Chekhov's Bun is a fun little action-packed short from Beau Fowler. At just a bit over seven minutes, Chekhov's Bun has its fun, makes its point and skedaddles its way toward an anxiety-inducing climax that'll leave you thinking. Amelie Leroy stars as Marie, a British housewife hard at work baking breads for her daughter's only moments away birthday party. Things aren't exactly going well to the concern of her husband, Daryl (David Mullenger). Left alone to finish up, she has a go at it before a familiar face, Kafka (Eric Lim), settles down in her kitchen and lays down the expectation that she lean into her past once again.

Now.

Chekhov's Bun doesn't exactly feature an unheard of storyline, though Fowler, working off a script co-written with Haydn Worley and Simon Darkman, surely has an awful lot of fun with it. It helps to have such a delightful actress as Leroy. She's sublime here with domestic skills that are absolutely killer. The methods may have changed, but Marie's instincts help to create an edgy, suspenseful action sequence brought even more vividly to life by Dom Hopking's lensing and Wolf E. Rubea's pinpoint editing work. Kudos as well for Olivia vidou's inspired costume design. 

Eric Raymond Lim is also top-notch as Kafka, a persuasive chap who may or may not be quite up to Chekhov's still deadly skills whether baking or breaking. 

If you get a chance, you'll want to check out Chekhov's Bun.

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic