Indie filmmaker Peter Rios brings us a bit of a thought experiment with his short film, Nuclear Cookies. Part of the experience comes from the short’s extensive film credits listed before and after, only for the audience to realize that this is a one-man show with Rios at the helm.
Our tale opens with several computer operators in various locations, each with a different level of computer sophistication. One man is in what appears to be a computer scrapyard, another is in the military, and another is in a high-tech facility.
We then cut to San Francisco’s Chinatown, where we watch fortune cookies being made as the fake credits roll. We follow the path of a fortune cookie from the factory to the restaurant, where an older man pays his check and opens one of two fortune cookies. The fortune reads, “You will hit the jackpot,” but the gentleman is too rushed to notice before devouring the cookie.
“The fortune reads, ‘You will hit the jackpot,’ but the gentleman is too rushed to notice…”
He then buys a lottery ticket and, while sitting in his car, discovers he has won the big prize. The celebration is short-lived, as all good things must end.
There’s something to be said about merely experiencing Nuclear Cookies, as the short film shows more than it says. Rios presents a contrast between the lives of operators watching Earth from satellites and the global ramifications of their work versus a singular man whose life is changed in an instant. There’s also a bit more wisdom dished out that I haven’t even mentioned.
I love the unique storytelling of Nuclear Cookies. It’s definitely out of the box. Parts of it feel like an industrial video making fortune cookies, until we turn to our protagonist’s story, which feels like it’s all shot from interesting angles without ever settling for the most traditional. Also, big kudos to Peter Rios for taking on almost every role in making his film and then crediting a dozen fictional people. As an art piece, it’s glorious to watch.
"…bdefinitely out of the box."
