Kabeljau mit Zyankali (Codfish & Cyanide)
The truth sounds way too absurd and being a notorious liar, Severin can’t risk anything.
She can’t believe it when he arrives at the restaurant looking squalid, shabby and unwilling to explain himself. The truth sounds way too absurd and being a notorious liar, he can’t risk anything. Cornered, he tells her an intricate story and expects everything – except her actual reaction.
The setting is small, but the plot is grandiose. Director David Gesslbauer cleverly brings Codfish & Cyanide into an immersive action film without any action whatsoever. All based around a convincing dialogue, David shows us how an explosive short can be made with the minimal budget, using the viewer’s imaginations to build his story.
The film was created at the film-academy, within the topic “two persons, one room, one conflict”
I wanted to exaggerate the unpleasant situation of being late on a date, while bringing in a film inside the film through his storytelling – with a taste of a hollywood-cliché.
I wouldn’t be lying if the situation and the German language reminded me of some scenes from Quentin Tarantino‘s Inglorious Basterds, the depth and intensity of the conversations as well as the absurdity of the entire setting. All in all this is a fantastic low budget film that should be inspiring many young filmmakers out there.