Year of Release: 2022
Director: Mark Mylod
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Judith Light, Reed Birney, Janet McTeer, John Leguizamo, Paul Adelstein, Aimee Carrero, Rebecca Koon, Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, Peter Grosz, Christina Brucato, Adam Aalderks
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon Prime
Synopsis and Review
Mark Mylod has had an interesting career, one that for the past 10 years has been primarily focused on high profile TV Series (he directed episodes of "Game of Thrones", "Shameless" and "Succession", to name but a few). "The Menu" which was a Black List script from 2019, and was originally going to be directed by Alexander Payne, follows a group of wealthy strangers who are gathered together in an exclusive restaurant on a private island. These 12 strangers include food critics, actors, millionaires, business partners, the main chef's mother, and foodie Tyler Ledford, who shows up with an unexpected date by the name of Margot. Chef Slowik makes the introductions to what is going to be happening throughout the evening, and the courses he and his team will showcase. His introductions to each course become increasingly more virulent, and by the third course, the actual dish itself contains unsavory revelations about each one of the guests. Things escalate when by the fourth dish, one of the chefs kills himself in front of everyone, generating panic save for Tyler who seems remarkably restrained. Towards the fifth dish, the intentions behind the evening's gathering are unveiled by Chef Slowik, and why each and every one of the guests has been chosen, save for Margot who was a last minute addition and was unaccounted for. She is given a choice of what will become of her, and while she combatively questions Slowik's intentions, she is also exposed since she is also not whom she appears to be.
"The Menu" definitely isn't Peter Greenaway's "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover", and also not Paul Bartel's "Eating Raoul", both very distinct features, both with ties with the Gourmand universe. "The Menu"'s narrative has some Agatha Christie's influences, in the sense that a group of strangers come together in a journey of vengeance, of someone who wants to correct what he considers to be, dramatic wrongdoings. The film is lavishly constructed with much detail being thrust upon the dishes and the events that come with each chapter they introduce. And that coincidentally is where the film manages to capture the most attention, since Ralph Fiennes is superlatively good as the chef with a mission, the sinister emcee (he's also superlatively phenomenal in everything he does). Where the film is less accomplished is actually in the way it depicts the supporting characters, the patrons of the restaurant, who for the most part are reduced to a clichéd interpretation of the jobs they have (the food critic with her assistant, the famed movie star who is not so famous anymore, the unscrupulous investors, the amoral millionaire). As much as the mechanics of the scenario is set in motion, what takes place is not so much a game, but more a systematic enforcement of a plan by the chef and his crew (it also differs from Agatha Christie's approach in that particularity). The character who is coincidentally the most offbeat one, Margot, is also played out in a consistently unique way, never once allowing her to be more than just one thing. Even after her revelation, her presence is still very much rendered by that initial view point. In the end the film registers as an interesting exercise in suspense, never quite going as far as it could, both in terms of the vitriol that could unleash on false celebrities, amoral personalities, neither as a satire on the falseness and ridiculousness that is a common denominator to so many that lead duplicitous existences. The cast tries their best with the roles they have, but this is Ralph Fienne's film front and center, with Anya Taylor-Joy providing good support in an underwritten role (much like the role she had in Robert Eggers' "The Northman"). The cinematography from Peter Deming is fantastic, as is the production design from Amy Westcott. It's a film worth watching, but one that needed a stronger point of view from a directorial stand point, one that pushed its content in a challenging direction.
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