LARGELY taking place in a very exclusive restaurant that seats a dozen on a small island only accessible by boat, The Menu is equal parts dark comedy, social satire and twisty thriller, with a couple of dashes of horror.
By the way, no, the secret ingredient is not human flesh. Just putting it out there because that’s the assumption everyone makes.
A cast of characters, including a movie star (John Leguizamo) and his assistant, a trio of finance bros, a jittery older couple, an elite food critic and her publisher, and a pretentious food lover (Nicholas Hoult) with a date (Anya Taylor-Joy), who doesn’t have such a lofty view of fine dining, are on the island to sample a very special menu that they booked months in advance.
The star of the show is Chef Julian Slowik, masterfully played by a stern and malevolent Ralph Fiennes – as a Nazi guard in Schindler’s List and Voldemort, he knows a thing or two about playing evil. Here, his madness is gradually revealed, his volcanic temperament simmering under the surface. Part of the mystery of the film is trying to figure out what he’s up to.
As the audience surrogate, Taylor-Joy is in familiar mode as a heroine who is tougher than she initially lets on, her trademark big eyes conveying plenty of emotion and intelligence. Seeing her hold her own while verbally sparring with Fiennes is a highlight of the movie.
Structurally, The Menu is broken up into little tense episodes with the different intricately prepped dishes of the multi-course menu popping up on screen to break the tension and establish a new set piece.
It’s the finest of fine dining, with Hoult’s character name-dropping the Netflix documentary series Chef’s Table to tell you what to expect. That show valorises everything artisanal and avant-garde about cooking, but sometimes the chefs featured are pretentious to the point of parody – making artistic, well-crafted dishes that don’t satisfy anyone’s hunger. You’re basically paying an exorbitant fee for an edible art project, not to fill your belly.
Extended sequences of suspense are routinely followed by laugh-out-loud moments, the uncomfortable laughter a form of releasing tension. The Menu has several perfectly crafted scenes like this, playing on audience expectations and usually going the unpredictable (and extreme) route.
Director Mark Mylod – who mainly works in television, most recently directing many episodes of Succession – does a good job of constructing these ‘set-pieces’, for lack of a better term. Most of the production is clinical and precise, mirroring Chef Slowik’s perfectionism.
There are a few twists that strain credulity, but if you buy into the uncomfortable dream-like nature of the story, and the casual brutality of it all, The Menu is a bloody good time at the cinema. – The Vibes, November 17, 2022
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