Lucky Break (2020)

Jessye Romeo has about three different character names in this entertaining short feature. Initially, she’s just “Uloaku” working behind the counter in a quiet petrol station. When a man comes in and starts behaving a bit suspiciously, she hits the panic button but then discovers that he (Steve Oram) is a harmless gent who (over)pays for his goods in slightly blue-tinged fifty pound notes! When another customer arrives, he heads to the bathroom and the rest of her ten minutes is spent juggling between this enigmatic gent, a stroppy woman and a couple of police officers who arrived to check she wasn’t being robbed. Luckily she’s quite a shrewd lass and so, like us, is quickly in on the joke and obviously quite prepared to play along with what I thought was a very fitting conclusion. Romeo is on good form here, as much with her facial expressions as with her dialogue and unlike the cheap disposable razor he buys, I thought this worked well.