Tribeca: “Cherry-Colored Funk” is the “Uncut Gems” of the Gelati World
The life of a gelato business owner does not appear to be one full of drama or intrigue. In the case of Cherry-Colored Funk, which is having its New York premiere as part of the 2025 Tribeca Festival Shorts: Floating Roots program, there’s nothing more important than flavored frozen ice. Like the sweet treat at the center of this short film, it may seem at first that there isn’t much to it, but the taste it leaves you with is charmingly sweet.
It’s the opening day of Roberto’s Italian Ice and Gelati. The man in charge is Roberto Ferrari (Michael Tow) and this opening is a long time coming. He wants everything to be perfect, but almost immediately, that’s not how it goes. Roberto Ferrari is an Italian ice purveyor, but he’s also a career grifter. Over the course of the momentous opening day, those he has wronged in the past decide to make their presence known once again. It’s a little like A Christmas Carol, only Roberto doesn’t seem interested in learning a lesson.
courtesy of Tribeca
It’s easy to sell Cherry-Colored Funk as the gelato version of Uncut Gems. There’s a taut, whirling chaos that exists in both films, with an enigmatic serial conman at the center. It’s a reckoning for these men, a moment when they cannot escape from the bridges they’ve burned. Unlike Uncut Gems, though, there’s something inherently silly about this massive blow-up happening at an Italian ice store. At the end of the day, and no disrespect to those in the industry (I’m a big fan), what’s on the line is flavored water. Of course, if you boil any argument down to its barest bones, most of them are inherently absurd. The EDM soundtrack elevates the overlapping arguments, while the audience waits for that beat to drop, for the moment to ebb, and it finally does. Cherry-Colored Funk revels in its bizarre scenario before ending on a saccharine moment of clarity.
Cherry-Colored Funk opens with a speech from Roberto to his one employee (Laura Hetherington). He tells her that at his establishment, they’re going to do things differently and limit samples to two flavors. Any more and this business doesn’t make sense. What Roberto learns, though, is that sometimes (most of the time), it’s not about the profit. It’s about how we make another person feel. Cherry-Colored Funk has the legs to become a feature film, and maybe one day that will be the reality. As it stands, the short finds tension and comedy in the absurd, while never forgetting what connects us all.
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