A family quarantining together at their home in New Jersey are unable to leave their kitchen. Michelle Uranowitz directs “I Can’t Get Out of the Kitchen,” an absurdist home video filmed on an old VHS camera which is an intriguing combination of the mundane and the unexplainable. A dad makes a sandwich from salami he hid in the fridge. A mom blow dries the family dog’s hair. Their kids and their kid’s boyfriends are around, passing time in various ways. Things start to feel strange during the family’s seafood dinner. They repeatedly cheers one other, long moments of silence feed into incomplete thoughts, burps, etc. After dinner, the family can’t seem to leave the kitchen — perhaps an invisible force has trapped them there. Characterized by its jump cuts roaming through tiny moments, facial expressions, weird timings, sounds, gestures, it’s an endearingly peculiar snapshot that goes by its own logic. Uranowitz previously co-wrote and starred in “Goodbye, Brooklyn,” one of our favorite shorts from 2017.

Director, Writer, Editor, DP: Michelle Uranowitz. Cast: Brandon Uranowitz, Ken Uranowitz, Jayne Uranowitz, Zachary Prince, Daniel Jaffe.