Sugar Cube is the Australian feature film about coffee, cocktails and rejection

Have you ever had that feeling where you think you’re falling in love with your best friend but you’re pretty sure they don’t feel the same? Melbourne Film Maker Luke Jacobson has used the Bechdel Test and has turned the exercise into the basis for his first Feature Film “Sugar Cube”, a film all about coffee, cocktails and rejection.
The Bechdel Test is a way in which the representation of women in fiction can be measured. The way it works is that a least two women who talk to each other must talk about something other then men, depending on who is running the experiment they may add that the women need to be named. The test is used as an indicator in order to see the active presence of women in film and other fiction, and of course to call attention to gender inequality in film and art. Thus creating a concept to determine wether or not a classic rom-com could be crafted in such a way. Luke Jacobson has pitched a film to test the classic approach of Romantic Comedies by using the guidelines of the Bechdel Test. “It’s not a perfect test,” Luke told us, “but it’s a simple and effective thought provoker.”
Sugar Cube, based on a somewhat true story, sets the scenes in a fast passed Melbourne Café and follows the story of Barista James who is in love with his manger and good friend Sarah, although Sarah does not feel the same way and has her own story to tell. Taking a new job at a Cocktail Bar, Sarah finds herself distracted with the guys, while James tries to follow and keep up in the game. From what we’ve seen of the trailer Sugar Cube is a mixed bag of emotions, taking you through the highs and lows of what it means to find love.

The production has been slightly different to how you might imagine any film being put together. Luke explains, “The whole project was a mixture of self-funded, volunteers and donations.” Luke also mentioned that when it came time for casting the use of non-actors added to the overall look and feel of the film, “the dialogue is written quite on the nose, like it doesn’t allude to the truth, these characters just sort of say it straight out. I find that’s how we talk in real life when there’s something emotional to be discussed with friends. By using non-actors it really added a subtlety in those moments.”
Compared to other traditional methods of viewing films such as in cinema or via streaming services such as Netflix or Stan, Sugar Cube is set to debut on YouTube in November.
“We could charge for it, but we didn’t do this for money, we just wanted to tell the story and if people want to see it then we wanted to make sure that anyone can.”
Make sure you check it out.
Written by Shae Louise.