drama.
Additional supporting appearances are made by Ralphy Lopez, Johnny Sanchez, Roosevelt Davis, Thea Henry, Justin Grooms, Brandon Crescitelli, James Hayden, Betti Bazemore, Gates Councilor, Alton Ray, Sean Augustin, Roodjerry Jean Baptiste, Alexander Holdbrook, Asia Morgan, and Ivan Rome. So, in total, “Meal Ticket” more than authoritatively lives up to its title’s connotation, but does so with an unstoppable, candid, and uniquely unsettling manner that asks the only question truly at hand–at what cost fame?
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
