Dinnertime
2025 · 2m
Directed by Yoyo Zhu
Genres: coming-of-age, mystery, thriller
Tones: contemplative, dark, tense
When her parents don't show up for dinnertime, a girl goes out in search of them and is approached by a mysterious pair.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise promises menace but lands in familiar missing-parent thriller territory—Zhu's setup has potential to veer weird, but plays it straight when it should break the fourth wall or flip the power dynamic entirely.
A formally composed piece that understands its lineage in folk-horror and domestic unease, though the 2-minute constraint leaves the thematic argument underdeveloped; the restraint is admirable but the payoff feels abbreviated.
That moment when the girl locks eyes with the mysterious pair—there's a single beat of recognition, maybe complicity, that reframes everything and suggests Zhu knows exactly how to load a look with dread on a 2-minute budget.