Review: The Steak
The Steak, directed by Kiarash Dadgar, captures the harsh realities of war in a truly petrifying single take.
Dadgar triumphs with a technically clever and gripping sequence that’s all very precise and effective – the set design, the camerawork, character entrances and exits – and most of all, triumphs in conveying brutality incredibly well with very little.
Spoiler – click to reveal
There’s one moment where a soldier (and it’s unclear to me if he’s an enemy soldier or friendly first-responder) walks out of the scene with a cake, a balloon and a small child in hand. The next time you see him, he only has the cake and balloon. What happened? What happened to the child?
The Steak is ingeniously shot and nerve-jangling, and it will leave you with a sense of vague, unsettling, profound fear and worry.
Photo cred: @kkc.ottawa
More about the film and director Kiarash Dadgar
More info & links:
- Director: Kiarash Dadgar
- The Steak on Instagram
- The Steak screened at the OCan Film Festival in Ottawa in November 2024.
Alvin Tsang
Film Reviewer
In his youth Alvin loved watching movies and would find himself spending his lunch money and allowance at the box office. He loved the Matrix and the X-Men films, and somewhere along the way, he discovered a love for horror movies — Hereditary, Midsommar and Mother! being his favourites. He now holds a professional writing diploma, a couple of journalism degrees, and likes to spend his free time reviewing movies on IMDB and for various magazines. @alvinwct
