Food to die for

MOVIES about chefs have appeared every few years or so since the turn of the millennium, with the frequency seemingly encouraged by the seemingly endless stream of celebrity chefs and culinary content on TV networks.

It is clear why. Food that tastes good in the mouth is just as appetizing when photographed and filmed with expensive cameras all the way from preparation to preparation, serving and finally consumption.

Show like Hell’s Kitchen play out a busy kitchen life for viewership ratings, over-dramatism and the viral factor. But movies about chefs rarely show or even address the impact that the agonizing demands of being a first-class chef and the stress of “constant innovation and food standards” have on their mental health.

This has changed recently. For example, in a good, comfortable film Chef, Jon Favreau plays a chef who suffers a nervous breakdown due to the stress of his boss and food critic. He then quits his job at the restaurant and starts a food truck.

But what if, instead of starting the food truck, Favreau’s character went insane?

Welcome to Menu.

Well prepared kitchen

The film opens with Margo (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) boarding a ship with a group of wealthy people and heading to a remote island where the exclusive Hawthorne restaurant is located, run by chef Julian Slovik (Ralph Fiennes) and his team of elite kitchen workers.

Margo, Tyler and other guests paid about a thousand dollars per person to try the new Slowik Molecular Cuisine menu.

They soon discover that their purpose on the island is more than food.

The script was written by comedians Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. Menu is a poignant comedic shot in which nearly all of the explicit jokes make fun of “gourmets”, the restaurant industry, the worship of celebrity chefs, and pretentious food culture in general.

Even subtle jokes are good. At one point, the chef says to Margot, “We like to know everyone who dine with us.”

The actor’s pronunciation of “dinner” is deliberately distorted to sound like he’s saying “die”.

Despite a formidable cast, the film mostly rests on the backs of Fiennes and Taylor-Joy.

Fiennes is brilliant as ever, perfect for the role of Slovik, which McKay and Ferrell have written.

Creepy, domineering and sympathetic, his image as a broken, disillusioned celebrity chef is reminiscent of his era as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter films and as a serial killer in Red Dragon.

On the other hand, Taylor-Joy’s Margot symbolizes the underside of the service industry. Lower in the pecking order, but tempered by it, the role is perfect for an actress known for playing characters who appear to be girls in distress but aren’t.

Missing extra touches

If “black horror comedy” Menu the downsides are that the film is not deep enough with social commentary. The film relies on the performance of the charismatic main characters and the rest of the supporting actors to tell its story and themes, because there is simply no script.

Menu also cannot fully dedicate himself to the horror of being trapped on an island with kitchen staff possessed by the flames of their captives.

The film is rated R in America, but there are only three cases of intense violence, and for the most part Menudirector Mark Mylod lets the violence simmer rather than simmer like it should.

If it were likened to a cooked steak, Menu can be considered well done; delicious for most of it on the outside, but when you cut it deeper you realize that it could have been juicier and more raw if the blood hadn’t flowed.

Menu hits theaters November 17th.