Sundance Film Festival 2022 Premiere – Rendang of Death is an Indonesian-language film that is 7 minutes of food-related anarchy — a pleasant break from the serious content that often dominates film festivals. Directed by Muhammad Andri Abdi and with the story and co-writing done by Ryan Jackson, Rendang of Death is screening as part of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s block of short movies from around the world.

A small restaurant brings in many customers thanks to its most prized dish, rendang. When the waiter informs a patron that the kitchen has run out of rendang, the customers begin a battle royale for the last bowl of food, using everything from ceiling fans to laser eyebeams to motorcycles in order to secure the last bite.

I have never had the pleasure of tasting rendang, but Rendang of Death certainly has wet my appetite. This short film’s 2-D animation style reminded me of what was often seen in the 1990s, along the lines of Rocko’s Modern Life, only even more raw than that and further punctuated with anime-style animation to highlight certain fight moves. Rendang of Death is the craziest and bloodiest food fight ever put to film, and it is also right up there with being one of the funniest.

Besides its charming animation, the voice-over work was pretty good as well, with the pitch and tone perfectly syncing up with the comedic timing of the cartoons. There is only about 1-minute of story setup given before all hell breaks loose, with the film diving headfirst — literally — into the fight. The restaurant-goers descend into madness as the music kicks up, along with tables, chairs, and body parts until its light-hearted ending.

Rendang of Death is about as entertaining as it is to spectate a moshpit at a metal concert — though it is even bloodier and cut-throat. There might be a life lesson buried somewhere beneath the food frenzy, such as a message about sharing, or not being greedy, or being more patient, but for the most part, my takeaway is that Rendang of Death is just good dirty fun. Give it a watch below and see for yourself!

6.75 Out of 10