Written and directed by Olivia Cade, ‘Cake’ opens with a young woman, Anabella (Anja Racic), typing her suicide note. She’s unbothered, resolved, detached. But the thin walls of her apartment won’t let her continue as the next door neighbor, Jack (Peter Winkelmann) blares his music.

When she finally goes to confront him, she finds Jack struggling to bake a cake in memory of his mother who passed away a year earlier. He’s an emotional wreck, clumsy, grief-stricken, and completely overwhelmed. Anabella steps in to help him. Not out of warmth – at first – but maybe because his chaos distracts her from her own and that “deadline”.

Cade’s pacing is tight and very deliberate. There’s a rhythm to the way Anabella and Jack clash – her cold, direct efficiency up against his fragile, over-sharing honesty. Their dynamic is odd but compelling, and slowly, the focus shifts. The story stops being about Anabella’s crisis and becomes about Jack’s. Through helping him, she finds a flicker of something real – comfort, maybe even purpose.

Racic and Winkelmann are both excellent. She plays Anabella with a dry, unflinching edge, never sentimental. He brings Jack to life as a strange, open-hearted mess, vulnerable and oddly likable. Their on-screen chemistry feels natural, unpredictable, raw.

Technically, the short is flawlessly produced. Brandon Dougherty’s cinematography is crisp and of the highest possible quality. The moody lighting, sound, and editing are all dialed in with first-rate precision.

The final moments, triggered by a lemon shortage, unfold in a montage that runs the full spectrum of emotions – funny, touching, uplifting, and delightfully absurd. This is a  film about grief, mental health, and the unexpected ways strangers and neighbors can become lifelines for each other. Highly recommended.