Sometime you make bad choices in life. Mine was choosing ‘The One You Feed’ movie to be the very first movie I watched in 2021. Coming out of possibly the worst year ever, watching such a depressing downer of a film was a decision I soon regretted.
It’s the work of Drew Harwood who started his professional life as a potential Olympic Swimmer then moved into being an actor working in short films. This is his first feature film, and he wrote, directed, produced , edited and starred in …….plus he is also credited with both the production and costume design. This would turn out to be too many hats for a man with limited experienced .
Actor Gareth Koorzen his co-star was also his co-writer and co-producer.
The story with very scant conversation and characters with no names has a Stranger (Koorzen) being rescued by Man when he gets wounded during a camping trip. The Stranger wakes up in old farmhouse (that looks like the Jeffersons have just moved out off) having a sponge bath in bed given by Woman. She spends way too much time washing his crotch.
Both she and the Man eventually end up raping the Stranger on separate occasions. The Man who actually much more prefers chickens to human beings very creatively uses egg yolk for lube when he sexually assaults him. The Woman seems most keen in Stranger who in turn prefers the Man . We think.
It’s all set in a remote countryside devoid of any other signs of life, apart from an old man who turns up once in a while to silently collect some fresh eggs.
We know that this can never end well, but as Hardwood give us no chance to being to know, or even relate to the three characters, we really do not care what happens to them. We feel as trapped as the stranger in the house, and that we are all going nowhere.
Harewood stated “We really wanted to make an LGBTQ film that expanded our current understanding of sexuality” . Well, they didn’t, and this very personal project of his also failed to make us able to relate to any of it.
