2017 was a year of reckoning for women in silence. With the allegations made against some of the most powerful men in the world, women in the entertainment industry helped initiate the most groundbreaking movement in terms of sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace. Even the kind of ones that seemed invisible but has always been there for sure. It has started with #metoo and evolved into #timesup.
Henry K. Norvalls’ short tackles this specific issue where the power dynamics do not work the way they should. It’s a casual meeting at a coffeehouse where a woman meets a man for a job interview in front of everyone. There seems to be nothing wrong with them from outside. Even the woman may not be aware of what is wrong with the situation, but she sure feels it. Rather than her qualities and experiences, the man seems to be interested more about her appearance and her being a woman. Only after he leaves the coffeehouse, she gets relieved from the stress which is kind of a sexual tension she does not want to have with him. Sweet Things doesn’t come up with new ideas, nor it seems that’s what the director’s intention was, but it definitely resonates with the audience and makes them think about the inequality in gender and power in the simplest way possible.
