<p>Last Order </p>.<p>Kannada (Short film/YouTube) </p>.<p>Director: Prashanth Gowda</p>.<p>Cast: Ramya Krishna, Rakshith Kariyanna</p>.<p>3/5</p>.<p>‘The Last Order’, a nine-minute film, is produced by cinematographer Satya Hegde (‘Duniya’, ‘Jackie’, ‘Kendasampige’ fame). It is about a female food delivery partner and her occupational hazards as she takes care of her ailing mother and a ‘spoiled’ brother. </p>.<p>The short, written and directed by Prashanth Gowda, scores high on portraying the problems the protagonist. One man’s inappropriate touch, another one’s nasty stare and a bike chase in remote roads for cheap thrills- these sequences shows the horrors of being a working-woman in the night.</p>.<p>The fast moving jump cuts, which reflect the routine of a delivery partner, are a plus. It highlights how the algorithm-driven food delivery app’s 5-star rating system can be crucial in a delivery partner’s life. </p>.<p>But the over-dramatisation and an apparent moral judgement in the climax stops the film from being perfect. The film ends on the moral superiority of the protagonist- a ‘good’ woman who works hard to look after her family is juxtaposed with the protagonist’s brother, who is apparently ‘spoiled’, as he smokes, drinks and sleeps with a ‘bad’ woman. </p>.<p>A female food delivery partner is a rarity. So the film could have explored more on the vulnerabilities of gig economy workers and what happens when a woman enters the domain. But it falls prey to the typical shortcoming of a ‘man-telling-woman’s-story’ film, where there is no room to explore ambiguities of a life situation but instead it dwells only on the congested space of the ‘black and white’ moral universe.</p>.<p>Despite the flaws, one cannot rule out the tinge of freshness it brings out in its crisp narration. </p>
<p>Last Order </p>.<p>Kannada (Short film/YouTube) </p>.<p>Director: Prashanth Gowda</p>.<p>Cast: Ramya Krishna, Rakshith Kariyanna</p>.<p>3/5</p>.<p>‘The Last Order’, a nine-minute film, is produced by cinematographer Satya Hegde (‘Duniya’, ‘Jackie’, ‘Kendasampige’ fame). It is about a female food delivery partner and her occupational hazards as she takes care of her ailing mother and a ‘spoiled’ brother. </p>.<p>The short, written and directed by Prashanth Gowda, scores high on portraying the problems the protagonist. One man’s inappropriate touch, another one’s nasty stare and a bike chase in remote roads for cheap thrills- these sequences shows the horrors of being a working-woman in the night.</p>.<p>The fast moving jump cuts, which reflect the routine of a delivery partner, are a plus. It highlights how the algorithm-driven food delivery app’s 5-star rating system can be crucial in a delivery partner’s life. </p>.<p>But the over-dramatisation and an apparent moral judgement in the climax stops the film from being perfect. The film ends on the moral superiority of the protagonist- a ‘good’ woman who works hard to look after her family is juxtaposed with the protagonist’s brother, who is apparently ‘spoiled’, as he smokes, drinks and sleeps with a ‘bad’ woman. </p>.<p>A female food delivery partner is a rarity. So the film could have explored more on the vulnerabilities of gig economy workers and what happens when a woman enters the domain. But it falls prey to the typical shortcoming of a ‘man-telling-woman’s-story’ film, where there is no room to explore ambiguities of a life situation but instead it dwells only on the congested space of the ‘black and white’ moral universe.</p>.<p>Despite the flaws, one cannot rule out the tinge of freshness it brings out in its crisp narration. </p>