The Menu
Director: Mark Mylod
Ever since Eve chose the apple over fricassee snake, we all have known just how dangerous our food choices can be.
‘The Menu’ is a totally perverse movie, sending up our culture’s unnaturally inflated regard for overwrought food sold at ridiculous prices. It is as amusing as it is macabre.
I’m terrified to sound like the international food critic Lillian Bloom (Janet McTeer). In ‘The Menu’', Ms Bloom’s life ends in a rather inelegant though expensive manner, involving large quantities of chocolate and a meringue torching.
Ralph Fiennes plays ‘Chef’, a kind of Commander Kurtz of the luxury food industry, who has sold his soul and found his heart of darkness on an almost inaccessible island where he commands the most rarefied restaurant in the world.
Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), is a young man who is basically a foodie psycho. Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) is his wonderfully cool date, who he has paid to accompany him to this restaurant ‘event’. Elsa (Honh Chau) is Chef’s front-of-house, not averse to extreme sarcasm or inflicting pain or humiliation on guests should she feel it necessary to ensure the menu’s perfection.
If you have ever had pretentions – or dark fantasies – that focus on the palate, this film is for you.
Lock up your sharp knives and forget any penchant for raw meat. This movie must only be accompanied by a large bucker of salted popcorn ... or perhaps a double burger with a side of fries.
You will thank me.