Essentials

Shocked and fatigued by the screeching halt of daily life in early quarantine 2020, Vivian muscles her way home with too many groceries until she is interrupted by a senior citizen who makes a corny joke on his nightly walk. While their reasons for experiencing alienation differ– hers largely temporary and his ongoing and borne from family estrangement– they find excuses to remain in the moment in a tentative connection which could, and perhaps should, end at any moment– but doesn’t, until it does, leaving them both shaken by the intimacy they have shared with a stranger. This bittersweet, dramedic story is a celebration of “small talk” in a pedestrian city best roasted from the inside.