Fortune Cookie

The film portrays an unsuccessful salesman, Harold Broadneck, walking from a house to a house and offering various goods. He's been unable to make a single sale in weeks, so his miserable career is in danger of a sudden end as his mysterious superior, Mrs Peterson, who we know only from Broadneck's phone conversations, threatens to make him redundant. Everything changes when Broadneck meets his colleague, Jack Dundy, who gives him advice that he should have a lucky charm. The protagonist chooses fortune cookies and, gradually, becomes addicted to the fortunes inside. When he is unable to work without a good fortune in his hands, good luck is about to leave him and the salesman's career is going to change again.

Let's not fool ourselves - the very few people who watched this, did it because the great Darren Aronofsky directed this short film. While he is well known and respected for such titles as 'Pi' or 'Requiem for a Dream', he began his career rather modestly with short films directed for the purpose of graduating the AFI Conservatory. 'Fortune cookie' is one of three (some claim four) such short films.

The artistic value here is not very sophisticated, although even such an early Aronofsky's film has a character with some kind of obsession - Harold Broadneck, the salesperson, obsessed with fortune cookies. The acting can be considered quite good, especially when no professional actors were hired. I got a feeling that the film lacks background music but this might just be a consequence of being used to Clint Mansell's sublime tracks in Aronofsky's films.

Well, it goes without saying that 'Fortune cookie' is definitely different from all the further Aronofsky's films. It is a good idea to treat this short production as an introduction to his greater works.

Aronofsky was 22 years old when he directed his first film, a short called Fortune Cookie, from 1991. The precociousness of the New Yorker does not differ from other "out-of-the-box" colleagues of his generation, such as PT Anderson and Chris Nolan, who played at dictating the rules even at a young age. As usual in the debut films, we do not identify much of the artist when we compare him with his mature phase.

We found some kinship with his later works, in the obsessions of his characters, a characteristic that permeates the director's cinema. The obsession of Harold Broadneck, the main character starred by the hardworking Dean Cleverdon, is the need to succeed and stop being a failed salesman.

His luck changed in an Asian restaurant, when he met the "fortune cookies". His walk, which was once capsized, became upright and his shoes began to shine. The second turning point takes place in an unusual discussion in a bathroom while Dean and a rival, more than a caricature, about his good sales phase.

Anyway, just a film by a novice, who would become one of the best directors of his generation and would start to shine, like the shoes mentioned above.

A smartly made, polished and yet very simple film in its own little budget.

The protagonist and others are door-to-door salesmen. Of what, exactly? It's never made clear, because it doesn't matter. They are the everyman, struggling to survive in a system that refuses to take care of its citizens even though the technology and infrastructure are available. All that is lacking is political will. We never see you even hear the boss, who abruptly and without any reason goes from trying to be understanding to demanding results. The faceless cruelty that accepts no reasonable explanation might as well not be human. She represents capitalism, a merciless machine that does not deal in empathy, only in numbers. The Omega account is never actually detailed, despite being the goal. All we ever learn is that it will take them out of the country and is important. It is a metaphor for success, ever dreamt of and yet so difficult to obtain, and can be lost through no fault of your own. For a while, Harold believes that as long as he keeps getting good omens in fortune cookies, things will be great - at the expense of Larry, of course. Because if things are going well for one it must be bad for others. When this good luck charm disappears, he's convinced that he will fail. And immediately prostitutes himself to The Pervert. The lowest end.

Like others, I watched this because it is among the early works of Darren Aronofsky. Even at this point, you can see some of the elements that would later become his trademarks. Perhaps the most notable being the hip-hop montage, conveying a repeated action. There are also other interesting choices in cinematography. When the camera moves and how, not to mention when it doesn't. It will disgust you, and explore obsession. It runs 32 minutes and is currently available for free on YouTube. I recommend it to big fans of his. 7/10.