Set in New York, Sharp Love, Sharp Kittens tells the story of an ambitious deadbeat, Tony DeFazio (Joe Diomede), the roofer (though he’d rather be known as a painter). Like any common deadbeat, he’s having a s**t day. Today he comes home to voicemails of angry bill collectors and an angry gym fitness employee (who threatens him with her big brother if he doesn’t stop calling her), but is blind-sided by the third message from his daughter, who he hasn’t seen in a long time. She’s going to be at a bar in Brooklyn in a few hours and wants to see him. After a brief visit with his weight lifting-obsessed neighbor, he leaves his small apartment in Queens for the Brooklyn visit with his daughter.
Tony finally reunites with his daughter and right before they get to indulge in catching up, her bitchy friends unexpectedly arrive (these cats have claws). When he finally gets them to leave and Tony starts the long overdue conversation with her, we learn he has always meant well, to everyone — he’s just a guy who’s lived a life of fumbling and constantly dropping the ball. He just wants people to like him.
Sharp Love… is a very, well, sharp short film. Its production value is top quality and the script is really impressive. With a 15 minute running time, Sharp Love… manages to cleverly poke fun at the Brooklyn hipster stereotype without being obnoxious about it. This film also has moments of original comedic material. A standout moment is when Tony’s neighbor asks to borrow whey protein to put in his newly-discovered son’s “sissy cup” (what us normal people call sippy cups). This 8-year-old boy is strapped to the meathead (in a sling) like a firstborn baby and can’t walk yet (they’re “making up for lost time,” he claims). This scene is priceless and I hope to see writer/director Jon Sajetowski put this idea in a feature if he ever makes one.
Sharp Love, Sharp Kittens is a sweet story about the importance of fatherhood. It’s pretty incredible what Sajetowski can do as a filmmaker in a matter of half of half an hour.
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